2 piece find

[Jrodcody]

Hi. I'm new here. I have a cool story and I'm hoping to learn what we found. We are in west central Illinois. A few months ago, I plowed up about a half acre for a deer food plot. My kids, who love to dig in the dirt, were playing in the plot. All of a sudden they jump up and come running to me saying they found an arrowhead. I thought "yeah right" until they got to me and showed me it. They found the big section pictured below. This weekend after a heavy rain, I walked the plot again. About 20 yards from the boys find, I stumbled upon a broken tip. Stuck it in my pocket not even considering it could be part of the other find. Later that day though, the boys come running again and show me that they matched up the tip to their find from a few months earlier. I thought I should probably go get a lotto ticket with that run of luck.

So we all are really curious About what we Found. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

[BabaORiley]

Wow and welcome from N'Eastern Illinois. That is incredible luck to find that tip. That piece is awesome. That tip is absolutely a match. As far as type it looks like either an Etley or a Heavy Duty and I am just basing that upon shape comparison only and a few of the HD examples show a mark on the base. There are folks here that can really nail down the IDs. I also noticed the notch on the base. That might be a plow nick but that is about the third piece in the last 2 weeks from Illinois with that exact marking. Excellent story and find to you and your kids!!! Show some close ups of that base if ya can.

[Jrodcody]

Thanks so much BabaORiley. Here is the base up close.

[BabaORiley]

Thnks JR. It looks like a plow ding or natural process with the close ups...but its ironic that I have seen three like that lately...the close up of the stem helps with the ID also...its a tough call as there are a few that are really close...I don't know how to post a link but check www.projectilepoints.net

[clambellies]

Great find! So lucky to have found the tip.

[JoshinMO]

An Etley Garden. Notice The Rust on broken area, still Awesome though!

[Jrodcody]

Thank you all for the info. I have a few beginner questions on it. I read something a bit ago that leads me to think it's several thousand years old. Would that be most likely and if so, who were the people using it. Woodland or mississippian are two terms we use here to talk about the more prehistoric tribes.
Was this a spear point used to hunt? I read they are found in clusters sometimes, so I am wonderi if that means they were perhaps used for large game by group hunting.

I didn't notice the rust color until you mentioned it but that probably clarifies that it was broken by a farmer instead of prehistorically.

Again thanks to you all. Very exciting info to have.

[JoshinMO]

Those were made in Late Archaic times by Great Knapper's. Most types of Point's don't come close to The size of Etley Point's. Great Find.

[Hi-Lo]

That's a fantastic story. Congrats on the match.

I would agree with Etley. And I would suggest that it was made on Burlington Chert.

Also, welcome to the forum from southwestern Ontario.

Thanks for sharing.

[Jrodcody]

I found this link after you folks told me the correct period. It tells me a ton of the basics so thank you again. There is a page that maps known archaic settlements in Illinois. I had no idea just how covered up with them my neck of the woods is.

[Havenhunter]

Welcome to the forum from SE VA. Hope this find, which is awesome by the way, won't be a onesie & you find others to share with us! That Etley is a beaut & should be professionally restored imho.

[Doug Humbarger]

Awesome find. Congratulations. I would definitely have it professionally restored.

[Hoss]

Nice find and love the story of how it was found. Thank you for sharing with us and welcome to arrowheads.com

[gregszybala]

Congrats and welcome. Very nice first find. Now put those boys to work turning that garden!

[SDhunter]

Awesome story and point. I think I might repair that one.