New site revisited

[Olden]

Nice layout with explanations Tom. Any idea what type of point the last one is - looks pretty old..

[tomf]

I think some of this stuff is Early Archaic which is as old as I'm likely to find out here.

[redrocks]

Nice ! Tom always fun checking out what u got at the Walmart of obsidian. Artifacts. Nice bunch of artifacts man .good. For you

[tomf]

Thanks, Red.

The bi-point is top shelf. One of the best I've ever found.

[Ron Kelley]

Hey Tom, You sure found a lot of nice ancient artifacts. Congrats on your successful hunts man. I'm scratching my head... Obsidian is incredibly easy to knap. For that reason most obsidian artifacts that I have seen have great detail.

[Kentucky point]

I thought the same.

[Kentucky point]

Some great stuff! That broken serrated point is killer. Stockton? Gunther?


That Bi-point is by far, the best. Great finds!

[tomf]

Thanks, KP

I'm useless with the types can't seem to see the subtle variations.

Love it when people help with it.

[SGT.Digger]

I’ve been back to the new site twice since I last posted.

I didn’t find any more painted stone tablets but I did find a bunch obsidian artifacts.

There is something a little unusual about this site.

The ratio of worked pieces to debitage is high.

The artifacts seem to be more coherent in terms of style, type and quality.

My first impression is of a village site rather than a workshop or seasonal camp.

The way the scatter is layed out, lack of debitage and the range of finds might support that idea…

A bunch of this stuff shows signs of grinding which is interesting.


There’s a lot to get through and it’s not all top shelf but I don’t discriminate and, if it’s more or less complete, I’ll post it.

In this case I’ve included a couple of brokes because they look interesting.


Close ups to follow...

I don’t know the difference between a seasonal or a village site but I would think that if there is a lithic source nearby then there would be lots of debitage around if it was a village site . Being because of the sedentary nature of a village there would need to be a constant supply of tools/lithic materials needed . Old men with a lot of time on their hands would have plenty of time chipping on flint. I’d like to see the layers of occupation and you could determine if this was a generational spot with lots of resources. Water , food, shelter that would’ve attracted people for hundreds of years . Spots that I’ve dug in Texas had one thing in common and that was the proximity to water and importantly out of the flood plane ( a flat area or river terrace) . During a more stable weather pattern over a few thousand years allowed peoples to camp generation after generation. I love to see the need to adapt to different point types for game and hunting methods in stratified occupation sites . It’s cool to see how far the technology or point types traveled with the different groups that occupied various regions in Texas. There’s a clear break in territorial regions where Indians that controlled different regions had different point types. I love Texas artifacts. Though all the North American Indians are descendants of the paleo/Folsom people’s , there began to be minor changes to points and styles and Languages and customs the more the population grew. A quick look at the descendants of Abraham and you can how just over 1000 years just 12 brothers or tribes of Israel could populate a very large area in a relatively short period of time. One of history’s best written records of the passing of time in my opinion. Also as important but not very many written records of the descendants of Noah that populated the whole Middle East/ Mediterranean with his various sons and the different languages and customs that flooded the regions in a short period of time can give us valuable insights to how quickly the native Americans could have spread throught North America. Sorry I got off on one of my writing tangents / threads and just went with it . What were we talking about and what was my point 🤔😀

[Tam]

I was going to ask if you have read about who populated the area .

[Artifascination]

Congrats Tom! That new site is turning up some awesome artifacts! Gotta love that black glass obsidian!

[Tam]

That one point with the serration has some really old flaking on it . Are these all surface finds?
you literally are living on a site . Your neighbors have left you some pretty amazing gifts from all those giant nutting stones to your obsidian Artifacts .

[tomf]

All surface finds, Tam. All vulnerable to the plough and in need of rescue.

So lucky to have time and permission to do so.

[Tam]

Going to some reads about your area it’s interesting. No kidding on the land of plenty . I know how bountiful that land was but I was referring to your collection .

[Ron Kelley]

This 139 page PDF has a lot of info and photos:

https://digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu/anthpubs/ucb/text/ucar012-007.pdf

The Archaeology of the Napa Region edited by Robert F. Heizer

[tomf]

Did you find that on your own? I've been hunting it for years. Finally stumbled on it a couple of days ago so I'm stoked.

It's got a ton of important info and will unlock so much knowledge for me.

[tomf]

Going to some reads about your area it’s interesting. No kidding on the land of plenty . I know how bountiful that land was but I was referring to your collection .

