Hunting For Indian Artifacts

Recently, I was walking across one of my food plots when I noticed a small piece of rock. It had an unusual shape. When I eased it from the ground, I quickly realized it was a Native American projectile point, often called an arrowhead. I was thrilled to be holding in my hand an ancient piece of history that was thousands of years old!  

Finding an artifact from a long-gone civilization is something very special, and even though I have found thousands of Native American artifacts, the excitement of a good find never gets old.

This writer has been blessed to have visited some of the world’s most precious archeological sites, including the Egyptian pyramids, the Parthenon and Lion’s Gate in Greece, the ancient city of Rome, Italy, Stonehenge in England, Newgrange in Ireland and a number of others. However, walking on your own land and finding something that could be 13,000 years old is amazing!

Imagine the stories that could be told if an arrowhead could talk? Who lost it? How long had it been there? Had it been used to hunt and been successful?

The term arrowhead is often used to describe a projectile point, but many found artifacts are actually spear points, drills, scrapers and knife blades. True arrowheads were invented about 2,000 to 3,000 years ago in the Southeast and are very small, often less than an inch in size. In this story, we will try to answer frequent questions about Georgia artifacts and investigate the legal issues surrounding them.

John Trussell with several Georgia artifacts. On the left is Georgia’s oldest point, a Clovis, that he found in Wilcox County. In the center is a Guilford Flaked Axe from Houston County that dates 2,000 to 3,000 years old. On the right is a Double Grooved Axe from north Georgia that is also 2,000 to 3,000 years old.

First, let’s discuss what you can legally do. According to the Georgia Society of Archaeology, it is legal to surface collect on your land or other private land with written permission from the property owner. It is also legal to own a collection of legally collected artifacts. In Georgia, on private land, it is legal to dig or metal detect for artifacts only if you have written permission from the landowner, and if you have notified the Georgia Department of Natural Resources by phone call or email within five business days before you begin. For more information, contact Rachel Black, Deputy State Archeologist, at [email protected], or  by calling 770.389.7862.

Rachel says that if you find a major archeological site, you are strongly encouraged to let her know so that important information and artifacts are not lost or damaged. Now, let’s discuss what you can’t do.

Without the proper permits and permissions, in Georgia it is illegal to:

• Collect artifacts on public land.

• Dig or disturb an archaeological site on public land or in Georgia’s waterways.

• Disturb a human burial on either public or private land. (If you inadvertently run across any human remains, immediately notify local law enforcement).

• Display any human remains in public.

• Sell artifacts that were ever associated with a human burial, or to bring such artifacts from another country in the U.S.

• Import artifacts taken illegally in a foreign country.

• Remove artifacts or disturb a site on private property without permission of the landowner.

• Receive stolen artifacts. (In 1974 a thief broke into the Kolomoki Museum and stole all the artifacts; many are still missing). 

Hopefully this information helps to clarify the issue, so now let’s look back in time.

These projectile points are some of the types you can find in Georgia. Included in parenthesis is the estimated age. 
1) Clovis (13,000 years old)
2) Dalton (10,000)
3) Bolen Bevel (10,000)
4) Hardaway Side Notched (8,000)
5) Morrow Mountain (7,000)
6) Savannah River (4,000)
7) Woodland Spike (2,000)
8) Dee (1,000)

The prehistoric era is generally divided into four periods by most archeologists, the Paleo Indian (10,000-8,000 BC), the Archaic (8,000-1,000 BC), the Woodland (1,000 BC to 900 AD) and the Mississippian (AD 900-1,550). 

The Paleo Indian is primarily associated with the hunting of mammoth and other large extinct animals by small wandering bands of kin-related groups. 

In the 1950s, it was discovered that ancient native Americans had lived in an area near Clovis, New Mexico, about 13,500 years ago. This discovery revealed that their type of projectiles, called Clovis points, could be found all over North America, even in Georgia. In fact, the first Indians in Georgia were called Paleo Indians and hunted mammoths and buffalo with lance type, clovis-headed spears. However, as the climate warmed and humans hunted year-round for food, the large animals disappeared. Paleo Indians were hunters/gatherers, and their populations were low. Their artifacts are rare but present in all of Georgia.

The Mississippian prehistoric era is normally associated with a more developed and complex society of centralized towns organized around a chiefdom and a complex religion characterized by large temple mound complexes, like those you would see at Kolomoki State Park outside of Blakely and the Ocmulgee Mounds near Macon, just to name a few. Some Georgia mound sites have excellent museums, and I recommend a visit to them soon.

The first Native American pottery in North America was made on the Savannah River by the Stalling Island Culture about 4,000 years ago. Many other types of pottery were developed over time, including Deptford Check Stamped, Napier, Swift Creek and Lamar, each with their unique design. Often the design was carved into a wooden paddle that was then pressed into the wet pot before it was baked, next to a fire, and hardened.

