In todays fast paced high tech world, a person often needs some type of
outlet to relieve stress and anxiety more than ever before. Finding a way
to occupy one’s mind with an enjoyable activity can be beneficial
to our overall health. I have learned that walking creeks and ditches can
be a very effective way for people who love the outdoors to both clear their
mind and also find ancient artifacts.
I live in an area of west Tennessee where the creeks and ditches are geologically
different from many other parts of the country. They generally have a clay
bottom and are mostly filled with sand. Since they are not lined with bedrock
and filled with other large rock or chert, they tend to be much deeper. I
have found from my experiences walking creeks in different areas, and talking
with other creek walkers from other states, that the hard soil clay-bottom
creeks filled with sand and gravel, are more productive for finding artifacts
than the creeks filled with large rock. In my opinion, the best creek walking
areas are in southern Missouri, southern Illinois, western Kentucky, west
Tennessee, northern Mississippi and Alabama.
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The first Pickwick I found that day. It measures
6 ?” in length and is made from Buffalo River chert. The inset
shows the point as it emerged from the water.
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Late winter on through the springtime months is the best time of year to
give creek walking a try. The freezing and thawing of the ditch banks along
with heavy springtime rain, can really change the landscape throughout the
ditches and creeks. When the winter temperatures fall below freezing for
a few days and nights, the creek banks will freeze usually 6” to 8” deep.
As the air temperature warms back up above freezing, the sides of the creek
banks will cave off and any artifacts in that layer will end up in the creek
bottom. High winds from thunderstorms, toppling trees growing along creek
banks can also change the surface of the creek beds. When the trees are blown
over from heavy winds, often times they fall into the creek or a ditch, drastically
changing the flow of water around them. This completely changes the creek
bottom surface, often exposing artifacts that have been hidden for years.
During January of 2023, a heavy rain finally came along and washed out the
ditches and creeks in my hunting area. I had been looking forward to this
chance to artifact hunt ever since the leaves had fallen back in October.
Thinking about my first chance to walk a creek after this heavy rain kept
me from sleeping well the night before. The weather forecast that day showed
about a 60 percent chance of rain starting around 10 or 11 o’clock,
so I didn’t have a lot of time to look for artifacts. Plus, I still
hadn’t decided which ditches to walk. Lucky for me, one of my daughters
was at my house so I asked her if she would drop me off in a ditch and pick
me back up later. This would save me some walking time. She agreed, so we
left the house within a few minutes. As we were driving down the road she
asked, “Where are we going?” I said, “I can’t make
up my mind.” About that time ain drops started hitting the windshield.
After changing my mind a time or two, I thought of a certain ditch. Since
she was dropping me off I could get to the best spot quicker by taking a
shortcut through the woods. She let me out of the car and I told her I would
call her when I was ready to be picked up. After walking over a couple hills
in the sprinkling rain, I reached the spot.
The first thing I noticed was the ditch looked really clean of sand from
the heavy rain a couple days before. A large debris jam had washed out and
had taken the sand with it, leaving the clay bottom exposed upstream for
a good way. Instead of looking below the debris jam for 100 yards or so like
I normally would, I began to look above the area where it had been lodged
for the last couple years. I didn’t walk but a couple minutes before
spotting a small stemmed point lying on top of the broken pieces of sand
rock. I videoed myself picking it up, looked at it for a moment and then
stuck it in my pocket. I thought to myself that this day was starting out
good right off the bat. I only took about a dozen steps before seeing another
....
Read the complete "The Thrill of the Find" column
in the Central States Archaeological Societies 2024
April Journal which can be purchased on-line after March 2025