Tam, here is one of the most important studies of Napa indian archeology. I have wanted to get my hands on this for years but only just discovered an online version.
It's a goldmine of info for me and represents the best work of it's day (1953).

I'm going to post this on it's own thread but here's the link...

https://digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu/anthpubs/ucb/text/ucar012-007.pdf

[Tam]

Thanks T

[tomf]

Hey Tom, You sure found a lot of nice ancient artifacts. Congrats on your successful hunts man. I'm scratching my head... Obsidian is incredibly easy to knap. For that reason most obsidian artifacts that I have seen have great detail.

It's always confused me too. How some stuff is so well crafted and other stuff so crude. Different people in the same place at different times? Or maybe just a broad range of need and skill?

[tomf]

I don’t know the difference between a seasonal or a village site but I would think that if there is a lithic source nearby then there would be lots of debitage around if it was a village site . Being because of the sedentary nature of a village there would need to be a constant supply of tools/lithic materials needed . Old men with a lot of time on their hands would have plenty of time chipping on flint. I’d like to see the layers of occupation and you could determine if this was a generational spot with lots of resources. Water , food, shelter that would’ve attracted people for hundreds of years . Spots that I’ve dug in Texas had one thing in common and that was the proximity to water and importantly out of the flood plane ( a flat area or river terrace) . During a more stable weather pattern over a few thousand years allowed peoples to camp generation after generation. I love to see the need to adapt to different point types for game and hunting methods in stratified occupation sites . It’s cool to see how far the technology or point types traveled with the different groups that occupied various regions in Texas. There’s a clear break in territorial regions where Indians that controlled different regions had different point types. I love Texas artifacts. Though all the North American Indians are descendants of the paleo/Folsom people’s , there began to be minor changes to points and styles and Languages and customs the more the population grew. A quick look at the descendants of Abraham and you can how just over 1000 years just 12 brothers or tribes of Israel could populate a very large area in a relatively short period of time. One of history’s best written records of the passing of time in my opinion. Also as important but not very many written records of the descendants of Noah that populated the whole Middle East/ Mediterranean with his various sons and the different languages and customs that flooded the regions in a short period of time can give us valuable insights to how quickly the native Americans could have spread throught North America. Sorry I got off on one of my writing tangents / threads and just went with it . What were we talking about and what was my point 🤔😀

As I understand it, the cultures in this part of California were small triblets that practised a hunter/gatherer way of life within the confines of their territories. This is high valley and foothill country and the staple resources were acorns, field greens, small game and fish. They ranged within reasonably small areas bounded by natural borders, following harvest cycles. There camps were either established and returned to seasonally or more temporary depending on season and needs. Bigger villages would have a dance house and almost all would have sweat lodges. There were many variations in language and custom amongst local tribes but lifestyles were similar. They seemed to live quite peacefully for long periods with only local skirmishes with neighbors and didn't develop a much warrior culture. Like all indians their religion was ubiquitous in their daily lives but private and mysterious.
The people in this particular area spoke a variation of the Yukian language which is said to be one of the original Calafornia language stocks . The implication is that these people and their ancestors were always here.

[SurfaceHunter]

Idk how I missed this post. What a large amount of quality finds you had. Congratulations on those finds

[SDhunter]

That last point you showed is very nice indeed.

[tomf]

Do you mean the fragment?

Pretty sure it's the base of an ancient point but suspect it was repurposed to become some kind of scraper or spoke shave.

I think the breaks are intentional burin cuts.

Would love your opinion on that...

It looks like a ground concave base that transitioned to a serrated point.

Could be enough to 'type' it, if you know your stuff.

Sadly, I don't.

There are dozens of things it might be - if you were imaginative and looked at Overstreet - but nothing obvious, as far as I can tell.

So many points share mutual characteristics and, without a key identifier, how can you tell?

Stockton points have square serrations, that's key and makes them easier to ID.

The bi-point I found fits half a dozen types, if you are not too fussy about geographic range, if you are; there are very few to choose from and none that exactly fit.

I think experience is the only thing you can really trust - and build on that.

southfork recently helped me id a point as Houx Contracting Stem. It wasn't obvious at all, but he knew. I followed up and felt pretty convinced (all the stats matched) which helps me place a bunch of other stuff most likely associated, which makes it very valuable knowledge. The reason (apart from community) that I come here.

[Glacial Pebble]

Awesome finds Tom, keep saving them!