by Todd Walterspaugh, Galesburg, Michigan
Originally Published in the Central States Archaeological Journal, Vol.57, No.3, pg.150
It was a chilly day in early April of 2009 but that didn’t stop us from hunting! Our family was visiting Indiana for an arrowhead show that weekend and we decided to make an extra day of the trip to do a little field hunting. The snow had just left the fields along the Wabash River and not many fields had been plowed yet. We finally found one right along the river which had been Fall plowed and looked to be an excellent spot to hunt.
After gaining permission from the land owner for our family to look — we headed off. I immediately noticed lithic scatter and flake debitage all around us and explained to the kids what it was and this was a promising sign, as the Indian’s had obviously occupied this area. Our chances of finding an arrowhead were also increased as my wife and I have 5 children which put 7 of us hunting the field.
I told them if they found one to yell for me and I would take a picture of it in-situ before we picked it up. We weren’t there five minutes and my 9 year old daughter Carey came a running towards me yelling “I found one Daddy”. As she ran across the field with her hands clasped together tightly she finally reached me with the biggest smile ever. She opened her hands revealing a large Hopewell Snyders point nearly as big as her hand made from Hornstone Chert.
I gave her a big hug and explained to her that this was a point from the Woodland Period and was approx 2,500 — 1,500 years old. This was Carey’s first ever arrowhead find and I must say I was very impressed with it! I had to remind her though that if she found another one to wait and let me take a picture of it before she picked it up!
“Used by Permission of the Author”
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