Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

A Rhode Island Frame

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • #46
    Rhode Island Paleo
    Posted by [CMD]:

    Moderator Note: this thread was first posted in 2010 but failed to transfer across to the new forum when the software was updated, and so has been re-created manually.

    Like many surface hunters, I'm always dreaming of finding something paleo. Late paleo will do. Narragansett Bay is a drowned river valley, so any early paleo campsites in our area are probably at the bottom of the bay. But last night a funny thing happened. I was looking at a site frame and took a closer look at this point. I know where it was found, but neither my wife nor I can remember which of us found it. It was found severaly years ago. Apparently one of us has found a late paleo piece without either of us realizing it. It's thin, tan quartzite, and thinned to a hinge fracture on both faces.
    First pic is side A.
    Charlie

    Click image for larger version

Name:	RI_Paleo_024.jpg
Views:	374
Size:	197.9 KB
ID:	208264

    Side B.........
    Click image for larger version

Name:	RI_Paleo_026.jpg
Views:	321
Size:	192.9 KB
ID:	208265

    Side B showing an impact fracture to the tip. Well, this isn't Missouri, or kentucky, or Ohio, where we might have a chance of finding a true clovis, but by our standards this got us pretty excited, even if we don't know who found it!
    Click image for larger version

Name:	RI_Paleo_023.jpg
Views:	318
Size:	193.7 KB
ID:	208266

    I keep six honest serving-men (they taught me all I knew); Their names are What and Why and When and How and Where and Who.

    Comment


    • #47
      Digging on private property with permission may be legal. Digging archaeological sites in a willy nilly fashion just to collect artifacts destroys context. Why any collector would be unable to understand why archaeologists don't like to see context destroyed is beyond me. I admit I am a different kind of collector. I do believe information trumps artifacts. Gaining information from sites is far more important then collecting trophies from a site. There has never been an undisturbed Clovis level site discovered in my home state of Rhode Island. Suppose I discover one in the course of digging and just go about collecting as much as I can and frame it all for my personal enjoyment. In my opinion, that would make me a selfish asshole with no concern for my state's prehistoric heritage. I am so tired of listening to collectors who seem to honestly believe their hobby is more important then the prehistoric heritage of our nation......
      Rhode Island

      Comment


      • #48
        Rhode Island Paleo
        Posted by [CMD]

        Moderator Note: this thread was first posted in 2010 but failed to transfer across to the new forum when the software was updated, and so has been re-created manually.

        Like many surface hunters, I'm always dreaming of finding something paleo. Late paleo will do. Narragansett Bay is a drowned river valley, so any early paleo campsites in our area are probably at the bottom of the bay. But last night a funny thing happened. I was looking at a site frame and took a closer look at this point. I know where it was found, but neither my wife nor I can remember which of us found it. It was found severaly years ago. Apparently one of us has found a late paleo piece without either of us realizing it. It's thin, tan quartzite, and thinned to a hinge fracture on both faces.
        First pic is side A.
        Charlie

        Click image for larger version

Name:	RI_Paleo_024.jpg
Views:	470
Size:	197.9 KB
ID:	228420


        Posted by [CMD ]
        Side B.........

        Click image for larger version

Name:	RI_Paleo_026.jpg
Views:	332
Size:	192.9 KB
ID:	228421


        Posted by [CMD]
        Side B showing an impact fracture to the tip. Well, this isn't Missouri, or kentucky, or Ohio, where we might have a chance of finding a true clovis, but by our standards this got us pretty excited, even if we don't know who found it!

        Click image for larger version

Name:	RI_Paleo_023.jpg
Views:	549
Size:	193.7 KB
ID:	228422
        I keep six honest serving-men (they taught me all I knew); Their names are What and Why and When and How and Where and Who.

        Comment


        • clambellies
          clambellies commented
          Editing a comment
          Charlie, you certainly showed it to the right people who could give you an honest oppinion- If they said Paleo, I'd sleep happy with that appraisal!

        • CMD
          CMD commented
          Editing a comment
          Originally posted by clambellies View Post
          Charlie, you certainly showed it to the right people who could give you an honest oppinion- If they said Paleo, I'd sleep happy with that appraisal!
          Alan, as far as I know only one fluted point has ever been found in context in RI, and it was a small quartzite example as well. It has been questionable if it was a fluted point. William Fowler excavated it at Twin Rivers, in Lincoln, RI, in 1951-2. Boudreau concluded it was a fluted point, and probably a Bull Brook variety. It was found about 3" above the Pleistocene gravel floor, which included a hearth.

