HAD A GREAT TIME MEETING EVERYBODY AT LEONARD'S.. AGAIN LEONARD THANK FOR YOUR HOSPITALITY. I APPRECIATE THE OPPORTUNITY.

IMAGINE MY SURPRISE WHEN I ARRIVED LATE AND SAW SHALLOW HAL. IT'S LIKE MEETING A LEGEND. I WAS SURE OUR PATHS WOULD CROSS SOMETIME HAL, JUST NEVER EXPECTED IT WOULD BE UP NORTH. GREAT TO FINALLY MEET YOU. I EVEN GOT THE INFAMOUS 3" SWISS ARMY KNIFE STUCK IN THE WALL NEXT TO A BROKEN BLADE I DUG.

ANYWAY, THE FIRST PIC WAS THE COOLEST FIND. AND I DIDN'T EVEN REALIZE WHAT IT WAS TIL I TOOK IT HOME AND CLEANED IT UP. THIS IS A DEER ANTLER FLINT KNAPPING TOOL. LOOKED IT UP LAST NIGHT AND FOUND SEVERAL JUST LIKE IT. IT IS POLISHED ON THE TIP LIKE IVORY AND GROUND TO A POINT ON THE END. THE OTHER PIC. ARE SOME ARTIFACTS. A BROKEN BLADE, A LEAF-TYPE POINT, PROBABLY SOME PRE-FORM OR SOMETHING.(ALMOST LOOKS LIKE A MINI-ANGOSTURA, BUT ITS NOT). ALSO A BONHAM POINT MADE OUT OF INTERESTING MATERIAL.

ANYWAY HAD A GREAT TIME. HOPWE CAN DO IT AGAIN SOMETIME. MAYBE SOMETIME WHEN IT'S NOT PUSHING 100.

Nice finds! Did anybody else do any good?

I can vouch, not as good as David. But, we all had a good time and it paved the way for more good times.

Now that I found out first hand what the hell goes on
"up north" I'm surprised anything is ever found,
what a party scene ! GREAT. Tks for the kind words David, I tried to be on my best behavior, same as I
might if visiting a foreign country.

travel broadens the digging mind, thats a whole nuther
camp environment without gray limestone fire rock,
Sort of a Red River red sandstone.
Never can say "seen it all". Leonards finds 3 minutes
before I left was impressive. A turtleback scraper
FLAKED out of HEMATITE ! Thats iron sulfide, Like
knapping something out of a bolt that fell off your
vehicle.
Many thanks to Michelle for the timely posting right
on the front page with MY very best insitu [including
the 3 inch swiss army knife extruder]

Travis. . . . YOU GOTTA GET OUTTA THE KITCHEN MORE.
Couple weeks ago I thought I was offering some
helpfull advice with a silly screening assist to move
more dirt. . . . .BUT, if thats the way you dig
every time, a D-8 wont help.
That creature that used to stomp around on your family
ranch and whose name we couldn't remember is a. . . .
DIMETREDON [ old BBQ possibility?]
Tks for the invite Leonard, Thats a neat property,
resale [tax increase] value should really impress the neighbors when that olympic sized pool is tiled out.

Remainder of pics in due course [ cant push my good
will too far !

Dagnabbit! I just knew that work was going to screw up my saturday. Sorry I missed you,Leonard, Hal and the rest of the guys. You, too, Travis.

Hopefully, next time!

We understand Brad, without work we don't get to dig. Next time my man!

HOW ABOUT THAT ANTLER KNAPPING TOOL? ANYBODY EVER SEEN SOMETHING LIKE THAT?

HAL THE 100 TEMPS KIND OF HAD THE PRODUCTION SLOWED DOWN. I BET WE'D ALL MOVE MORE DIRT IF IT HADN'T BEEN SO DARN HOT.

Hey Fellers
Thanks for coming out. It was alot of fun meeting each and everyone that showed up. I Learned some new ways to get more out of this great hobby we all have.
I will Put something on the calendar for next month for any one intrested in helping me with our new in ground pool. Hal Darnit I forgot to get your autograph. But I may have your shades Hung em on the fence forgot to put em up at the house.
David next time I will show up late dig for 5 minutes find some stuff then go take a break come back and find some stuff Lucky I might as well not even try to go deer hunting with you.
Allen Sorry could not keep them dang dogs out of you digging spot.
And the Chef Travis My stomach was so full I did not even feel like Finishing out the day Just wanted to Crawl in a cool hole like the dogs and take a nap.Next time we will plan on cheese and jerky.
Hal Thank you for having the brains to bring a camera. Mine was up at the house. We can only guess where my brain was.
Man am I glad the olympics are finished Who cares about Water polo
DJ, Brad hopefully next time.
Leonard
I will have to get it next time

HAL.... BY THE WAY THOSE HEMATITE CELTS AND SCRAPERS ARE SOMETHING VERY UNIQUE TO NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS. I'VE SEEN A COUPLE OF BEAUTIFUL CELTS FOUND AROUND HERE. IN FACT BRAD HAS THE MOST POLISHED ONE I HAVE EVER SEEN.

