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This is an excerpt from "Twenty
Five Christmas Gifts".
Read the complete column in the Central
States Archaeological Societies 2022
July Journal which can be purchased on-line after March
2023
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Figure 1. The author and his dad holding
the four cache
blades found when they revisited the site a day later
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I was fortunate enough to have one remaining PTO day
with my work for 2021. For anyone who is used to working 60 hours a
week, you know how nice it is to take a day for yourself and that’s
exactly what I did. The day was Thursday, December 23. I knew I would
also have Christmas Eve off, so a long weekend was in store. I decided
to start my day off hunting artifacts near the Tennessee River. There
were lots of sites on my list that I needed to check and with an all-night
rain the evening before, I was hopeful to have a good day.
On my first stop, I managed to find a heartbreaking pendant that
had tally marks and an extensive polish, but was ultimately broken.
I’d also been fortunate enough to find some arrowheads and
a busted celt on some of the other sites I hit later on that day.
It was roughly 3 p.m., and I knew I only had a couple more hours
of daylight before it got dark. That time of year, it is nearly impossible
to work all day and get off with any time left to look for artifacts
before dark. For my last stop, I decided to walk a stretch that I
normally skip due to the amount of time it takes to cover the area.
After walking for about 5 minutes, I looked down and noticed an arrowhead
slanting sideways out of the mud. I love going back and reviewing
in situ photos of my finds afterwards, so I decided to take a picture
with my phone. As I bent down to pick it up, I immediately noticed
two other arrowheads sticking out of the mud literally inches away
from the first one I had located. They were all blades and looked similar in shape and
form. I removed all three blades and instantly knew it had to be
a cache!
I started recording on my phone while moving away some of the mud
with my fingers and saw a stack of....
Read the complete column in the Central States Archaeological Societies 2022
July Journal which can be purchased on-line after March 2022 |
