Indian quartz arrowhead area!?!?!

[Fuddy1952]

Where I grew up my grandfather bought 30 acres from a fellow who had 2500 acres. Grandad had a lake put in when I was a kid in 1954.
Whenever we plowed we found lots of arrowheads, usually white quartz.
The neighbor was an interesting guy, lived in a cabin and did things like they did in 1800s. He never had a phone, electric, plumbing, tractor, etc. He had draft horses, oxen, horse drawn equipment (I'm blessed to have known him...super nice guy).
Over the years (he passed in '71) his land has been sold in sections, etc. Except for a section upstream from our lake which is as it was hundreds if not thousands of years ago. On this land is an area that's a quartz pit...about 30-40 ft. circle maybe 3-4 ft. deep. All around the top edge are piles of quartz chips.
A few years ago I had a state anthropologist and a geologist look at it...my theory was essentially confirmed this is where Native Americans made arrowheads!!!
Unfortunately, that property belongs to a fellow in his 80s that I know. I asked about buying it but his intentions are to leave his land (about 35 acres) as a conservancy, doesn't want to sell.
I even called the bureau of Indian affairs in D.C. My point to all this, and I'm thinking others would agree, places like this are disappearing constantly. It's close to a major highway. Anyone know who I could contact about preservation?
It seems as time goes on rather than preserving history, statues are being destroyed or removed and to me there's no turning back...a bulldozer can destroy what may have existed for thousands of years.
Thanks.

 

[jmc]

I think he might have the same idea as you do. You should ask him which conservancy he is involved with.

I owned a ridgetop about 25 yrs ago and sharecropped it with an old WW2 vet who had sharecropped it off and on with previous owners since he returned from the front. He said he had turned up a lot of artifacts on that field over the years. Actually, he said he kinda hated to find one because, for the rest of the day, every time he sees a pile of birds****t, he thinks its an arrowhead and has to stop the tractor and check it out.

 

[Fuddy1952]

The fellow who owns the land now really doesn't care or understand this aspect. He just doesn't want to see his place turned into yet another sub division.
I feel like I'm alone in my thoughts about this area, wish I knew how it could be protected and preserved. I guarantee years from now it will be buried...maybe not that far in future.

 

[ChiefBodie]

The ones making arrowheads were not eternal beings who lived forever. So there is Spirit in the area, also graves. You may not know what to look for or how to find that. Or know. Best not to disturb. A hornet nest from City Fathers might be a pinprick compared to other consequences.

Good advice here is universal: proceed cautiously, if at all.

 

[japody]

You are about 90 miles northwest of me. We find arrowheads all the time. The Monacans are the indigenous tribe in the Lynchburg area. They have a Monacan Indian Nation Ancestral Museum in Amherst VA. They may be of some help.

 

[Fuddy1952]

Thanks so much for the advice.

 

[Fuddy1952]

The ones making arrowheads were not eternal beings who lived forever. So there is Spirit in the area, also graves. You may not know what to look for or how to find that. Or know. Best not to disturb. A hornet nest from City Fathers might be a pinprick compared to other consequences.

Good advice here is universal: proceed cautiously, if at all.

You're right and I understand which is why I was hoping it can preserved. My Father-In-Law was Cherokee.
We'll go to the Amherst Monican museum.

 

[/pine]

IMO I would look for a university with a prolific anthropology program and get them interested if there are none that have already studied the area...FWIW the site I describe below was discovered as a major site 10 years after some graduate students dug several test holes and found nothing of importance...later it was learned they had concentrated on digging too near the middens (shell mounds) that was 100 yards away from where the hoard of artifacts were eventually found...

If it is a significant site it has likely been used by several different clans and tribes over the centuries and not by just the last to inhabit the site...

The use of quartz may indicate a lack of flint or other material in the area suitable for projectile points, knives and other tools...Quartz is harder to work with than flint and other materials...

I'm quite familiar with a site in FL that is adjacent to a property I own on the west coast along the intercoastal waterway...where there is a natural fresh water spring.
...There have been thousands of points and other tools found in a small area...there is layer after layer of napped chips of both flint and fossilized coral...a large area of middens is adjacent...

The most interesting thing about the site is the evidence (stone tools and artifacts) the use by a wide span of different groups over time...
Projectile points dating back nearly 8 thousand years...Also much older clovis points were also found but some theories are many of them were "second hand" tools found and re used by later groups.

The latest artifacts by date were as little as 200 years old and the difference in quality of the craftsmanship had significantly deteriorated from earlier specimens...

 

[MossRoad]

You should be happy he wants to leave it to a conservancy and not sell it for development. There's a conservancy here in northern Indiana that has about a dozen properties of varying size and they do a very nice job of keeping trails mowed, educational programs, and open to the public for enjoyment.

 

[Fuddy1952]

I am happy...I just believe (understand my ancestors all were from the UK) that this was the Native Americans land! History I was taught in school many years ago was incorrect (I was sent to principals office when grammar school teacher said Columbus discovered America in 1492 and I disagreed). Areas like this should be protected for many reasons. And there are mounds scattered around also, so it certainly may be very sacred.

 

[JamesHW]

We rented a cabin on a large property in the far NE corner of Arlington VA located on one of the Civil War forts that ringed the city. The nice lady we rented from (and acted as caretakers) who also lived on the property died and the property reverted to a family who decided to sell it to the County to enlarge an adjacent park. We took care of the place (rent free) while the legalities were worked out and managed to purchase a house across the river in DC and when moving day approached we dug up some of the plants to take with us such as some fig trees and a bed of Japanese Iris. One big clump got dumped in an old bucket. A week later when I pulled the clump out I noticed in the bucket were a mini ball and an arrowhead, both of which had been embedded in the dirt ball. A friend who grew up on the bluffs above the Potomac River in DC (upriver from Georgetown) would tell of digging up scores of arrowheads just on the other side of the then trolly tracks.

 

[jmc]

My neighbor set up a Conservation Easement for his farm before he sold it. It goes on forever and he got to make all the stipulations on how the 80 acres can ever be used. Forget all the details but he stipulated things like it can never be logged except for removing fallen timber; only one house other than the farm house can ever be built; no pesticides... He had to work with a nonprofit in that business and they inspect the property periodically to make sure later owners are complying with everything. Of course with all those restrictions, the property has less value so you get a tax deduction for your loss in value. Google has a long explanation of it.

 

[gwstang]

I live on a road called Indian Campground and it really was. I find points in the Pasture and surrounding areas on my 70 acres. Got a bag full of them from when I would plow way back when. Many have the points/side cut off by plows. My best find to date is an iron arrowhead. Desoto went right through here and as they used up the barrels of supplies they would throw the barrels away. The Indians would check out how the conquistadors would make the iron arrowheads and started to make them from the barrel bindings. They found out the iron would pierce the armor better than their stone tools. I guess the stone things would break or shatter. Great history about all of this. There was a cabin in one of my fields, old notched log cabin. Neighbor (about 90 now) said his great grandfather built that back in the early 1800. I have found many of those square head nails. Cabin fell in when we had a big ice storm way back. It rotted and is now gone. Lots of very old people would come by when they were nearing the end and tell me about how the neighbors grandfather/father would let them live there when they first got married, until they got on their feet. No electricity just a hand well and outhouse. I figured that all of them had passed on when they stopped coming by about 30 or so years ago.