          http://library.bridgew.edu/exhibits/...MAS-v14n01.pdf

          I'm not sure about the color anymore. Somehow the point varies depending on the light, and I have not been able to duplicate the color shown in my last comment. Boudreau sent me a photo he had of Fowler's point shortly before he passed, and both he and one other RI archaeologist had noted it reminded them of Fowler's fluted quartzite point. I laid mine next to that image of Fowler's point. As can be seen, Fowler restored the tip on his point. It's interesting that Bull Brook was suggested for the style on both these quartzite points. Ours was found in the Providence River, quite a bit offshore, and not far from a known Paleo loci in the East Providence area. I would not restore the tip on ours, because it shows an impact fracture on one side. Anyway, it was interesting to learn that Fowler's point turned out to be the only such point excavated in context in RI to date. At least so far as I know....
          Last edited by CMD; 10-25-2016, 08:11 AM.

        • clambellies
          clambellies commented
          Editing a comment
          Interesting point to have in your collection, for sure. So very similar to Fowler's point. Thanks for taking the time to get the comparison picture posted.

      • #49
        This photo, from a display of a Rhode Island frame at the Robbins Museum will likely not post big enough, but if one looks at the long, narrow, purplish triangle in the center, that would be a classic example of a New England Hardaway-Dalton. OK, photo is big enough. That long narrow triangle is far more easily identifiable as the New England Hardaway-Dalton as Boudreau understood it...

        Click image for larger version

Name:	IMG_8547.PNG
Views:	343
Size:	28.4 KB
ID:	268216


        Rhode Island

        Comment


        • Shedhunter
          Shedhunter commented
          Editing a comment
          Thanks Charlie, I've never been sure about that one that I posted, but it is definitely different from most of the triangles I've found, and I've always thought it was earlier.

        • CMD
          CMD commented
          Editing a comment
          And you could well be right on your hunch. I have a lot of respect for hunches when collectors know their own sites well...

      • #50
        Just went through that thread, and not sure why it was posted in the Questions and Answers category? I realize he may not have known where to post it, and hence the idea of a separate category, but it could have fit in the Native American Culture and Lifestyle category more comfortably, and logically, IMHO....

        Edit: artifact displays are displays of cultural resources, after all, one reason I think putting such things in the Native American Culture category makes perfect sense. But, again, not my call....

        I would love to start a thread on the Robbins Museum, have many photos, but almost felt like I would be violating a "copyright" if I did, lol. But I might start one on a particular frame they display which happens to be the best frame of Rhode Island points I have ever seen. I would likely post that in the Native American Artifacts category, as it is just one frame, albeit a huge frame.
        Last edited by CMD; 01-25-2018, 09:04 AM.
        Rhode Island

        Comment


        • #51
          As promised, more from the Robbins Museum of the Massachusetts Archaeological Society....

          Those Rhode Islanders who have seen this frame seem to feel as I do, that it's the nicest frame of RI points in one place that we've seen. The plaque at lower left reads: "This display case sponsored by the Council of Seven, Royal House of Pokanoket, Pokanoket Tribe, Wampanoag Nation, 2014". Massasoit and later his son, Metacomet or King Philip, were sachems of the Pokanoket. Their main village was in what is now Bristol, RI, in the Pilgrim's time a part of Plymouth Colony.

          Wish I had one photo to show scale. In the long axis, this frame is about 3 feet long, way oversized for most of us who frame our points. The largest points in the center arc are about 5" or bigger. Quartz, rhyolites, Argillite, cherts, Jasper, and unknown lithics, at least to me. I'll post a series of photos in a couple of comments, with closeups of a few of interest....

          Click image for larger version

Name:	IMG_9645.PNG
Views:	425
Size:	1.08 MB
ID:	286182

          Click image for larger version

Name:	IMG_9646.PNG
Views:	348
Size:	1.14 MB
ID:	286183

          Click image for larger version

Name:	IMG_9647.PNG
Views:	371
Size:	1.07 MB
ID:	286184
          Rhode Island

          Comment


          • -=METACOM=-
            -=METACOM=- commented
            Editing a comment
            I've been going back to this post for a while now... That's a mesmerizing artifact display if I've ever seen one. And the two bifurcates, they're gorgeous. I've always wanted to find one of those.

          • Pointhead
            Pointhead commented
            Editing a comment
            Every now and then I go back to this post as well. It's hard to believe our fields and beaches once regularly held artifacts of this quality. I dream of a day when I could walk up on a point like any of those in the case! The bannerstone, celt, and multi colored lithics that these points were made on are stunning.

          • SurfaceHunter
            SurfaceHunter commented
            Editing a comment
            Even though this is a year old I haven’t seen it and enjoyed it very much. Thanks for bumping it

        • #52
          That rhyolite point from the Rhode Island frame is unbelieveable.. those finds just don’t come by often, anywhere. I’d feel like I died and went to heaven.

