Here's yet another photo of an ancient stone artifact made by Texas Indians. This is a dart point in a style known as "Travis" in Texas archaeology and is probably between about 4,660 and 4,060 years old, based upon radiocarbon dates at another site in the vicinity where these points were also found.
I spotted this as I was taking a "short cut" through the woods on a trip to the truck from a control point where I'd set up a GPS receiver.
Were they really Texas Indians?
Your provincialism is showing, try to zip it up.
> Were they really Texas Indians?
Absolutely. Where do you think the name of "Texas" came from if not from Texas Indians?
We know they weren't Louisiana Indians since no Mardi Gras costume goods were found in association with the point. There has been no documented mobile home skirting material found in any of the early middens, either, so the odds are against them being Oklahoma Indians. The New Mexico Indians made different types of points than are mostly found in Central Texas and the New Mexico Indians would have been more occupied with arts and crafts fairs, anyway. The manufacture of that point by Texas Indians seems fairly well supported by the evidence.
Seriously, this point style is only found in Texas, so it's unlikely to have been made by other than Texas Indians.
Here's the base of a triangular dart point that also appeared at my feet today. This is probably what the maker of the preform I found yesterday had in mind for what the finished point would have looked like. The base of the point (the lower edge in the photo) has a nick in it. Otherwise, it probably would have been fairly straight between the rounded shoulders at the corners.
>
That doesn't look like a point type that is commonly found in Central Texas. It could be the type known as "Dalton" in Texas archaeology that has been found in Northeast Texas as well as other places that the Texas Indians probably travelled to before settling down in Texas.
Oklahoma Artifacts
> Seriously, this point style is only found in Texas, so it's unlikely to have been made by other than Texas Indians.
Indian artifacts indigenous to Oklahoma are very distinct in their shape and nature. Dating these can be a challenge due to the fact that no one group will ever claim they produced them:
Texas Indians
>....other places that the Texas Indians probably travelled to before settling down in Texas.
Seriously Chief Mentally Unstable Horse, why are we settling here: there's not much water, it's dusty, all the plants have stickers on them, and the locals are, to be honest, a little full of themselves.
The great spirit came to me in a dream, Dances With Fat Girls, and said that one day new settlers will arrive from a mythical land called "Central Europe". They will bring beer, sausage, and smoked meats. These things will vastly improve the quality of life here.
> > Were they really Texas Indians?
>
> Absolutely. Where do you think the name of "Texas" came from if not from Texas Indians?
>
> We know they weren't Louisiana Indians since no Mardi Gras costume goods were found in association with the point.
if there were some Mardi Gras Indians in the area, there would have been a party.
Here is part of the Super Sunday gathering 2014 that happens all around town with the various tribes from different city wards of the city. Super Sunday (Sunday closest to St Joseph's day is the last day that members wear the 'suit' that was created for Mardi Gras that year. They are already working on next years suit...they are sewing away..
[flash width=640 height=360]//www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/nwA5BtIKq0I?hl=en_US&version=3&rel=0[/flash]
[flash width=420 height=315]//www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/DkLmx2Gxpcg?version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0[/flash]
Texas Indians
> >....other places that the Texas Indians probably travelled to before settling down in Texas.
>
> Seriously Chief Mentally Unstable Horse, why are we settling here: there's not much water, it's dusty, all the plants have stickers on them, and the locals are, to be honest, a little full of themselves.
Ah, but if you check out the MLS from about 12,000 years ago, you'll see that Central Texas was the upscale neighborhood. "1,200 miles from nearest iceflow!" the listing read. Highly desireable area.
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/learning/webcasts/time/resources/leanderthal.phtml
I think that may be a product of the Hek-a-wi Tribe.
Were you anywhere near Fort Courage?
lat/lon for find
could you please share a lat/lon foir this find
thanks for your help
lat/lon for find
> could you please share a lat/lon foir this find
Well, I can tell you that the site is on the Edwards Plateau and within an hours drive from my office in West Lake Hills. That should narrow it down.
Texas Indians
I am guessing this is an instance of Señor Rights be superseded by Indian rights.:-D
Kent
You seem to be well versed in arrowhead ID. These were all found on our farm by my great uncle back before no till when the fields were plowed every year. He left the collection to me in his will.
There seems to be just about every shape and size in just this bunch. I wonder if there were really location specific styles or if it was more a matter of what size piece of flint they picked up and how it started to chip off. Material types would be site specific, squirrels or buffalo would probably require different sizes. Maybe it was a tribal thing so the enemy would know who was shooting at them.
Kent
> There seems to be just about every shape and size in just this bunch. I wonder if there were really location specific styles or if it was more a matter of what size piece of flint they picked up and how it started to chip off. Material types would be site specific, squirrels or buffalo would probably require different sizes. Maybe it was a tribal thing so the enemy would know who was shooting at them.
That case holds two fundamentally different types of stone artifacts. The smallest ones appear to be arrow points and the larger ones appear to be dart points. Considering that the bow and arrow didn't appear in Eastern North America until about 700 A.D., they are probably from that time or later. The dart point was hafted to a shaft and thrown, probably with a throwing stick or "atlatl" to increase range and speed.
As for point styles, there is no reason not to think that the way in which points were made was an important element of the culture of the group and that groups made very similar designs over many generations and even centuries. Many, if not most, of the styles appearing in that frame would be considered foreign to Texas.
Pretty stuff, Kent. It looks like Knife River Flint; is it?
Oklahoma Artifacts
WOW! I'm in TX but I have a drawer full of those!
Pretty cool artifacts! Those indians were sometimes mean... :-@
> Pretty stuff, Kent. It looks like Knife River Flint; is it?
No, the material a local one is known as Edwards Chert since it occurs as nodules in Edwards Limestone laid down in the Cretaceous. It is excellent quality material for knapping.
Kent
That collection reminds me of a surveyor from around Alto, Texas that his family had a great portion of their house dedicated to the storage of artifacts.
They had found everything in various sites on their property that would have rivaled some museums. Many came from actual mounds containing burial artifacts.
There were most every hand tool and weapon from button size to milling stones that would be a hand full. Thousands of items were encased, laying on tables and floor to ceiling shelves.
One room had so many I told him that I hoped his floor did not fall in.
