Caves and Quarries

Sunday 4/7/2010

Today I woke up and pulled a deer tick out of my fore arm. I am still waiting on the bulls-eye, because I do not have health insurance, which in Massachusetts almost a capital crime these days..

The place where I picked up the little bugger was in Dover, at the Hale Reservation. There is a rock shelter there, as well as an ancient felsite quarry. The photos above are of the Powissett Rock Shelter and the quarry- the spilt granite boulder.

Powissett Rock Shelter was studied by archeologists after it was discovered in 1970. Because nobody knew about it until then, it was relativly intact. It was discovered that the small pocket in the ledge was used as a trail camp during the years 1580-1650. It is noted that the remains of food found at the site were prepaired at the coast, fish, clams, etc and carried in clay bowls. The site is at least a days walk inland, tho it is near the Charles River. I have a gut feeling that the place must have been used before then, maybe things just didnt turn up?? I doubt it, tho who knows?

The rock shelter is very close to the felsite quarry, maybe 3/4 of a mile. The granite boulder that looks split in half, at one time had a thick vein of black felsite through it, which has been almost completely chissled out. There are still a few good spots where you can see the nice glassy black volcanic rock, with nice small white 1cm or so chrystals..

I found an arrowhead on the Charles River in Newton, a good 5 miles or more, as the crow flies, from this site, about a month ago. I discussed this point in a previous post, and showed a picture of it again in this one so you can see the similarity between the point and the felsite still in the quarry. I think this is fascinating, that such a small point could turn up, like a needle in a haystack, and then to find the spot where it was chipped from (who knows how long ago, maybe 3,000 yrs) almost makes my head spin with probabilities...who was it that came and cut the stone that would become this point? When was it lost? How far did it travel, thru its lifetime? It can be assumed that the person who made it was very skilled at this art of knapping. This little point is my favorite find...

There are 9 quarries identified on Hale Res. grounds.

Thanks for reading and
Keep your home-fires burning

andy

Lithic tools, at low water

Hello-

I hope this Sunday morning finds you all well.

This week it’s been snowing like crazy, here in the Northeast, yet somehow Boston has managed to avoid it all. There seriously isn’t even a dusting on the ground right now. I think they got about 3 feet out in the Berkshires, and 2 feet only 40 mins away in Worcester, but we’ve had mostly rain, and a few flurries here and there.

The warmer weather last week, and the recent rain has melted a lot of the snow, so I’ve been taking the opportunity to get out and hunt thru the mud. There was a day when the level of the lake was the lowest I’ve seen it- I found some decent peices that day. All the recent rain has filled the lake almost back to its high water mark again, tho. I’m waiting for a few dry days to drain it off so I can get out in the deeper mud:)

Most of the finds I had were in the places where the expanding/contracting ice has scraped the mud/stones/debris into mini-eskers at the lake shore. Kinda like Mother nature’s backhoe, I guess.

It was in these mounds that I found a group of utilized flakes, and other assorted tools with varying amounts of knapping. These tools appear similar to ones found in the same area, which were dated to the paleo and early archaic times, yet these were what I would describe as close to the surface. I’m not sure how freezing and thawing of a soft muddy lake shore can effect the surfacing of deeper, older materials. They sure seem old. Some are very delicate, and some are almost like hand shovels- thick and sturdy.

Most of the tools are made of a tan/brownish/blueish felsite, or rhyolite. I believe this to be from a quarry in the nearby Blue Hills that was popular from 7,000 years ago, until almost the modern day.

I am interested in one of these finds, particularly. It is a scraper/knife and it’s in fine condition. The reason I’m interested in this one is because it is very similar to one that I found, at the same lake, only a couple of months ago. This is the same felsite tool that I discussed in my previous post titled Quandry #1. If you look at the pictures, the more recent find is the tan colored tool, underneath the black one previously discussed. They are the same size, and have the same flaking. The edges of both tools follow the same curvatures. They are basically the same in every way except for the source of lithic material. Hopefully the pictures allow you to see the similarities that I noticed. The most noticable difference between the two tools, is that the black one appears to have been heavily used, and resharpened. The tan one shows how the black one would’ve looked prior to being reflaked. I really like being able to see an almost before/after look at the two tools.

The picture of the assemblage of tools shows some of the other finds I have had. The largest tool appears to be a scraper. There is a semi lunar blade, steep edged scrapers and other tools that must have been used for aspects of everyday life I can only speculate about. Cooking, crafts, hide preparation, hobbies, war? They are all knapped from the same material as the knife mentioned above, and were found spread out along the surface of the muddy lake shore.

The final picture is of a small quartz arrowhead, found in the Neponset River, in an area that was one of the last hunting grounds held (in deed) by the local Massachuset Tribe, in the late 1600’s, and was a favorite hunting spot of Chickataubut. The sachem himself could have made this little point, in theory, I suppose…The base of the point is broken, but you get the idea of the shape… I almost want to say it’s an Oriental Fishtail, which would make it an archaic point, but for some reason I just don’t think it’s that old.