When James Oglethorpe first set foot on Georgia soil in 1732 at present day Savannah, Native Americans had already been living here for at least 13,000 years. Oglethorpe quickly met the chief of the local Creek tribe, Tomochichi, and their good relationship became critical to the success of the new Georgia colony.

Tomochichi was taken to England by Colonial Governor James Oglethorpe in 1734. He met King George II of Great Britain at Kensington Palace on Aug. 1, 1734 and gave the king eagle feathers as a token of peace. Tomochichi was a big celebrity hit in England, and his good behavior and favorable impression helped to cement additional funding for the Georgia colony.

At the time, Native Americans in the area of middle and south Georgia were called Creek Indians because they lived along creeks or other water sources. The name Creek came from the shortening of “Ocheese Creek” Indians—a name given by the English to the native people living along the Ocheese Creek (or Ocmulgee River). In time, the name was applied to all Indian groups of the Confederacy, who by necessity lived close to water sources.

As European settlers continued to pour into the land of opportunity, the Native American population was devastated by common human diseases such as smallpox, diphtheria and chicken pox. Europeans, who often lived in crowded cities, had developed some immunities to these illnesses, but the Native American were not so lucky, and medical attention was nonexistent, so many died. It has been estimated that after European contact that 40% to 80% of Native Americans died.

By the late 1700s, Georgia had built many forts along the wilderness, like Fort Benjamin Hawkins in Macon, to protect settlers from Indian attacks. Discord among settlers and Indians, treaties giving up land and finally the Georgia gold rush of 1832, sealed the Native American fate. The culmination of tensions between north Georgia’s Cherokee Indian tribe and various states, including Georgia, led to the forced migration of Native Americans from Georgia in 1838-39, later known as the Trail of Tears.

Indian Chief John Ross, of Georgia, who helped to lead his people west, left notes stating that approximately 15,410 Native Americans made the migration during winter to Oklahoma and about 4,000 perished from disease and injury along the way. By the time of the migration, many Native Americans, whose population numbers had greatly decreased, had left on their own to go west or travel to Florida. 

So Georgia has a very rich Indian history with artifacts scattered from the Ridge & Valley all the way to the coast. Wintertime is a fun time to get out and poke around trying to discover some of these hidden gems while the weather is comfortable. 

Since the need for water was always constant, searching along stream beds or nearby fields that have been recently plowed is always a good bet for finding artifacts, especially after a rain. Drainage  areas and ditches can be especially productive.

The best way to cover a field and look for arrowheads is to take an organized and complete search that crisscrosses the area. Walk with a long stick that you can use to turn over suspected rocks and get a better look. Usually, arrowheads are covered with some dirt and only a small section may be showing, thus requiring some probing. A small garden towel can also come in handy to loosen surface artifacts in  hard dirt. If you find something and are not sure exactly what it is, save it and give it a good wet cleaning. Oftentimes you run across broken points or pottery that is still worth holding on to. 

Pottery is sometimes especially hard to identify in small pieces, as a lot of pottery is plain and unstamped. These are often simple utility pots that can be difficult to age. 

Arrowheads and pottery can be found statewide. In the mountains, concentrate searches in the lowland valleys. In middle and south Georgia, look in every plowed field where you have  permission to look, but areas close to water, especially where two streams come together, can be great places to look. However, the soil must be plowed or eroded to expose artifacts. Once a field is plowed, arrowheads can be exposed for several months, so repeat visits can often be productive.

Collectors often want to buy and sell artifacts, which is OK for legally owned items, but be aware that there is a strong market for modern re-creations, and there are lots of fake artifacts on the market.

Once you get into artifact collecting, you’ll want to learn more about what you you’ve found. Go to http://www.peachstatearchaeologicalsociety.org. They have many pages on artifact identification, including projectile points, pottery and tools. A great book on Georgia’s early conflicts with Native Americans  is “Wilderness Still the Cradle of nature: Frontier Georgia” by Edward Cashin.  Other great books are “The Southern Indians and Benjamin Hawkins” by Florette Henri and “Sun Circles and Human Hands-The Southeastern Indians-Art and Industry” by Emma Funderburk. Also check out The “Overstreet Indian Arrowhead Identification and Price Guide.” All these books are available on Amazon or can be read for free at your public library. 

Also, consider joining the Society for Georgia Archaeology, www.thesga.org, which is a non-profit organization whose vision is that all Georgians understand the significance of their archaeological sites, so that they will support archaeological preservation, education and research.

Hunters take great interest in the natural world around them, and understanding the land and its history is a big part of appreciating our woodlands.

I have been doing artifact identification for 30 years and would be glad to try to answer any questions you may have. You can call me at 478.953.9320 and leave a message.