I ALWAYS THOUGHT THEY WERE RARE, UNTIL I RAN INTO A FEW MORE AVID COLLECTORS IN NORTH TEXAS. I THINK A LOT OF PEOPLE WHO SURFACE HUNT ARTIFACTS DON'T EVEN REALLY LOOK FOR THIS STUFF WHEN HUNTING. YOU KIND OF NEED TO KNOW WHAT TO LOOK FOR.

FOR THOSE THAT DON'T KNOW THAT HEMATITE IS FOUND IN FEW AREAS IN
TEXAS, AND NATURALLY OCCURS IN THIS AREA IN JUST A FEW PLACES.

THE CELTS WERE SOMEHOW CHIPPED INTO A CRUDE FORM AND THEN POLISHED ON THE END LIKE A SMALL AXE HEAD. MAYBE BRAD WILL FORWARD A PIC. OF HIS GOOD ONE. IT IS SO POLISHED IT ALMOST LOOKS LIKE IT WAS MACHINED.

I HAVE ATTACHED A LINK TO AN ARTICLE FROM LAURIE MOSELEY. I VISITED WITH MR. MOSELEY ABOUT HEMATITE CELTS AND OTHER ARTIFACTS ABOUT 10 YEARS AGO. HE WROTE AN ARTICLE PUBLISHED BY THE TEXAS ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY A FEW YEARS BACK THAT IS VERY INTERESTING. I HAVE ATTACHED THE LINK FOR IT IF YOU WANT TO READ UP ON THE HEMATITE CELTS.
http://www.txarch.org/archeology/topics/articles/artifact.html

ALSO I HAVE ATTACHED A PICTURE OF ONE FOUND LAST YEAR NEAR THE BRAZOS RIVER.

THERE HAVE ALSO BEEN DOCUMENTED HEMATITE WACO SINKERS FOUND AS WELL. SAW MY FIRST ONE OF THOSE THIS WEEKEND AS WELL. WHAT A FIND.

HERE IS MY HEMATITE CELT. VERY POLISHED ON EDGE LIKE A SMALL AXE.

David, the antler is something special. I didn't get a good look at it with all that mud on it. But now that you cleaned it off,..man what a find. Next time we did you'll have to bring it out so I can see it clean. Nice work my man!

I gotta start looking closer for things like your
celts, if something is found in a habitat context
they must have tried to do something with it.

After finding a clam shell with doodlings on it, I
check everyone I now find hopeing for a complete one
with a bison inscribed under a thunderbird and sun
symbol.

Hal, the reason why David and Allen didn't move so much dirt was that they didn't have their 200 pound armadillo with them. I seem to have 3 or 4 arms sometimes. 1 or 2 for pick and shovel and 1 or 2 for beer and gatorade.

Here are my two celts. The smaller came from D2 and the larger from around Gordon, Tx.




Didn't have on macro setting for this one. Sorry.

Thanks for posting the pic. of the hematite celts Brad. Since we don't have 6" and 8" blades falling out of the ground up here, we have got to have something to get excited about.

By the way we could have used your Dillo digging skills.

Nice antler knap tool but since organics dont last as
long as flint [or iron ] this Hemetite thing is a
possibility to find more of, both diggin & surfacing.

When Michelle saw your posts, she went scrambling
[ stagering? ] to her goody bag marked "unknown"
She had found and put asside the item in the pic,
its heavily ground on three sides. The fourth side
fractured clean in a way that suggests there was more
to it than survived time.
I snook in a "magnetic Mano" I dug a couple of years
ago. Its probably hemetite by scientific definition
but the test spot I ground off is not as solid iron
looking. More like a iron oxide [rust] packed tight as a snowball [ rustball ?? that doesn't sound like
something the kids want to throw at each other ]



Re larger finds in your area, the D2 pay dig is
producing larger items and thats not very far from
you as the indian walks [ as the crow flies had not been invented yet ]

Looks like Michelle found her a hematite celt. Was it found in North or Central Texas?

D2 does have some larger stuff. Even a Perd or 2. We had a great day back in June. I suppose we found close to 20 whole points on the day. But just ask Travis. There are some birdies there too. He just like to catch them as they fall through the screen.

Look forward to going back out there.