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Getting real jealous of y'all's big beautiful pieces, I want some of my own!

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  • Getting real jealous of y'all's big beautiful pieces, I want some of my own!

    Most of the points I find are between 1 and 3". I'm sure it partly has to do with my area and material, but I get so jealous seeing half a dozen gorgeous huge points y'all find in a day. Are those found by digging? Is it possible to find them surface hunting? I've got pretty darn good at finding what I find, but that means I mostly find what I know how to find (lol). I'm convinced the big points are either found a different way or maybe my area (upstate SC - which is totally totally different geology to lowcountry SC btw) just hardly has any to find. We're pretty material-poor around here. Anyone got any tips for here or big points? Agriculture is kinda rare around here cause of the clay, so finding plowed fields is hard and the ones that are around have been plowed for like 2 or 300 years. I'm posting inch tall arrowheads and lumps of garbage quartz and most y'all got proper works of art and I hate to say I'm jealous but I'm absolutely green after browsing posts.

    There probably isn't an easy answer like I'd like except to take a trip out West! But I just want to find ONE really nice big point. I have a huge Savannah River and even it looks like a kindergarten art project next to even the normal points a lot of you find. I've got some amazing bird points that are unbelievable work but... they're so tiny. I have one Kirk I love love love and is a good size, and it's just charcoal color.

    I just want to find one gorgeous big one with colors! Ugh I feel real proud til I see what y'all find. I dunno what I expect, maybe I'm just venting. It is a deep down ache though, looking and looking and never finding something like that.
    Central Iowa now, used to be in SC.

  • #2
    It is a rare occasion to find a large point anywhere nowadays unless you dig or live on an ancient site. Never get discouraged by the miles that you will walk trying to find them or what other folks might have found. Those pictures don’t show the struggle to find that big’un. If you keep looking and learning the clues left behind then you will find some but it is not an easy task. Just today Ashley and I walked over 5 miles and was lucky enough to find 4 whole points along with a couple of broken ones. The largest was only about 2.5” but that is still a good day in my book. There are stories of old timers pulling 12”-16” blades out of the ground in caches that can still make you dream big. There’s more out there just got to find the right spot! Good luck on your journey.
    SE ARKANSAS

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    • #3
      Click image for larger version

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      Professor Shellman
      Tampa Bay

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      • antmike915
        antmike915 commented
        Editing a comment
        Now that's a knife 🔪

      • JoshinMO
        JoshinMO commented
        Editing a comment
        Ha

      • Tam
        Tam commented
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        Tom thats just darn right perfect in every way .

    • #4
      Size doesn’t matter... lol...✌️ Click image for larger version

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      Southeastern Minnesota’s driftless area

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      • Hal Gorges
        Hal Gorges commented
        Editing a comment
        Exactly!...

    • #5
      Looky the two show offs! O, Coy, you’ve opened the gate for Big Point Flood! Wahoo....! I don’t remember ever having Biggest Point Contest; bet we ‘bout to have one ....Might better hold on tight to raft!
      Last edited by Cecilia; 04-30-2021, 09:40 AM.
      Digging in GA, ‘bout a mile from the Savannah River

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      • Coy
        Coy commented
        Editing a comment
        Haha I guess I asked for it!

    • #6
      Click image for larger version

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      South Carolina

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      • Coy
        Coy commented
        Editing a comment
        I've got some like that.... 😝

    • #7
      Found Maxine right in the middle of a path, five feet from a chicken pen. She was on edge, and had a little algae growing on the exposed edge. Also the exposed side was worn down from foot traffic. Not sure that's of any help to you though. LOL!
      South Carolina

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      • Coy
        Coy commented
        Editing a comment
        On edge like just the edge was visible, or all exposed but wedged between stuff?

        Not that I'm trying to imply Maxine would expose herself in public haha 😉

      • Narrow Way Knapper
        Narrow Way Knapper commented
        Editing a comment
        The side closer to my finger tips was facing up and maybe only 1/4 of the point was visible. I do not have an insitu, because I thought it might be cement. When I pulled it out I couldn't believe my eyes.

    • #8
      Does this count? Lol...

      Dont get discouraged, Coy. I hunted for a good 10/15 years before I started to, consistently, find points over 3". The one in the picture took me 30 years to blindly stumble across. And, keep in mind, for every ONE killer I post, theres a shoe box of itty-bitties and pooters.

      I wish I knew a "trick", but in my experience......its just hours and hours and hours of walking. Hang in there!
      Attached Files
      Western Kentucky

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      • Mailman
        Mailman commented
        Editing a comment
        Yessir

      • Coy
        Coy commented
        Editing a comment
        I've never seen a piece like that.... is it a spear/atlatl point? It's gorgeous!

      • Mailman
        Mailman commented
        Editing a comment
        Dagger/knife.

    • #9
      If it's any consolation, I have that same deep down ache for a good dicoidal, an intact banner, and some catalinite.

      I dont know how to spell catalinite....
      Western Kentucky

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      • Cecilia
        Cecilia commented
        Editing a comment
        You must already have coupla bird stones....

      • Coy
        Coy commented
        Editing a comment
        Ugh, I haven't even gotten around yet to feeling jealous of those things! I'm still in the finding lumps of rock and imagining they're something stage when it comes to anything besides points haha. I haven't got any kind of eye for tools or game stones yet. But I feel like I'm over-ready to graduate to Big Boy points but I'm stuck in kindy!

