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  • Cataloging is a pain

    After 4 years of hunting, I have finally started to cataloging my finds. This is a pain in the brain. I'm not using a computer, all pencil and paper. Idk why I've waited this long. I'm only 7 pieces in and I'm really regretting not doing this sooner. How do y'all catalog your finds?
    Stagger Lee/ SE Missouri

  • #2
    one piece at a time like johney cashe’s Cadillac.sorry I couldn’t resist. seriously my system is not the best I.e. number..type...pertinent info...if you buy you should enter previous provenance footnote..some collectors have no. co. and state on the artifact ,,then seal it with clear nail polish..


    Floridaboy.

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    • #3
      I don't cause all of mine come from the same county
      NW Georgia,

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      • #4
        Do you know how to use Excel? Once you get your columns set up its so easy to enter and retrieve data. I don't catalog everything. I only find field grade pieces but I do like to know which field.
        South Carolina

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        • #5
          Most of mine are from the same county, too. would be impossible to catalog at this point. You gotta start young if you're gonna stick it out!
          Professor Shellman
          Tampa Bay

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          • #6
            I hunt numerous counties/states so I catalog. Every artifact gets a number followed by site (location) then material and year found.
            Near the PA/Ohio state line

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            • #7
              Back in the day when I was an active collector (long before GPS, etc. I had a set of topographic maps for the areas I collected. They were at a scale that I could fairly accurately locate my sites and I would inscribe a circle around the site with a pencil. I gave each site a number and write it up in a notebook that I called my Site Book and when I collected a point, tool, etc. I would write the number of the site on the rock in India ink on the piece. I would write it on the side that was the least attractive if it were an unbroken piece. I also wrote the month and year of the find. It would look something like this: 6/2-70 which meant site 6, February, 1970. That way I could put them all in a small box (I favored cigar boxes) If I found enough points from a particular site then I would be able to have site boxes. That way I could kinda keep up if it was an Archaic site or a Woodland site or a multi component site. I had well over 100 sites that I would visit and mapping them was the only way I could keep up. The first 2 or 3 years of my intensive collecting I did not do this. But when I joined a local chapter of the State archaeological society and met some real serious collectors and amateur archaeologists I saw what they were doing and followed their lead. I wished I had started earlier because by that time I already had several hundred whole unbroken points and many more broken ones. By doing this, I learned geographical characteristics that certain cultures seemed to favor. Recognizing these geographic characters on maps gave me the ability to look at a map and pick out potential sites and then take a 20 or 30 mile or more drive to see if the area was under cultivation and check it out for sign. If I did, then I would try to find the landowner and see if it was OK to hunt there. Sometimes that was the hard part. I usually only went to this much effort in my quest to find Early Archaic points which are usually the least common. Nowadays with GPS and Google Earth, etc. there are tools to locate sites more easily. Also, Google Earth lets you know whether to go to an area to hunt. For instance, a place may look good on a map but I couldn't really tell whether the area was in woods or plowed fields unless I drove to the area. I didn't mean to take so much time explaining what I use to do but thought it may be helpful to some of you folks. One thing it clearly does is to establish provenance for what you find which may prove helpful in the future.

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              • #8
                Thanks for the responses y'all. I think I have figured out how I want to do it.
                Stagger Lee/ SE Missouri

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                • #9
                  Cataloging can be a pain, but if you want any information or provenance to stay with your finds, it has to be done. If your collection grows the locations where the artifacts were found starts to blur. A drop of Hard As Nails nail polish on the side of the point that you will display downwards. Wait a day for it to totally dry, then write a site code on the piece. Another day to dry and then another thin layer of Hard As Nails. Ultra Fine Sharpie or Fine Gel Paint pen works fine.

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                  • #10
                    You know BA good old pen and paper is the way .
                    remember the old timers putting a dot on them with what looks like white out . Anything that works for you .
                    Your abbreviations words and you will have your own code .
                    Then if you pass them down that piece of paper will be greatly appreciate .

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