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Is This Really a Prehistoric Indian Artifact? |
Seacoast History Blog #103
December 27, 2010
More than a decade ago I put together a quick visual guide to some common Indian artifacts found in New England. The images were borrowed from illustrations used by the Massachusetts Archeological Society. I was frustrated that there seemed to be no dumbed-down guide for the lay reader who might just stumble upon a prehistoric item while digging in the back backyard. Local archeology groups and universities, I fear, usually do a poor job of reaching out to unwashed commoners like you and me. Over the years dozens of readers have sent me pictures of artifacts and I’ve tried to get the professional archeologists I know to offer a few comments. A real nice one arrived last week. (Continued below)
That elementary Indian artifacts page is one of the most popular Web pages on this site. The latest email response came from Ray Mellor who wrote:
Dear SeacoastNH.com:
Back in the late 50s, as a child, while digging in my aunt's backyard in Ipswich, Massachusetts, I found what appears to be a stone plummet as shown in one of the pictures on your Web site. I had no idea all these years what it was and I'm quite surprised at the age. The stone plummet weighs about 5.1 ounces. It is approximately 3" in length and 1 3/4" wide and 1" thick. For insurance purposes, can you give me an idea of what the value of this stone plummet may be worth? -- Ray
As always, I wrote back asking for a photo and notied that my interest is entirely educational, not financial. When it comes to historic artifacts, I don’t get into dollar value, and I always encourage readers to donate items to historical societies and museums. Ray quickly sent back a few pictures and I forwarded them to my brother, who is a professor of Indian archeology. He wrote back the same day. Here is his response to the photo.
Dennis, You can tell Ray that his artifact is unequivocally a Late Archaic period plummet, and that this is a characteristic artifact type in the Plum Island estuary region and the Gulf of Maine area. I would place the artifact between 5000 to about 3600 years old. If he can pinpoint the property the Ipswich Historical Society might be a good home. These are most common on sites that had access to deep water, and may often be associated with cod fishing, although they occur on rivers. -- Brian

So there you have it. One more artifact found. Our job here is done and it’s up to Ray where this historic item ends up. I wish I could do more. I made a few attempts to establish an online artifact identification section where experts could comment on photos sent in by readers. That hasn’t worked out. And maybe it shouldn’t.
The goal is never ever to encourage people to dig up artifacts or “pot hunt.” That is the worst thing an amateur can do since, as we note endlessly, 90% of the information that an artifact provides comes from the location, the depth, the soil type, its orientation in the ground, the other items around it, and so forth. Digging up an artifact destroys most of its scientific value. So don’t dig.
But what about all those items that have already been unearthed, like Ray’ stone plummet? Or those that were passed down from family members, or are found simply lying around? Shouldn’t there be some place where people can get info and, hopefully, locate a museum interested in obtaining the artifact? Inquiring minds want to know.
Copyright © 2010 by J. Dennis Robinson on SeacoastNH.com All rights reserved.
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