Ngl I counted 47 arrowheads in one field last weekend and my back still hurts

So I went out to this site near the Brazos River with my buddy Dave. We've been hitting the same field for like 3 years now and mostly find broken points or scrapers. But last Saturday after a good rain I just decided to count every single find before I even cleaned them up. Ended up at 47 arrowheads total, all surface finds, no digging. Dave gave me this look like I was crazy for keeping count but honestly it hit me how much stuff is still just sitting there after all these years. Has anyone else had a random count that made you stop and think?

2 comments

2 Comments

patricia_gonzalez6d ago

Man I read somewhere that in Texas alone there's been something like 50 million arrowheads pulled out of fields over the years and it still blows my mind that we're still finding them. That "no digging, all surface finds" part really got me. After a good rain the ground just gives up its secrets. I heard this one archaeologist on a podcast say that most of what we find is just the tip of the iceberg because the real campsites and villages are buried way deeper under all that silt from flooding. But still 47 in one day is insane, your field must have been a major hunting spot for centuries. My uncle used to walk his property near the Colorado River and he'd find maybe 5 or 6 in a full afternoon. I bet that field you're on was used for thousands of years straight.

finley_gonzalez496d ago

Honestly @patricia_gonzalez I gotta say I'm not totally buying the 50 million number. That feels like one of those stats that gets passed around so much nobody even remembers where it came from. Plus "surface finds only" means you're basically picking up whatever the rain washes clean, which is cool but it's not like you're digging into some ancient village. My buddy tried that no-dig rule on his land and after three years he's got maybe 20 total pieces, most of them broken. And the whole iceberg thing with buried campsites sounds like a fun story but unless you're actually digging test pits it's just guessing. 47 in one day is definitely wild but I'd need to see the site myself to believe that field was used for thousands of years straight. It could just be one spot where stuff got dumped or washed together over time, you know?