corymhoward said:
went hunting arrowheads yesterday on one of the islands near nathan bedford forrest state park yesterday.....nothing. any helpful hints would be appreciated. also was told by some great aunts of a place that they used to dig up arrowheads by the bucket full in the '30s. upon asking my mother she confirmed that she used to find them all the time in this spot. what would this be to be so full of these things and how do i go about looking for them.....pm me
Most of the time for surface hunting you want to find an old village or campsite. Those are typically found close to a year round water source. They had to drink and cook. Natives weren't stupid and knew about floods. Most are located on even slightly more elevated areas than the flood bottom. Even if it's just a gentle hump or rise. Doesn't have to be up on a bench or high terrace.
Also, they liked to be able to protect their site from possible enemies. For that reason they most frequently located them on the inside of a sharp bend/loop in the river/creek. That provided more waterfront as a natural moat for protection. It also allowed easier access to water from all of the village/camp for drinking and cooking.
Sometimes 2 very sharp bends located together, one after the other creates an almost "S" shape in the river/creek. That's a perfect possibility for a large permanant type village. It provides all the benefits x 2 by using BOTH sides of the river inside the bends. That's like a "planned development area". They could expand the site to completely fill both bends if the added area was needed by crossing the river. This allowed maximum protection because you now had back to back and waterfront surrounding protection. Easy access to drinking/cooking water was also available from anywhere in the settlement even if it was now twice as large. "The first urban planners". :grin:
Find a plowed/planted field with ALL those characteristics and you might get into what your mom decribed. Right after a rain is best time. It washes the dust/dirt off somewhat and makes spotting a little easier.
Areas around large volume natural springs are also good.
You probably already knew all that, but if not...hope maybe some of it helps.
P.S. Forgot to mention the planted/plowed field is not only for ease of you spotting surface artifacts....Natives had to plant crops as well. They couldn't live somewhere that didn't have good soil for farming crops. The best soil didn't have to be where they lived but did need to be real close nearby for planting. So if the whole area is traditionally real poor soil, shallow to rock, might not be much there.
