ARCHEOLOGY BLOG
Rev. 10/16/2021
Click on an
image to enlarge it
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.
Figure 2. Clovis point GH1 was a surface find in
reddish-brown, silty, flood-plain sediment.
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
Impacttectonics.org *
G.C. Herman