Finding arrowheads, touching history Options

[Lancaster Online]

[wrsny337]

"Can I touch history?" one of my daughters asked me. She said it as I held a chiseled white piece of quartz in my palm and told her I thought it was likely an arrowhead fashioned on this spot more than 400 years ago by a vanished and vanquished race of man.

As a kid, when I was just getting interested in dinosaurs, fossils, and such, an old rock hound gave me some of his collection of arrowheads. One of them was a near-perfect quartz arrowhead. After owning it for several years, I foolishly gave it to a friend who asked me for it. I've kicked myself in the butt, I don't know how many times, since then for doing that (yep, just did it again). After over 40 years, I still have some of the collection. Rock hounding is fascinating stuff.

This post has been edited by wrsny337: Nov 23 2009, 08:31 AM

[salty]

Fascinating stuff indeed. Though the 400 year frame is too short. Some could be 10,000.
Thrilling to handle something handled by another human, all those years ago. Makes me wonder what bits of our culture will be discovered in a similar manner, years in the future.
Conestoga Historical Society has a nice collection on display. If your children are even a little interested, exposing them to this could give them a lifetime of enjoyment.

[wrsny337]

Fascinating stuff indeed. Though the 400 year frame is too short. Some could be 10,000. Thrilling to handle something handled by another human, all those years ago. Makes me wonder what bits of our culture will be discovered in a similar manner, years in the future. Conestoga Historical Society has a nice collection on display. If your children are even a little interested, exposing them to this could give them a lifetime of enjoyment.

You bet. Kinda puts our life in context: We're only a small part of the ever-changing picture that others will view (and add to) down the road.

This post has been edited by wrsny337: Nov 23 2009, 09:13 AM

[grieker]

I remember finding some decades ago in a cave on the conestoga off Walbank road by the quarry.

Still have 'em ah, somewhere 'round here.

[WinstonTheLastHu...]

Thrilling to handle something handled by another human, all those years ago.

i get the same thrill.

on another thread, ceejay mentioned how much she enjoys the smells of an old book (tying the aroma to the home of a former reader). i hadnt thought of that before. as i am currently reading a used book, i decided to take a deep whiff. same thrill as the rock, possibly more so as it impacts more senses.

connecting to distant humans through an intermediary is one of the simplest ways for multi-dimensional travel.

[littledutchboy]

I found this stone mallet when I tore off one of our porches, (200 year old house along the Conestoga). My uncle gave me his arrow head collection to add to my meager collection all found here on the farm. It's about 10" long, with "chip" makes where it was used.

This post has been edited by littledutchboy: Nov 23 2009, 11:00 AM

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[wrsny337]

i get the same thrill.

on another thread, ceejay mentioned how much she enjoys the smells of an old book (tying the aroma to the home of a former reader). i hadnt thought of that before. as i am currently reading a used book, i decided to take a deep whiff. same thrill as the rock, possibly more so as it impacts more senses.

connecting to distant humans through an intermediary is one of the simplest ways for multi-dimensional travel.

Yep. Simple yet very powerful when more senses stimulate the imagination. The book experience is interesting. Ever wonder whether books absorb emotion energy and expel it while being read (based on the theory that "ghosts" result from the environment absorbing emotion energy)?

I found this stone mallet when I tore off one of our porches, (200 year old house along the Conestoga). My uncle gave me his arrow head collection to add to my meager collection all found here on the farm. It's about 10" long, with "chip" makes where it was used.

Very cool, BDB.

[WinstonTheLastHu...]

Ever wonder whether books absorb emotion energy and expel it while being read (based on the theory that "ghosts" result from the environment absorbing emotion energy)?

in freakonomics the author, (imo) with tongue firmly in cheek, shows a correlation between adult high IQ and the number of books in a home as a child; no correlation was identified to whether or not the books were read to the child (adoptees take away the genetic link).

i have always noticed that being in a library provides a great setting for reading difficult to comprehend books.

additionally, there are many books in my personal library that i just had to have but have never read them once in my possession (yet feel intellectually satisfied just having them near).

so, yeah, i definitely believe there is magic in them books. (IMG:http://talkback.lancasteronline.com/style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[Alexander]

About 15 years ago I was hunting for Fairburn agates just south of the Nebraska state line. Instead I found a perfect arrow straightener used by the Lakota. I imagined a group of them in their village of smoke, tipis, barking dogs, running children and a man sitting patiently pulling the green and malleable shafts through the small hole skillfully drilled in the rock.

There are few feelings that can connect one to the past. That was one.

[wrsny337]

About 15 years ago I was hunting for Fairburn agates just south of the Nebraska state line. Instead I found a perfect arrow straightener used by the Lakota. I imagined a group of them in their village of smoke, tipis, barking dogs, running children and a man sitting patiently pulling the green and malleable shafts through the small hole skillfully drilled in the rock.

There are few feelings that can connect one to the past. That was one.

That's fascinating . . . and to think that you and that group of individuals somehow connected at that very moment through something as simple as a stone tool.

[Alexander]

That's fascinating . . . and to think that you and that group of individuals somehow connected at that very moment through something as simple as a stone tool.

Those are the best. They really are.

[area man]

I found this stone mallet when I tore off one of our porches, (200 year old house along the Conestoga). My uncle gave me his arrow head collection to add to my meager collection all found here on the farm. It's about 10" long, with "chip" makes where it was used.

LDB, I think what you found there is an early prototype Dr. Scholl's shoe insert, not a mallet.

Is it just me or does it appear that early Americans were pretty careless with their arrowheads dropping them about for future generations to easily find.

[wrsny337]

Those are the best. They really are.

A combination of physical . . . and metaphysical. What do you think, Alexander?

[Alexander]

A combination of physical . . . and metaphysical. What do you think, Alexander?

Very possibly.