I was cleaning up the other day and came across my arrowheads that I picked up as a kid south of Raleigh. Was bored last night so I decided to see if I could date them. To my suprise, my small collection spans from 5000 B.C. to 0 B.C., with one Kirk serrated(possibly) of a type that's apparently been carbon dated back to 7,500 B.C. To put that in perspective, there were still other species of humans on the earth as late as 10,000 B.C.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo_floresiensis) and this rock in my hand would predate Judaism by 3,500 years.

If anyone here collects or knows anything about them, I'll post some photos for a second opinion. Oh, I also have a badass little drill with a sharp blade and handle that's been worn smooth by years of use. I have no idea how to date it though.

12/29/2006 3:43:25 PM

Interesting.

12/29/2006 3:48:21 PM

did you pay for dinner??

seriously though.. how'd you date them? do they sell home carbon-dating kits or something?

12/29/2006 3:50:27 PM

Point making differs greatly by location and time period. Every group had their own style, and different styles are made with different techniques. North Carolina piedmont styles are pretty well documented and dated from digs and radiocarbon dating(of blood, or surrounding materials, I would guess). I just matched up my styles with piedmont point typology charts. It's an inexact science, but it's a safe bet that all of these were made before Christ was doing his thing.

12/29/2006 3:56:38 PM

2 of my cousins hunt arrowheads

one of my cousins has a spear head that is one of the oldest ever found on the east coast

i have always wanted to go hunting for arrowheads

12/29/2006 4:22:04 PM

This is what I'm calling a Kirk Serrated(7500-5000 B.C). It could also be a Garden Creek style(200-0 B.C.) if the tail was tapered, but it's a clean break so I'm sticking with kirk.


This is a Guilford Laneolate, definitely a mid-Archaic style from around 4000 B.C.


Halifax style, very thick and made of quartz. ~3000 B.C.


Savannah River tails. Late Archaic from 3500-1000 B.C.


Finally we move on to what might could actually be called arrowheads(the bow wasn't invented before, the previous stones were spear or atlatl points. Otarre stemmed style, 1000-0 B.C. After this time arrowheads became small and triangular, like you might have seen in Western movies.


Here's the interesting one. I call it a drill, but the tip has broken off so who knows. It definitely feels good in your hand, I can practically feel the thumbprint worn into it.


This one I don't have a clue. The tail near my thumb has broken off. For lack of better info I'll call it a Morrow Mountain style(5000-4500 B.C.) Generally speaking, the bigger points are older.



Anyway, those are the typical ones I have, and most came from fields near the Black river/swamp so I'd guess there was a base camp there. Feel free to correct me on any of these, that's why I'm posting the photos.

12/29/2006 4:33:06 PM

I have quite a few arrowheads (what i call them) that look like the first 3 you posted....

there is a field near my house that is plowed every year and i go looking for them after that. i find some every year, however most of them are broken and damaged...but a couple are intact

12/29/2006 6:12:46 PM

bttt. I walked an area for an hour or so today. Sandy hill near a river/swamp. Looks like the kind of place I'd make camp. Sure enough, I found a chert flake(in an region where chert just shouldn't be)

1/2/2007 9:29:41 PM

I used to pick them up around my house when I was little. Here are some of them




[Edited on January 2, 2007 at 10:10 PM. Reason : .]

1/2/2007 10:09:42 PM

Line, with two thirds of a triangle on the end!

1/2/2007 10:21:22 PM

my dad found a really cool stone that we can only speculate its use. its roughly 10x10x12 and the top is concaved in, as if it were used as a pestle or whateverit is that you call the surface for grinding/milling corn or grain.

1/2/2007 10:21:25 PM

Jesus, did you live on a burial ground? Because Chavez said not go cut through that way.

1/2/2007 10:23:01 PM

i live on mars

1/2/2007 10:26:00 PM

Did any other tribe other than Tuscarora live in Wake County?

1/2/2007 10:35:05 PM

i found a quartz one on the shore of falls lake one time. i dropped it as soon as i picked it up and the tip broke off

1/2/2007 11:13:17 PM

Quote :

"Did any other tribe other than Tuscarora live in Wake County?"

Depends on what millenia you're talking about. In 13,000+ years, I'm sure one or two or a hundred cultures came and went.

Here's a basic chart. I'm sure someone that's actually into local lithics could be more precise, but as I understand it, there really haven't been that many serious digs around here. All the indentifications seem to be based on the carbon datings of like 4 or 5 digs.


[Edited on January 2, 2007 at 11:37 PM. Reason : .]

1/2/2007 11:31:22 PM