          On the the topic of the hardaway Dalton’s that have been resharpened, we have a gang of people walking around with squib triangles telling everyone their point is 10,000 years old .. because most don’t look for the characteristics of a hardaway, with the grinding, slight fluting, sometimes a slight ear. Once someone shows me the grinding or slight fluting like you did Charlie, then I’m convinced. You have to nice examples above.

          I think there is room for confusion because, most people think of typology as being as easy as matching shapes, but there were other characteristics that others are overlooking.

          These points continue to generate discussions, it’s really cool how the early archaic late paleo time dates fascinate us all as collectors.

          how many do you believe you’ve come across in your own hunting?
          Can’t find em sitting on the couch; unless it’s in a field

          Comment


          • -=METACOM=-
            -=METACOM=- commented
            Editing a comment
            Definitely room for confusion, I'm almost always hesitant to settle on a type when I find something.

        • #53
          Here is a very similar hardaway dalton like the one in the rhode island frame...from massachusetts..

          Comment


          • CMD
            CMD commented
            Editing a comment
            Nice!

          • -=METACOM=-
            -=METACOM=- commented
            Editing a comment
            ooo, love that.

        • #54
          My wife met him in a field one day, while she was hunting points with a woman friend we knew from the old Narragansett Archaeological Society. Earl had never seen women hunting points before. He was about 85 then. So taken by the thought of women hunting points, he asked them if they would like to see all the producing fields he knew, in that town, and all the surrounding towns? Well, what would you say, lol. So off they went.

          When she got home that night, she said they had met "this old man". "Who?", I asked. "Earl Richardson". My jaw likely dropped. "You met who?!?!"

          Some background. First off, I owned artifacts found by this guy. Then there was Earl's father, John Richardson. A charter member of the Massachusetts Archaeological Society, when the MAS was formed, John jump started their museum by donating 50,000 artifacts. Most were personal finds, collected from coast to coast. Often in the company of his son, Earl. I have a hard time wrapping my mind around that number. I know I adopted this hobby 50 years too late, but that is just crazy. Then there was John's brother, Earl's uncle, Clarence Richardson. Rudolph Haffenreffer, a wealthy RI industrialist who maintained a museum on his property, at one point purchased 20,000 artifacts from Clarence, most found in Rhode Island. Guess Clarence was no sloutch either! Haffenreffer was quite the collector, and his farm is still preserved as open space, owned by Brown Unversity. The location where Wampanoag sachem King Philip, Metacomet, met his end is located there, as is King Philip's Chair, a natural formation where he held forth in council. To top it off, Earl's grandfather had been quite the avid artifact hunter as well.

          So, when my wife(actually still my girlfriend at that time) came home that night, I knew all this. That's kinda why my jaw dropped.
          But what of Earl himself? Well, this I also knew. Earl was a hero in the European theater of WWII. A dealer/collector I knew, who had sold me a few relics that had been found by Earl, showed me a full page newspaper story from the 40's, from when Earl came home. There was Earl, in uniform, with just a silly number of medals pinned to his uniform. Wish now that I could remember some of the stories attached to his heroics, but, alas, I do not.

          But there was one story of his exploits as a collector that Earl would later confirm with a photo of what he had found. Fresh from the war, Earl hopped on his motorcycle for a cross country ride to unwind. In the area that is Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, Earl found a stone statue of a human figure, about 2' tall, in one of the canyons. Well, he wasn't about to leave that behind. So, he strapped it to his back, and rode his bike home to Ma. that way. To me, Earl was a legend.

          In the past, I've called Earl one of my mentors. Actually, he was really one of several of the old timers I knew back in the 90's.
          My wife and I had the pleasure of hunting with Earl just a handful of times. He lived out Plymouth, Ma. way, and did not get to RI that often, although his mother and her side of his family were from here, and he would usually combine a visit to the family burial ground with a little point hunting.

          Oh, but he was a character. About 6'6" tall, wonderful Yankee accent. Great sense of humor. One time we were out with him visiting fields in Ma. He wanted to go to one field in particular. The owner had always welcome Earl, but now the son owned the field, and he was not as friendly. The field was posted. But the field dropped down steeply to a river. Walk on the low section, near that river, and the owner would never see you. So, Earl says to us "follow me", and he hops the wall on property next door to the big corn field. Suddenly I realize we are on a huge and beautifully manicured lawn, there's a mansion to our left, and on the porch is a guy in his pajamas sipping his coffee. "Ah, Earl, do you see that guy?! He's watching us! What are we doing?!" "Follow me", Earl says, and he hops another wall, and into the corn field we go for the hunt. I don't know who that guy was, but I take it that was not the first time Earl had crossed his lawn, lol.

