Haven't reported on our 'drywash' scratchings for a few weeks. Just small but steady finds, I'll just add some pics to this posting once in a while.
Most recent ( sweaty brow digging )
Thats GREAT, a handfull of DIRT
ACH...an INSTU
This was my ' best of the day 'really surprised me when it raked out from very deep ( for that area )
See it ? dirty and bleached white like the millions of other natural rocks
Angostura
Day's finds. That Mano is SANDSTONE..pretty rare material for this local area
Nice Haul Y'all... Hey Hal, is there any patina or is it ate off? It's hard to tell cause all the flint is such a light color? Are you talking about farm fertilizers as the chemicals or is there something stronger ?
Nice y'all. Intersting how they are all similar colors. Is that ............Michelle?? Good to see her in the dirt again. Too much lake work makes arrowhead cases lonely!!
... is there any patina or is it ate off? It's hard to tell cause all the flint is such a light color? Are you talking about farm fertilizers as the chemicals or is there something stronger ?
K, it's not a question of patina being 'eaten off'...chances are they never had any patina ( a purely surface condition ) at all.
Google research last year found that the soil PH factors in soil can effectively bleach out the coloration in any color natural flint.
This is the 4th wash Badger and I have explored, all being lower than a fire rock midden...
Ash precipitates out a LYE solution and this finds it's way to lower ground along with flint and camp debris.
Breaking fair size flakes reveals that the interior still shows a hint of the original color that the chemical action has not yet reached in full strength.
Sounds logical that other chemicals could have an effect like the farm chemicals you mention.
I noticed a couple of finds from your site seem a bit 'bleached'...but more the mottled effect that is consistant with SUN U/V bleaching.
I tried a home test with 3 different strong chemicals, after 6 months..ZERO visible change. I believe the process must take at least hundreds of years. BUT I have seen a noticeable difference in flint color exposed to the sun in just one year. ( might depend on the starting color and density of the flint )
Worth a look (speaking of looks.....look at that holy dig shirt )
Closeup not needed.
Square base, winged out like a Comanche Perd, to this date not sure what type it is, Early Archaic to bird
points have been randomly found in this wash.
Very impressive Hal. What drew you to the washout area? Is it cutting thru a camp? Do you plan on expanding out?
A friend invited us out last year to look his property over for possible camp sites. No luck but Badger noticed some flint flakes in a small drainage.
We did a couple of 'test' scratchings and found a worked piece...that led to more serious excavations.
Have tried a few expanded test trenches, no good. Seems the bottom of the low just catches the small rocks, natural & man made that work their way down the side slopes.
We figure it's just ' indian country ' and the drainage angle shallow enough not to blast all the material out in the thousand year torrential deluges
This particular area is about 45 miles from south Austin. As explained on one of the first reports of this drywash was that it is a very non descript small drainage in Indian country. Zero camp'
Similar situation could be compared to "road rage hill" at C3. Just a long sloping hillside .. nobody knows exactly where a camp might have been. MANY diggers found
good artifacts for over a year of intensive digging.
Despite popu lar old diggers lore... ... Onion creek is not the heart of the ancient popu lations. Aside from the need for water, Many larger creeks were interstate highways.Notably in Centex, the Leon, Lampasas, Llano, San Gabriel, Brushy, Walnut, San Markos, Blanco, Guadeloupe and more. There must be hundreds of "drywashes" branched off the main channels.
The one eared big one in the center shot...possible Lange?
That "one ear " is going in my VERY RARE display frame
I walked in the main show room at the Temple show and at the very first dealers table I went by...There was my exact point with BOTH ears ( Mine is not broken but had been resharpend as a knife )
More good luck, the dealer was Winston Elliot
This point will be part of the super book that Winston & Dwain Rogers have been working on for the last 2 years... It is only described as an "Early Archaic" point, there are only 5 known to exist ( not counting mine ) 7000 - 5000 BC
A nice spinoff of the ID session was that I got a look at the format of the new book. What you see in the pic is Winston's proof copy...when the final print is available, it will have a leather binding.