IT iconb ARCHEOLOGY BLOG Rev. 10/16/2021

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GH1 along the Susquehanna

Figure 1. GH1 was found on an eastern terrace of the North Branch of the Susquehanna River at the location shown above relative to where I live in Flemington, NJ.


GH! in place

Figure 2. Clovis point GH1 was a surface find in reddish-brown, silty, flood-plain sediment.



GH1 details

Figure 3. Clovis point GH1
details shown for both sides.

Gregory Charles Herman, PhD
Flemington, New Jersey, USA

Paleo-Indian Clovis point GH1 from along the Susquehanna River North Branch

Summary

On January 1, 2020 I made my first 'arrowhead' find. And what a find it was, nearly 4 years into my geoarcheology pursuit following 32 years of civil service at the NJDEP-NJ Geological & Water Survey. I have always wanted to find one, but it wasn't an obsession. The thought had crossed my mine a couple of decades earlier while mapping in the Kittatinny Valley and seeing prehistoric stone workings in the Ordovician Beaver Run chert beds across from Blair Academy in Blairstown, NJ.  But after coming close to finding one a few months earlier, I was given another opportunity to seek on once again by walking a terrace field with my good friends Ed Fimbel, Mark Zdepski, and Roger Ahrens. That day we had traveled to Muncy, Pa to meet Gary Fogelman and view his extensive personal collection of stone-age, indigenous American tools and weaponry. Gary is a curator and tradesman that edits and publishes the Indian Artifact Magazine. After visiting him we hit a cleared field on the way home, and Bingo! There it was.

At first I couldn't believe my eyes. But there lying before me, almost wholly exposed in the dirt was a Paleo-Indian point! As everyone had scattered in the field elsewhere and I was far removed from them, I photographed it, then placed in my pocket for when we were to gather shortly. About 15 minutes later we regrouped and Ed, who had picked the spot and who has over fifty years surface collecting in more than a dozen states, asked if anyone found anything, and I calmly said, "Yes, I found a Clovis point" - or something to that effect. And Ed replied "Get the 'F' out of here" - or something to that effect. It turns out that Ed was convinced for a short while that I had covertly purchased it from Mr. Fogelman, and was spiking the field with a trumped-up find. You see, that's a once-in-a lifetime find. In fact, Ed has never found one that complete and of that quality in the five decades of collecting. At first I didn't appreciate it as much as I do now, after delving more into aspects of Clovis points and their rarity. I'm humbled by the event, and it gives me great pleasure to share it with you.

GH


 
IT iconb Impacttectonics.org * G.C. Herman