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December 4, 2008

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Native American Artifacts

NJ artifacts...

NJ artifacts

10/8/2005 12:27:43 AM

legacyForum

725 posts

NJ artifacts

Just wondering if anyone who hunts for/collects New Jersey artifacts looks at this site. I am fortunate enough to still have a few places to look for artifacts in NJ. I also enjoy roaming the cretaceous and eocene streams for shark teeth and have found a few artifacts there as well. Just found a broken triangle point the other day in one of the eocene streams. By far my best brook find was a really nice jasper Perkiomen point (found in Big Brook, April 2004). Anybody else out there who has found any artifacts in New Jersey?

10/9/2005 10:46:21 PM

xiphodan

19 posts

RE: NJ artifacts

One item which remains high on my wish list is an Indian arrow head. I have been fortunate enough to get a couple of beads out of NJ streams but that’s about it. While my knowledge on the topic is almost nil, I’ll share a couple of stories:
I once went to a party at the house of a friend’s father who happened to own a tree service in south central NJ. In the corner of his living room was a curio cabinet packed with Indian artifacts. There were so many in fact, that they more or less formed piles inside the cabinet. Even though this was well before my days of fossil collecting, I inquired how and where he had found them. He said that while he never actually “looked” for them, he would always keep half an eye out for scorched rocks and such, anytime he removed stumps or dug holes. If any turned up he would look through the dirt to see if any other artifacts were with them. He indicated that the best areas were anywhere there was high ground adjacent to a stream, particularly where two streams joined together. Apparently the streams provided an easy route for the Indians to follow through the woods and the merging points allowed navigation in different directions - add the high ground, and there’s your campsite. He said that spots like these were so prolific, that stumps which he would normally grind down, were instead pulled out using trucks just so he could do a little hunting. I never thought to ask to see his fossil collection.

There was an interesting reported in the Star Ledger a couple of years back, about a woman who was walking her dog along the beach one morning and came across an arrowhead, and another, and another. She picked up about 30 points in all and in the following days called the State Museum. A group of volunteers was put together and after a few days of excavating, more than two hundred artifacts were picked out of the sand. It turned out that the area of beach had been “replenished” (there are large barge like bouys that pump sand from about a mile or two out, back onto the beach). Evidently, the pumps sucked up what was a Paleo Indian campsite and deposited it back onto the beach. Divers were also sent to the location where the barge had been drawing its sand, but only a few items were recovered.

10/10/2005 12:56:17 PM

legacyForum

725 posts

RE: NJ artifacts

Those are two very interesting stories. Sure would have loved to be on the beach the day the lady found all those points! There is no doubt that NJ has a rich and varied archeological history. I think the assessment of your frind's father is correct. High ground near a stream, especially near the headwaters or the confluence of two streams, were spots favored by native peoples. I would also like to add another factor, sandy soil. There is no doubt that native people were intimatly aware of streams. It is interesting that one of the only remnants of the native language is in names of streams. The 1986 book by Herbert Kraft entitled "The Lenape" is about the best overview of the archeology of NJ that I am aware of. There is a much larger version of this book that came out recently as well. For those of us who enjoy roaming the streams of NJ and digging in the gravel looking for fossils, a fascinating by-product is bound to be, sooner or later, a spear point, scraper, or arrowhead. Xiphodan, I predict you will indeed find one and perhaps sooner rather than later. Good luck and hope you have a productive Fall season.

10/13/2005 2:07:15 AM

legacyForum

725 posts

RE: NJ artifacts

John you know my story already about the artifacts, but I will share it here. I also was desperately craving finding an artifact somewhere on my NJ fossil jaunts. It was the one thing that I really couldn't believe that I had not yet found, considering it took me at least 50, maybe 75 trips to finally find one. But after finding my first projectile point this past winter, I then found 4 more, one on each of my next 4 trips. So 5 trips in a row I found points, and some very nice ones, all mid-archaic. And then I found another one 2 trips after that. So 6 points in 7 trips after not finding any in years and years of collecting. Funny how that happens with fossil collecting!!

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