I was reading blogs the other day, and came across a video on youtube for BushCraft International. Check it out, it’s great- they show simple outdoor living techniques like cooking breakfast that you foraged for, and making cooking tools from the natural materials around us (and a knife haha). I will try to post a link.

My heart goes out to those affected by the great earthquake in Chile, and for all those who are suffering, more than usual, around the world. This is a tough time globally, and I thank the powers for the health of my loved ones, and for giving me the chance to commune with those past in the mud of the lake, and the muddy water of the river. Live each day and love our earth and everyone, as you wish to be loved.

Thanks for reading and for being a respectful citizen of this planet.

andy

another felsite point

Good afternoon!

This post is related to a point I found earlier this month, near the Charles River, in Newton MA. It is a felsite point, with very nice flaking. I believe the lithic source is Westwood MA, as it appears very similar to the description of Westwood Felsite, with small white chrystals. It was in soil that had been moved from an unknown location, during construction of a bridge.

This was another find that happened when I wasn’t really looking. I was visiting a spot with a friend, who was showing me around, and I saw just a tiny bit of this sticking out of the side of a burm, basically unrecognizable as a point. Imagine my suprise to find this beauty!

It appears to be a Meadowood point. It has very small ears, which may not even be visible in the photo. That would put it in the 3k yr old range, roughly.

Other than that, there isn’t much to it! It’s just a nice peice that I wanted to share with you. If you have any remarks you would like to make about this post, feel free.

Thanks for looking, and happy hunting

andy

Quandry #1

I found this stone tool in early January of 2010, on the shore of a lake, in my area. I was walking along, going out to take some photos of an esker in the woods and not really even looking for anything, when something caught my eye. I was 10 yards from the water, on sand, near the high water mark and it was a peice of white quartz that turned out to be nothing. But as I was bent down I saw this peice. At first, even when it was in my hand I thought it was a peice of lanolium or something that had broken apart and washed up on shore.

So that’s the story behind finding it, who knows what the story of it’s life was? It seems to have heavy use which would make me think it was important to someone. Maybe it was a favorite knife? It is made of a blue-ish/black felsite with yellow/orange chrystals, or phenochrysts, I belive they are called. It is nice and glossy, like it has been polished almost, and perhaps the morphology of being on the lake shore helped in this. Imagine the animals this may have prepared, or the reeds for dwellings it may have cut? It has a nice feel in the hand, and you can tell that the person who made it knew what they were doing to get such a nice edge on a thin peice of stone.

My theory is that it was once a more uniform (this theory is supported in a more recent post), maybe symetrical blade, which over time and thru use was dulled and resharpened. This process may have formed the point, which appears a lot like a graver edge. It seems that the blade on the left is a more fine edge than the one on the right, in the lower right photo. Looking at the lower right photo, the lower right corner of the tool has a small channel and ridge that lends itself to being held between the thumb and forefinger of the right hand, which would also account for the most heavy wear being on the blade opposite this “handle”.

It honestly strikes me as a kind of multi-tool. A scraper, knife, graver?

I don’t know how old it is. It is hard to say because the lake was damed by colonists in the 1720’s, and I do not know the original shape of the lake, though I have tried to find it out. It was most definitly washed out of the surrounding semi-upland when the lake level rose, after being dammed. I would like to hear any theories on age that people may have. Thank you.[edit: I believe the tool to be from the Archaic Period, which was about 8 - 3,000 years ago]

I have also been trying to find the lithic source, aka the quarry it was taken from. I visited the Robbins Museum in Middleboro, Ma, looking for tools that matched mine, but thru the thousands of points they have, I really didn’t see any that looked enough like mine to say it was the same stone. It is a fairly glossy/glassy felsite. Black at first impression, then shortly you notice a definite blue hue. The crystals are 1cm at largest, and are on the orange side of yellow.

There is a Brewerton Eared point, shown on the poster for 2009 archeology month for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, that appears to be made of the same material. The description says the point was found on Spectacle Island, in Boston Harbor. I have the poster in my pictures but I’m not sure about the copyrites, I’m sure you can find it easy on google image search.

Enjoy. Thank you for your interest and appreciation of Massachusetts history, and for practicing responsible collecting. All text original unless cited and cannot be reproduced. All photos cannot be reproduced without permission from me. I’m sure you understand. Take care!

This is the Beginning, Somewhere in the Middle

Hello!

My name is Andy, and I live near Boston, Ma. I’m very interested in the history and landscapes of this area. I love to explore the swamps, rock outcrops, woods, and strips of land behind the shopping mall. You know, the place called “Indian Rock”, or something like it, where all the kids go to drink! That place probably has some history to it, you know, and I think it’s fun to try and flush it out..

