Sunday, March 25, 2012

Estate Sale Archeology

No, it's not the name of a new reality trash to treasure show on the History Channel.  I was at an estate sale off of Milburn Road in Oakville Saturday morning with the specific intention of buying a few key items (more on that later).  This house was packed from top to bottom.  I wouldn't call the previous owner a hoarder, but they certainly had tendencies toward that.  The basement in particular was a scattered mess of items, many laying on the floor covered in dirt and dust.  There were so many items, I must have gone through each room of the house at least 3 times.  On the last pass through the basement, I noticed a box of what appeared to be rocks laying on a shelf.  They turned out to be arrow points, mostly pieces.  The box was marked $2, but it was 50% on Saturday, so a dollar brought it home.



Like I said, most are pieces and not full points, but here a few of the nicer pieces:






And the best piece in the entire box, was almost overlooked, being so small.  A stone bead.  I have no idea how you would drill a star-shaped hole through a rock.  I suspect with great patience and diligence:


When I was a kid, I would often search my father's garden after the spring plowing looking for arrowheads.  By the time I came along, most choice points had already been found by my older siblings, but I still managed to find one here and there.  My father initially thought these had been left by Native Americans passing through on the Trail of Tears.  I now know these are artifacts from the Mississipian Culture, commonly know as the Mound Builders, that lived throughout the Midwest from 800 to 1500 AD.

1 comment:

  1. wow, great collection! my sister lisa (who lives in grand junction, co) has quite a large collection of chippings and arrowheads like this. she finds them on her hikes in the area. they are amazing. and a stone bead! that's incredible. i can't imagine how that hole was made, and done so neatly.

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