Yearning for the Old Days	by Paul Herrick
Central States Archaeological Societies 2025 January Journal	Mackinaw, Illinois

This excerpt from "Yearning for the Old Days" published in the 2025 Central States Archaeological Societies 2025 January Journal Read this and mores in the Central States Archaeological 2025 January Journal which can be purchased on-line after March 2026
At top: Figure 1. The adze (left) and the Hardin point (right) found in the Sargent Slough area. Collection of the Author

I am getting to the point that as I’ve aged, I catch myself yearning for the good old days. When I first started to seriously go out to look for artifacts there were still some farmers that would mold-board plow. At the time I did not realize how lucky I was. All I knew was that I would find my best finds in those fields.

As time went by there was less and less fields being plowed. I also noticed I wasn’t finding the quality and quantity of artifacts that I once was. For a while I had one holdout that was still using this technique. He told me he liked to plow about every five years. Mostly because of compaction, but he also felt there were less crop diseases by turning over the soil every so often. Whenever he did this I was in heaven because I would always find something special that year. Now he has retired and his kids are farming the ground. It is now strictly in no till and I have not found anything on that farm for years.

This excerpt from "Yearning for the Old Days" published in the 2025 Central States Archaeological Societies 2025 January Journal Read this and mores in the Central States Archaeological 2025 January Journal which can be purchased on-line after March 2026

Figure 2. The Hardin point in situ and uncovered.

This last year our community had an antique tractor plowing demonstration. This was the first time we’ve had one since Covid upended everything. It was great to see these primitive machines and plows once again working the soil! They had the demonstration on a series of rises overlooking a low wet area that locally is known as Sargent Slough. Of course seeing those machines turning over the soil took me back to hose days gone by. And with the demonstration location overlooking a former wetland, I’m thinking about it being a good spot for finding artifacts. The best part was I also knew the landowner that owned the ground. So come spring, I gave him a call. After touching base with him and receiving permission, I set out on my trip down memory lane. Each antique tractor and plow would work up the soil a little bit differently, some going deeper than others. This is how I would mark my search rows. I meandered back and forth down each section from one end of the field to the other, switching sections on the way back. I found a lot of broken things up on those higher spots overlooking the slough. I found the tips of points, a few mid-sections and a number of scrapers that were scattered here and there. But my first nice find was like one of those special finds that I remember from the past.

It was a horrible day weather wise, with a wind driven rain at times, then switching to sleet. But the flint was really showing up. On one particular rise I started finding a number of small reduction flakes from the resharpening of tools. A little farther up I spotted something that my first thought was, “that’s a Madison point laying on top.” (Fig. 2) It definitely had a worked edge. As I pulled it out of the ground what I thought might be a Madison grew into a Hardin Barbed point. Now that is special in my book! After finding the Hardin, I headed home as I was wet, cold and tired. But ....

 

 

 

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