No, really. Ever since I was a little tyke, the colonial history of New England has interested me. I was born in Boston in 1981, and my parents would take my brother and I on sunrise trips to old forts and Revolutionary War battle-grounds, and Native American sites. We would explore cellar-holes in the woods, and camp along cold Vermont streams and Cape Cod beaches. These times spent exploring historical sites, on the East Coast, with my family, was what solidified my love for history.

When I was 10 or 11 years old, my folks bought me a handful of arrowheads that I was oogling, behind the glass of a junk shop in Vermont. The elderly lady who owned the place said they were from Vermont, and that when she was a little girl growing up, her family had a mortice, or corn grinding stone, out in the farm fields behind their house. It was a bowl shaped deppression in a boulder, where the local Native women, historically, would pound their dried corn with a stone or wood pestel to make flour, etc., and where she would sit in the sun as a little girl, probably in the 1930’s or 40’s. I just thought that was the best thing I’d ever heard! Right there behind the house!

I cherished those points my folks bought me (probably $15 in all), and I’d admire them all the time, imagining who the man was that made them, who used them, and how were they eventually lost in the brooks and woods of Vermont? And who was the relic hunter who found them again? Those points were why I would always have my head down, eyes searching the ground most everywhere I would walk, from a young age.

There was a pretty long period of time that I went neglecting the hunt. Years. This time, ironically, included the 5 years I spent living in Oregon; a place where some of the most beautifuly crafted stone tools in North America were made, and lost. Adding to the situation, I lived a short walk away from more than one sandy cobble creek. Perfect “hunting”. If only I had known then what I know now

I moved back to the Northeast in 2005, met a great girl and got a job working in an urban park, for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. This job, in resource protection and interpretation, really helped me to begin appreciating the history of the Boston area, and I have been delving deeper in these past 5 years than I ever had before. The little lady is my faithful hunting partner, (and somehow she puts up with me constantly boring her with talk about potential campsites and lithic material). My focus has shifted further from colonial history, to pre-colonial, or Native American history. I guess you could say that instead of trying to understand the historic pattern of the area by going from the present day backwards (which is the direction I was going), I started trying to head from the beginning of human occupation in the area, forward.

I grew up near the Neponset River, and I consider the small valley to be my homeland. I am as connected to this place as anyone can be, I suppose. As John Hanscomb Mitchell would appreciate, I consider the people who lived, hunted, ate and died here, before me, spanning back almost 12,000 years, as my brothers and sisters in Ceremonial Time. We all grew out of this particular landscape, on this particular patch of ground, and share a common history of life hacked out of this latitude and longitude.

I am a collector of old things I find on the surface of the ground. Some of these artifacts include Civil War era munitions, marbles, glass shards and bottles, clay pipe fragments, buttons, and my favorite, indigenous Eastern Massachusetts stone tools. In the past two years, or so, I have been avidly researching Native occupation of this area, exploring known and possible sites on foot, photographing, and doing a little bit of what I hope is ethical surface hunting for projectile points. I’m most interested in points because of the artistic quality of them, and how much skill had to go into the creation of these very delicate, but rough and lethal, tools. The making of stone tools represented a large amount of the lives of the men of Native New England before the 1700’s. I like to think that the people who knapped these points would like to know people (thousands of years down the line) are still admiring their craftsmanship, and showing them around. They are the tools that kept food in the mouths of the village, and kept enemies or aggressors at bay. The few points and tools I have found I record, and will post here as a way to share these finds with the public, a public resource, if you will. I cherish these finds and plan to donate them, pass them on to another generation, or maybe return them to where I found them, down the line. For now I want to learn more about them.

I am by no means an expert on the timeline of this place. I am quite an amature, and this blog is something that I hope to use as a tool to learn more, and hopefully help you all to learn a little something I might have to offer (as little as that might be!). I like to bushwhack through the woods, study maps and areal photographs, read old histories, and especially talk to people about things they have encountered in their travles. I enjoy these activities because they put me in the outdoors, and it’s an act of discovery, even if it is personal discovery…..I am fascinated by the old railway lines that run forgotten through our towns, and the old “Indian Path” that passes through your woods to the 3 acres of flat, south facing ground, near where the cold brook enters the river. Many times these are the places that were once busy trade routes, hunting grounds, centers of local commerce and bustling village life, and now they are largely forgotten to most of us, who live next to them! Maybe they were set aside back when the memory and importance of the place was still fresh, but that memory has faded over the years. I want to polish that memory.

I will post some of my finds, and a little text about them, next. Forgive me if some of my details are vague, as I reserve the right to withhold information about private property or fragile cultural landscapes and locations.

Thanks for coming along!
andy 2/16/2010

New spot

Hello!

I started a journal on another page a couple of weeks ago. I am going to re-post my previous posts from my previous blog, on here, and post new ones. Thanks for taking the time to read about my adventures and hunts- this is mostly a way to show the artifacts I find while hunting the surface around Eastern Massachusetts. I will also try to weave a little related history into the posts.

Be well, and be responsible

andy