Indian marker trees

[kbcountry]

Are indian marker trees used to find campsites for collecting artifacts.

[rmartin]

Hey KB, hope you don't mind but I moved your thread to Q&A's. I am sure some others will respond but personally I think the use of trees by Native Americans for trail markers is a myth.

[kbcountry]

I met a guy today that had a fine collection of points from central Texas and he told me about the trees and how they help him locate sites. This was the first I have ever heard about the indian marker trees but found plenty of info from Google.

[Bone2stone]

This question is just what most greeners want an answer to, but I have to be honest.
Since there is a great deal of time between when the native Americans had their day and now, the trees would have to be ancient in the extreme. Not many of those first growth trees around any more.
There are many of the old "Spanish Oak/Iron Oak" tree growth areas around Texas that if you were to take a close look you  would see that there is a "center" where and original growth tree once stood.
From that point on the trees take their growth pattern from prevailing conditions. Weather they were struck by lighting or were just in soil conditions that could not support the weight of their branches and they leaned over and have that "Pattern" that would suggest such a pointer/marker.
All just a myth.
The info on the internet is there just like "thunderbirds" and so called totem "Effigies".
Believe as you wish just keep in mind that there are a lot of natural anomalies out there.
Jess B.

[painshill]

I don't think they're gonna be useful in locating camps. Not everyone agrees that such trees exist, but - if they do - they're most probably gonna be in the Great Lakes region and no longer likely to be a complete chain of trees indicating a trail. An isolated tree or even a couple of trees wouldn't help much without knowing what start point and end point was intended. There is some information in our reference section here:

http://forums.arrowheads.com/forum/information-center-gc33/native-american-culture-lifestyle-gc108/hunting-fishing-agriculture-plant-usage-gc113/105501-trail-marker-trees

[kbcountry]

painshill thanks for the reply but I wonder why the guy(reputable) would tell me about the trees in locating his sites and he has a very impressive collection of artifacts.

[painshill]

kbcountry wrote:

painshill thanks for the reply but I wonder why the guy(reputable) would tell me about the trees in locating his sites and he has a very impressive collection of artifacts.

  That's an unanswerable question without knowing who this guy is and exactly what he is claiming these trees tell him. If he thinks he knows something that we don't, perhaps you could get him to share that knowledge and post it here... or encourage him to join the site, show us some of those impressive artefacts and tell us about the trees in his area.
But the general answer to your original question: "Are indian marker trees used to find campsites for collecting artifacts?" is still "no" for most collectors. That isn't how they locate campsites. They use other geographical clues about suitabiity of terrain, availability of resources to support a camp, old maps and contemporary accounts, place names derived from Native languages, lithic scatter patterns, pottery debris and such.

[kbcountry]

Thank you. I took pictures of some of his collection and if I was'nt so computer iliterate I would post them. Thanks again. I don't get on here much but I do like this forum.