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    wildandblue's Avatar
    wildandblue Posts: 663, Reputation: 57
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    #1

    May 23, 2008, 12:35 PM
    Did colonists use stone tools or are these Native American artifacts?
    I often walk the dogs in the fields and woods around our cottage. I have found a lot of arrowheads walking plowed fields after rainstorms. Amazingly I find a lot of really big spearpoints. I was starting to think I live on some kind of ancient battlefield then a friend told me there would be a lot of them if they were a stone tool known as a tobacco spear for cutting tobacco plants. Q is would colonists have used stone tools like this or is this from a settlement of farming indigenous people?:confused:
    twinkiedooter's Avatar
    twinkiedooter Posts: 12,172, Reputation: 1054
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    #2

    May 23, 2008, 04:41 PM
    Those are Indian artifacts to be in abundance like that. Never heard of the tobacco implements you speak about. You may want to research your location with the local historical society and see just what was on your land. I used to find arrowheads in my backyard in Penna when I was a kid. The larger spearheads are just that - spear heads. It all depends also on what material the artifacts are made of. If they look like they are hand napped, then they are Indian as it takes a lot of skill and patience to properly knap a spear head or an arrow head.
    twinkiedooter's Avatar
    twinkiedooter Posts: 12,172, Reputation: 1054
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    #3

    May 24, 2008, 12:22 PM
    If the majority are quartz, then definitely they are Indian made artifacts. Quartz is very difficult to work with. I have an obsidian spear head that I bought in Arizona that was knapped by a very old Indian who was a master. The edges are very sharp and can cut just about anything. Even the ones made of slate had to be hand crafted. I think what happened is the colonialists adopted these for their own uses as the edges are very sharp when they are first knapped and knives would have been at a premium over here in the New World.

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