In 1952, I was ten years old and had been hunting artifacts for four years.
Back then, it was a family endeavor, my mom and dad, older brother Frank
and me. Our favorite place was the Hugh Morris site on the Illinois River
in Cherokee County, Oklahoma.
That summer Dr. Bell and a crew from the University of Oklahoma arrived
to excavate. A dam was being built and the site would soon be under lake
water. It was my first experience with an actual excavation. Exciting times!
We spent a lot of time at the dig. We got to know Dr. and Mrs. Bell and the
crew, who were mainly grad students from the university. Dr. Bell was generous
with his time. We liked showing him our finds and getting his expert opinion.
He gave us our first demonstration of flint knapping and Mrs. Bell found
a hematite boatstone on the surface. I was jealous. I still do not have a
hematite boatstone.
I learned so much. I saw the crew survey the site, deciding where to dig.
They then drove stakes in the ground and strung cord to outline each area.
They carefully dug down level by level, sifting the dirt as they went. They
uncovered post holes outlining the ancient houses. I saw burials and pots
still in place. With Dr. Bell’s permission, my dad got a jar out of
the of ash from one of the fireplaces. I still have that jar.
Dr. Bell invited me to spend a whole week at the dig. The folks left me
one weekend and picked me up the next. I had a huge tent all to myself, which
was a little spooky but fun. One day, Dr. Bell said to me, “Come on,
Lee, I will show you how to find arrowheads.” I did not let him know
that I already knew how to pretty well. Back then, if bare ground was showing,
you could find artifacts. He walked me around the field giving me pointers.
The whole thing was an amazing experience for that ten year old boy. I still
feel honored to have had a hunting lesson from Dr. Robert Bell.
It was sad to see the Hugh Morris site go under the water, but we moved
up stream and found new places. Dad and I had the strongest interest in hunting.
So, it was usually just the two of us. We took our trips in his Model A Ford.
It was a rugged little car that could go most anywhere. I remember a day
we were fording Elk Creek after a hard rain. The current was pushing the
little car toward the edge of the low water bridge. But we made it and found
some nice artifacts.
For a while we had a hunting partner. He was a nephew of one of my dad’s
work friends, Charlie. He loved hunting artifacts! In fact, he showed us
a productive site on 14 Mau Creek and took us to another location near the
town of Okmulgee. That site had a strong historic component. The most interesting
thing found from that trip was a small bullet mold (Fig. 4) my dad found.
It was made like pliers, but with a tiny reservoir for g a drop or two of
molten lead. Civil War skirmishes were fought in that part of the state
and ..
Read the complete "Hunting Tales from the 1950s" column
in the Central States Archaeological Societies 2022
April Journal which can be purchased on-line after March 2022
