I dug in the shelter in Sanderson for a couple hours last Saturday. I didn't find any arrowheads but here's what I found.


A mano.




A burnt piece of wood.





And a piece of flint in the shape of the United States.



I found all in the shelter, but I was wondering how often you guys find burnt wood while digging outside? I know I have heard of people finding ancient charcoal, but that's about it. Is that piece of flint anything? It sure is thin from California all the way to Florida.

Hope you're not blind now!

Little slim pickins for $200 of gas,DJ !

Still think a metal detector search, even in all the caves would be interesting.

More than $200 in gas Hal! I didn't go up there just to dig in the shelter. I went up there with a cousin and a buddy of mine and we had other things to do there. They have no interest in finding artifacts.

The middens are a little closer to the river bed than you would think they should be. My theory is that Sanderson gets around 15" a rain a year and is windy almost all the time. That isn't enough rain to worry about and that would make sense for getting out of the wind.

I actually think there is a lot of food there. I see all kinds of lizards, horn toads, bugs, rabbits, deer, birds, javelina, cactus, and much more. In the desert they don't have the weeds and grass to hide in, so you see a whole lot more critters.

DJ,
I think you will eventually hit some really good stuff out there. Keep working at it man!

Thanks Travis.

DJ, It stands to reason that there would be another campsite within a days walk of your site. Be the site on your land or on a neighbors, part of assessing the nature of your site is to trace the movements of those who occupied it and learn their routes between camps. If you have not walked the 200 acres in detection of other sites, you could still have another one. Meet the neighbors and get permission if possible to follow the creek in both directions until you find the next site. If it winds up being a very long distance, then you may be able to better determine the short or long term occupation level of your site. Doing this may well give you a different perspective of the site and it's place of importance by those who used it. Finding another site will also give you some comparrison values. I still think that perhaps you have more out there that hasn't been found yet (food for thoughts).