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Topic: Arrowheads from Columbia River (Read 969 times)

Basketweaverz
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Arrowheads from Columbia River
« Thread Started on Feb 15, 2008, 10:00pm »

My grandfather's first cousin's husband was stationed at Fort Canby at the mouth of the Columbia River during WWI. Margie, the cousin, was bored and spent many hours combing the sands at the mouth of the river. When I was a little girl, she gave me her arrowhead collection. There are also blue trade beads which were traded to the natives for pelts by the Hudson Bay traders.

I hope I can post this picture.
[image]

Look at that lovely one on the lower right made from translucent obsidian!! There are hundreds of specimens, some are broken and probably discards, some are complete, some have tips broken and these are just my favorites.

I am intrigued by the difference in shape from the ones posted from North Carolina. Also the difference in size. I think these may be for birds and/or fish. Any ideas? I had put these upstairs and forgotten about them since I have no kids going to show and tell any more. Now I want to make a display box for them.

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Only when the last tree has died, the last river has been poisoned, and the last fish has been caught, will we realize that we can't eat money.

geodepat
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Re: Arrowheads from Columbia River
« Reply #1 on Feb 15, 2008, 10:24pm »

Wow, very nice.

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arappaho
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Re: Arrowheads from Columbia River
« Reply #2 on Feb 16, 2008, 11:18pm »

Hey Basketweaverz, I am glad you were inspired to go and dig that old box of rocks out of your attic or upstairs. What a beautiful collection of artifacts was bestowed on you!
I love the materials used out there. Jaspers and agates, petrified
wood, and, ofcourse, obsidian.
There is no naturally occuring obsidian east of the Missisippi, so it is very rare to find a projectile point made from it roun' hea'. And the petrified wood around here generally isn't of the same knappable quality as out there, so it is/was seldom used.
I tried doing a little surfing on point names and dates for your area before replying but good simple comprehensive information
doesn't seem easy to come by. Alot of areas have a Typology chart or poster that show some of the classic forms along with their dates, but I couldn't find one.
It's funny tho, you are intrigued by the differences in styles from our two areas and I was intrigued by the similarities.
I'll try to explain what I mean by trying to answer your question about the "bird points".
The size of a projectile point has more to do with the technology
used to propel it than the type of game they were hunting.
ie: spears vs arrows. Typically spearpoints are larger than arrowheads. An arrow wouldn't travel very far with a big old spearpoint on it. Bow and arrow technology did not begin until about 4000 years ago in this area. I'm not sure when it began in your area and different cultures adopted it at different times. But
deer were hunted in both time periods and a sharp little rock on the end of an arrow will kill the same, if not better, as a large rock on the end of a big stick. So, just because the projectile point is smaller does not neccesarily mean they were hunting smaller game. The type of game hunted could definately be a factor, but overall it is the technology used that makes the bigger difference.
And. ofcourse, fish are a whole nother story.

Once you get into the time period of the bow and arrow you see alot more variations in the style and form of the points from one area or culture to another. Like the beautiful 'eccentric' little point you mentioned in the bottom right hand corner of your pic. While some of the larger, and possibly older, points in your pic are very similar to types we have here.
Thanks for posting your pic and would love to see more. I especially would be interested in seeing what those blue trade beads look like and what they are made of.
Joe

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Basketweaverz
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Re: Arrowheads from Columbia River
« Reply #3 on Feb 17, 2008, 10:33am »

Joe, thank you for your explanation. I did think the smaller points were for smaller animals!! It is a clear, nice day here and I will be pruning fruit trees. Maybe this evening, I will try to get good pics of the trade beads for you. I have oral surgery tomorrow, so if you don't see them tonight, it will be a few days. Don't think I have forgotten!!

Thanks again for the info. I love watching knappers but don't really know much about it or the artifacts.

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Only when the last tree has died, the last river has been poisoned, and the last fish has been caught, will we realize that we can't eat money.

claycat
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Re: Arrowheads from Columbia River
« Reply #4 on Feb 18, 2008, 8:33am »

OMGoodness, what lovely points!

I too, want to see the trade beads. We had a collection that we picked up on Marco island as kids in Fl. that I sadly don't know what ever happened to it.

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rickb29212
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Re: Arrowheads from Columbia River
« Reply #5 on Feb 18, 2008, 9:32am »

Nice points. I agree with Joe that several of the points are similar to what we have in this area of the country. The material that your points are made of is different from what I've found in SC though. I would like to see the trade beads also as my dad was given a small coffee can with quite a few of them in it back in the late 1950's - we haven't seen these in many years and don't know what he ever did with them. Most of the multi-colored beads had been damaged by fire. We were told that they had come from Arizona and suspected that possibly a cremation had caused the damage. Rick B

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