Archaic stone bead cache discovered	Billy Swindle
Central States Archaeological Societies 2006 October Journal	Ackerman, Mississippi

Afew years ago, my cousin and I decided to hunt arrowheads at one of our many sites in Monroe County, Mississippi. It was late January and since it had rained a lot we knew we would have good chance of finding some points. To make the situation better, when we arrived we found the fields had been plowed and in prime condition for hunting. There was a particular site that we were anxious to hunt, located near the bank of a creek and the site had a drainage problem. The creek was eroding the bank further into the field and the farmer had dug a ditch to allow the water to drain away.

I began immediately hunting along the ditch. I found a few flakes and a broken benton, then something caught my eye; beads, lots of beads. Forty years of hunting and never before, not one bead. There were 27 beads in all, and one was an effigy. All beads were within inches of one another. Five beads were broken. Eight are made of Red Jasper, eighteen of green trachyte and one of banded slate. All show extensive weathering and are nicely made. The most interesting is the effigy bead which I believe represents a Caterpillar. I have returned to the site, but
have found no others