      • Mailman
        Mailman commented
        Editing a comment
        You'll get there.

    • #10
      I've found a good bit of my big points digging but have found a few in plowed fields (#1 digging, #2 construction site). You never know what can happen on a hunt.
      Attached Files
      Last edited by antmike915; 04-29-2021, 11:58 PM.
      🐜 🎤 SW Georgia

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      • Coy
        Coy commented
        Editing a comment
        Oh wow, that first point!!! 😍😍😍😍

      • Mailman
        Mailman commented
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        Gulp.

      • Tam
        Tam commented
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        I knew you were going to chime in 👍

    • #11
      I can count on one hand the number of points, over a mere 3 inches, that I have found in 60+ years.....
      Rhode Island

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      • Cecilia
        Cecilia commented
        Editing a comment
        Maybe, but you sure do collect (and read and share) some big winners Informative-and-Interesting-Articles!

      • CMD
        CMD commented
        Editing a comment
        Well, actually, it’s more like two hands, lol....

    • #12
      I get it. That's why I got into knapping. My largest projectile is just shy of 3" after almost 10 years hunting and
      anything larger I find is crude like a knife form, preform or blank. But there are other things to find. I found an axe once, a 16" bowl in 75 pieces, half a banner stone, so many pecking and hammer stones I often leave them, a clay pipe stem, and I don't feel jealous anymore. But I still dream of the Grand daddy. Now I don't knap much lol. It's. Just a marvelous thing to study and learn about, and learn from
      New Jersey

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      • Coy
        Coy commented
        Editing a comment
        How'd you find those other pieces? Surface, digging, plowed fields...?

      • kayakaddict
        kayakaddict commented
        Editing a comment
        No I don't dig, I let the tides erode and check back lol

    • #13
      Hay there Coy. Plowed fields will only yield a few larger point because anything over 3 inches can get broken by the plow. Fields that have been hunted for decades have already been picked over and the Big Boys are in collections. My area lithics don't lend themselves to large preforms so there aren't that many points over 3 inches. Whenever anyone finds an area that hasn't ever been hunted, will find the big ones, and that doesn't happen very often. I hunt the tree lines between field and creek or river. Those areas never been plowed. You will find bigger points in those areas. My friends
      the Ground hogs also help me find some big ones. Pictured is a Ground hog find. You have to hunt outside the box!

      Click image for larger version

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      Knowledge is about how and where to find more Knowledge. Snyder County Pa.

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      • Coy
        Coy commented
        Editing a comment
        Great tip! I've got a lot of treeline at my disposal.

    • #14
      WillJo sent me this big broke, and it was first big (-ger than a quarter) artifact ever held in my hands!

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      Last edited by Cecilia; 04-30-2021, 11:38 AM.
      Digging in GA, ‘bout a mile from the Savannah River

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      • Hal Gorges
        Hal Gorges commented
        Editing a comment
        Couldn’t happen to a nicer person.

      • Tam
        Tam commented
        Editing a comment
        Doesn’t look broke to me! worked yes

      • Cecilia
        Cecilia commented
        Editing a comment
        Tam, I will pull it out and re-examine with my now more experienced eyeballs. (Guess before could not imagine someone who found a whole one of these would send to then-almost-perfect stranger…. especially if almost-stranger mighta seemed lil strange…😛! But, now know WillJo bettter, and it’s quite possible!)

    • #15
      Ugh y'all are KILLIN ME HERE! haha 😂😫😢😂😫😢😂😫😢😂

      I'm loving seeing y'all's points (even if I'm practically on fire I'm burning so hard with envy). I'd love to also hear how/where you found your chokers. Are any of them surfaces finds?

      About 8/10 the points I find are totally exposed. I do pry out promising looking stones if I see a bit exposed, but it seems like the points usually come all the way up or stay buried.

      I guess most good stuff has maybe already been found in SC, since European folk settled here so long ago, but I'm curious is bigger pieces are less likely to be exposed, or less likely to migrate through the soil? I tried learning about soil hydrology (the flow of ground soil) but I couldn't make heads or tails of it even though I'm usually good with that sort of thing. Let alone applying the ideas to points and the geology of my area and where objects that old would end up (or maybe I'm trying to over think it and it's comes down to miles in the saddle and luck, or access to special locations).

      One day I'll be posting on here and y'all will be like "wow, no one's ever found a 13,000 year old knapped long sword made of rainbow obsidian before!" haha But that might be a few years down the road for me yet..... 😂😂😂
      Last edited by Coy; 04-30-2021, 04:54 PM.
      Central Iowa now, used to be in SC.

      Comment


      • Mailman
        Mailman commented
        Editing a comment
        To answer your question, PERSONALLY, I only find big points in creeks. My Mentor tells of "the good ole days" when fields were deep plowed and left to weather all winter. Back then he found those big G10s laying in the fields.

        I never saw those days. By the time I got into it, the plows were parked in the scrap yard, and best we can hope for is a good disking. Which...breaks the points to pieces. Occasionally, if the backwater hits a sandy spot just right, a killer will wash out. But 90% of my really nice posts are creek finds.

        Hope that helps
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