Indian Camp Site!

I am in disbelief at some of the things that I find sometimes. 2023 has been amazing with the trade silver earlier this spring and the gold rings I have found this summer. Now I think I have something perhaps even more fun. Last week I was at my cottage and on the last day (of course the LAST day!) my mom and I may have stumbled onto an indian camp site.

I did find a few pcs of trade silver and a trade ring in my yard and on the edge of my Uncle's. One of the pcs was folded over and when I unfolded it it snapped. But there is a cool design on it. Can you see the flower?

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I also visited the outpost site that has yielded numerous War of 1812 era buttons. I managed 1 more button and a tinkling cone which made me happy. I also found a toasted Artillery button at another site.

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I had done some wondering around the woods a few miles from my cottage earlier in the week but found nothing old. Then on the last day my mom got a permission at a spot about a mile away from the out post sight. When we got there I immediately wondered away from the shore line into the woods and my fist signal was the silver buckle thing. It actually is not a buckle but was traded to the indians and used as hair adornment. It is too flimsy to hold anything but hair. I was pretty excited to find this item in my first hole.


My next few holes were just modern bullets but soon I got an mid 80's signal on the Manticore and out popped a gorgeous copper awl! It is just under 5 inches long and it is still quite sharp.
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Over the next 2 hours I popped copper frags and copper slag and flattened copper and more copper tools! And I even found some pottery in the holes....

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Below is my favorite find. It is a 1.5" copper blade. I found a larger one a few years ago at the outpost site.

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Below was my last target of the day. It sounded just like a medium to small pc of copper but out came an indian trade ring!
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Has anyone ever heard of the "tale" about bent trees? How that the Indians would bend over a sampling tree to mark trails. There is a large cedar tree 100 yards from my cottage that is a perfect example. It is a perfect seat and as kids my cousins and I would play on it. IF it was bent by native Indians then it would have to be 200 plus years old and I am not sure it is that old. BUT the trees in the area are in very poor soil and grow very slowly. I tell you all that because I found another such bent tree at this new spot. Again I am not sure if these are really that old but I would like to think so.

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Below is a side by side of one of my copper arrowheads I found about 5-6 years ago at my cottage. I was looking through the various pcs of copper and I noticed this...


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So do you think that the pc on the right was a bad casted arrowhead or incomplete? or just coincidence? I need to start looking at some of the larger rocks I dig up because maybe (just maybe) the Indians were casting copper. Maybe not? I am not sure how they made their copper tools. Maybe just beat them?

Well I plan to go back up there later maybe in September. And if I do I will be going back to that spot in the middle of the woods for sure! My mom is probably there now and if she finds anything crazy I will post it here.

I did take some vidoes so I do plan to put them on YouTube.

Thanks for looking! Jared

Great finds, you have some greathistory there. I have an (almost) identical knife piece. If I can find the item I will post a photo. Great finds as usual. WD

Wow, those are some really awesome finds! Keep us posted what you find out in your research, and I'm sure the next time out you'll probably have another boatload of great stuff!

parts of upper michigan and wisconsin had what was called "float copper" natural deposits of copper the Natives found and used to make their copper culture points , knives , javelins and spear points . the copper was usually just hammered to make "socketed onto a shaft. I think you have both older and newer type artifacts at this spot (newer being from the "contact period" with European traders) and older from the "copper culture" period (many of thousands of years ago) . the two arrow points are perfect examples of the difference between the eras . those are really great finds !:congrats:

Dan

As a detectorists, you can't ask for much more than that. You have some great sites and are making some grear finds.:envious:

The history you are uncovering is mind blowing, Jared! Such a wide variety of important finds. It's virually impossible to find metal relics older than those in the United States.

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Jared - There should be a book written about your finds. It is incredibly motivating for me to see the finds you get (and many others on this forum). Huge congrats to you sir!!

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Originally Posted by badgers325

Jared - There should be a book written about your finds. It is incredibly motivating for me to see the finds you get (and many others on this forum). Huge congrats to you sir!!

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Wow that is a really nice comment sir! The more I find the more I get motivated too. I can't find enough good stuff. It is kind of a vicious cycle! I have been VERY fortunate to stumble on some of the things I have found and obviously even MORE fortunate that my family's cottage's have the history that they have.

I did put the video clips of the recent finds together on YouTube... https://youtu.be/kMcnonMtFYU

Thanks everyone for the comments!

I agree with Badger325. You should at the very least catalog your finds for future reference, much like the UK archaeologists do with their hoard finds. It's very unlikely any American officials will take notice or have any care for these finds, but the rest of us sure do!

Jared - Thanks for the bent tree info. I was driving to my brothers house on the eastside of Lake Winnebago and noticed a couple of those. That area has a tremendous amount of Native activity and also Jesuit that goes back to late 1600s. Saw 3 of them and those trees looked really old too.

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Originally Posted by badgers325

Jared - Thanks for the bent tree info. I was driving to my brothers house on the eastside of Lake Winnebago and noticed a couple of those. That area has a tremendous amount of Native activity and also Jesuit that goes back to late 1600s. Saw 3 of them and those trees looked really old too.

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I hope you can do some swinging in that area! Sounds promising.