Question on steep creak and river banks

[Upatree]

"Creek"..lol..I have yet to find an arrowhead sticking out of a clay bank or sand bank so what's driving me crazy is that at one of my honey holes I have steep sand banks and I can see river rock down towards the base. I've found two points on this 12 foot high bank last week. My mind keeps telling me the points are washing out from the layer of river rock but i dont have enough experience to know that for a fact. Shifting sands during a flood can move tons of sand around no doubt but this bank is primarily worn from heavy rains. It's on a sandpit that the river cuts into on a 3 or 4 inch rain so it doesn't flood every year. I just wish I could find a point sticking out of this bank so I could have a timeline in the bank. My mind is addicted to finding the rock bed but they could very easily be falling down the bank 15 inches from the top...on clay banks I would think the possibilities are better that most points are up in the top 3rd of the soil but this sand is rattling my brain a little.. I would appreciate your experience and knowledge of this...thank you

[SGT.Digger]

Get a hoe and start shaving the bank until you hit something. Should see some sort of color change or flecks of charcoal if the has actually been any camping along that area

[SurfaceHunter]

Look for dark stained dirt it would be a starting point. I've never found one on the eroding sections just in the creek. If it's a farm land creek there should be run off sections from the fields going into the creek. I'd look in those sections of the fields might be washing into the creek from the fields

[MidTennHunter]

Good suggestion, SurfaceHunter. I had a bar that would always give me some things and I couldn’t figure where they were coming from and I finally found it. Above the bar, there is a tiny drainage ditch that cuts through two humps on a hill and it is full of flakes and has gave me quite a bit of stuff with only two walks up it so yes check for any ditch nearby.

[SurfaceHunter]

Another tip is if there is another creek that empties into the bigger creek. You look in the one the enters into the bigger as well. I'm still trying to get permission to one like this further upstream. I've found where all the artifacts are coming from just have to get a yes.

[Tam]

I agree with digger in shaving away at the bank . They are coming from some area above the water .
I saw a guy on utube take buckets of water and just throw it on the bank after he did find something .
Now this is coming from a person that is yet to find a creek find but to keep wanting to find it in the bank .
surfacehunter is in the creeks with success .

[Tam]

The Ditchwalker thats the name just posted a utube on a bank washing out . Take a look and see if it looks like yours .

[Lone Star]

Man, everybody had sound advise. That's what it's about. Congrates to all you guys.
Having just noticed this, I thought I'd add my 2 cents, but ya'll covered it real well !!
The only thing i could add from experience with my area is take advantage of how to read a sand/gravel bar. The big stuff stops first, small stuff and sand tails off the end.
I have noticed a chipped and worked flint piece or point will settle in the mostly inbetween the two. That doesn't hold true all the time. That being said, I found my best ( a 2 1/2" G-10 paleo) down at the end of the sand bar and in the middle of a 4 wheeler track. Nothing beats a keen eye. Good luck.

[KSCreeking]

Upatree, I see you're hunting in Kansas as well. I primarily hunt creeks and rivers and this drives me crazy as well. I have one creek in particular that I have found 4 points and and hundreds of flakes within a hundred yards of each other but I can't figure out where they are coming from for the life of me. There's field on both sides of the creek but I have yet to find any signs of activity out of the creek bed. If only the rivers here were more rock than sand....

[Shepherd]

I live right here on the Tennessee River. Lake Pickwick is one of the best places to find incredible points, BUT, its TVA land and I'm here to tell you TVA has cracked down so hard on Surface Hunters walking the river when the water is down in the winter. They can actually fine you take your truck go to your house and take your collection possibly face jail time. This is mainly the result of people digging up Graves at 7 Mile and selling those artifacts on the black market. So for me the juice ain't worth the squeeze on the river no more . But I've spent my fair share time walking up and down the banks in my day. When I come to a spot where it's Clay the clay will usually have pockets that have formed and I have found a many of arrowheads poking in those pockets. Don't know if that's the same situation you're talkin about but if it is I would definitely try it

[tomclark]

We cannot dig banks in FL..... but the concentration of tools and points are IN the river, caught in rubble piles. Snorkel the edge of the creek/river checking where the stuff originally falls, hopefully there is a crack or catchment on the bottom, then check the rubble piles downstream..