          Now, about Earl and the Nottoway River, Virginia. Every Spring Earl would drive to visit a daughter who lived on that river. Earl told us "I know all the hot spots better then any local down there!" Judging from the frames he created just from one trip, I don't think he was exaggerating.

          Well, forgive me, but it was a dark and stormy night. Lol, sorry, but it was not fit for man nor beast. The phone rings, and its Earl. It takes a little while to realize he's calling from a phone booth outside a convenience store a few blocks from our place. And he's driven all the way from Plymouth, to visit and show me some frames. So I tell him to stay right there, "I'll meet ya, and you can follow me back".

          So, after a brief spell checking out our own collection, and in the process recognizing a huge knife his father had found, which was news to me, the purpose of his visit was revealed. He had brought 4 frames, 3 from his last trip to the Nottoway, and one from a local spot. $50 a piece. Well, it seemed Earl was hard up for money. Heck of a drive without even knowing if I'd be home, let alone in a monsoon. Well, I did buy relics from out of my region in those days, so I bought the three Nottoway frames. The local frame was all very common "small stem" quartz points. I just was not interested.

          Then came the hard sell. Earl knew all about "my field of dreams". He had actually cut his teeth arrowhead hunting there in the 1930's. It's played out now, truly so, but we took an amazing and varied amount of material from that field, and, although it won't happen, I would not mind at all being buried along side the field. It's meant that much to me. And now Earl is telling me this last frame came from that field. The problem was no way would a frame full of "small stems" ever come from that field. I knew it way too well to believe that for one second. Material from there was too varied, and "small stems" were actually quite rare there, even though they are probably the most common type in our region. Well, I'll be, I thought to myself, Earl is trying to hustle me!! Earl left that night, still in possession of that one frame.

          And that was to be the last time I saw Earl. Did speak to him on the phone once or twice, but he changed his number eventually, and I never even learned when he passed away. But, that night, I felt some hurt. It hurt that he had tried to hustle me. But I also was sad that he had driven so far, in such conditions, just for a fairly small amount of money. I felt no real ill will toward him at all. He had been so generous in showing us spots, he was a hero of the Second World War, he was the last of his family to hunt artifacts. And sometimes I still ask him to guide my steps at the start of a hunt.

          So, here is the last frame I have from Earl's trips to the Nottoway River.

          Click image for larger version  Name:	IMG_1426.JPG Views:	1 Size:	172.4 KB ID:	319626




          Last edited by CMD; 09-13-2018, 09:46 PM.
          Rhode Island

          Comment


          • Broken Arrow
            Broken Arrow commented
            Editing a comment
            Great story, Charlie!

          • Pointhead
            Pointhead commented
            Editing a comment
            I always enjoy stories like this, and as to starting too late, the best decision you made was to start Charlie. That’s the way I look at it. If I never started I would’ve never found anything. Can’t change the past.

            Im fortunate to have a few “earl” like mentors around now. 8 wonder if I’ll be writing a similar story a fee decades from now? Great story, and that frame of points is very cool.

          • Hoss
            Hoss commented
            Editing a comment
            Some very nice points in that frame Charl

        • #55
          so being a school teacher, is love to have a frame of points for my classroom.. I’ve slowly been trying to put together Rhode Island finds that are not my own personal finds.. because as a teacher I know eventually a frame will be dropped, or fall off the wall etc. I won’t be so heart broken if one accidentally breaks, or is dropped!

          this week I scored a massive stark point, nearly 4 inches made out of a worn quartzite! It’s a beauty, and I’m glad to have started my school frame with it.
          Can’t find em sitting on the couch; unless it’s in a field

          Comment


          • gregszybala
            gregszybala commented
            Editing a comment
            Great idea.
            You need any from the Midwest?

          • Broken Arrow
            Broken Arrow commented
            Editing a comment
            Noble cause, Ben. I have a feeling you're going to be seeing alot of students bringing in all manner of pointy rocks

          • CMD
            CMD commented
            Editing a comment
            Yeah, I saw that one listed, and he's a good seller. I got a ground slate point from Providence from that seller a few years back.

        • #56
          Charl is this argillite? Click image for larger version

Name:	IMG_20190219_113114.jpg
Views:	402
Size:	58.9 KB
ID:	351533

          Comment


          • #57
            I like how you did the shadow pics
            NW Georgia,

            Comment


            • Josie
              Josie commented
              Editing a comment
              I like that, too. Looks like a method that might help looking at Carolina quartz.

          • #58
            I think I found a clovis in North Kingstown near the jamestown bridge

            Comment


            • #59
              I think the untyped bifurcate point made from argillite may be a Limeton point. This is one of my all time favorite threads. Thank you for sharing

              Comment

              Working...
              X