Del strikes first blood

[coinnut]

Yep Del struck first today. Our local club YTC (Yankee Territorial Coinshooters) were approached by the Archaeologist from the Pequot Indian Museum and wanted to know if we would be willing to assist them in finding a fort site from the Pequot Wars, which I believe were from 1636-37. Everyone was psyched and we have been doing this as time permitted. I have been there 3 times and Dan was able to get there for his first hunt today. Not much has been found and the primary targets are the musket balls that were fired from the British at the Indian fort. Only 3 or 4 have been found and this hunt has been going on 3 days a week for a bunch of weeks now. Sometimes as many as 6 guys at a time are hunting. So far, targets have been sparce to say the least!! But Dan got a Musket ball and everyone was pumped. A definite good find my friend Not to far from his find I got a low reading (shotgun shell like) and soon was staring at what we were all hoping to find...a sort of mini Holy Grail lol The brass arrow point!!! 5 down and there it was staring at me while I was looking for that 25th shotgun shell lol I couldn't believe it!! I didn't want to get too excited just in case this was some cut copper flashing from a roof. They had found some pieces and were disapointed before. But I soon realized that this was different. It was shaped kinda like a shark's tooth and that was no scrap flashing I must admit I looked a lot like this (inside at least) I'm gonna have to rely on Dan to post a picture, because of all times for my E mail to freeze up, it has to be now :bangahead01: So bear with me on this. I'm really happy our club can help place this fort on the map for future people to enjoy. A bit of history saved today.

[del]

boy was it a hot one today , i think we set a record for the heat in Connecticut . George you hit a homerun today with that little beauty and its in great shape for its age (almost 380 years old) truely a great find my friend i think the they were pretty impressed with the relic guys from Y.TC. today and as you said it was the best items they have recovered in a few weeks . i had a good time and would like to volunteer again .

[angellionel]

Congrats, George! The museum folks must have been very happy with that find. Nice going on the musket ball, Dan! thumbsup01 First time out too.

[Cheap Thrills]

Great going guys what you are doing is cool !!

[HEAVYMETALNUT]

i'd love to do that someday.nice job guys! thumbsup01

[milco]

That's a great story and a great find! It would be nice of more members of the archealogical community realized how metal detectorists could assist them in their work.

[Epi-hunter]

You guys ROCK!!!

Congrats!!! Fantastic, once in a lifetime finds!!!

[coinnut]

That's a great story and a great find! It would be nice of more members of the archealogical community realized how metal detectorists could assist them in their work.

Slowly, with younger blood in the Archaeological community, the relationships will be seen as benificial instead of adversarial. Look how long it took the England to embrace metal detectors and combined hunts. The people we are working with are really nice people and they appreciate our efforts. That makes it worth out time. It's a good feeling to know our finds may help them with their work and they will preserve the finds for future generations. Sites like this one are on their last leg and may be lost forever due to progress. Slowly but surely we will combine forces to save history, which is the way it should be.

[sjv]

Wow what a great find Coinnut! I didn't even know they made them out of brass. The ones I see are stone. Being brass does that show it came from a wealthy Indian? Dan your right about the heat, it's been brutal. Not good for older people and people like me with medical problems. Can't wait til school starts so I can get out a little during the week. Maybe some fields this year. Got a list of ones that are very promising. Fall is my favorite time to detect also.

[RobW]

That's awsome!!!!! In so many ways. It's great using our hobby (or Angel's living) to help preserve our past for the community. It's cool that you are a part of that, all of you participating.

[tanacat]

Hey what happened to my post

It went something like this


I'm so excited for you guys to be doing this!!! I'm working on doing the same in our area, I've been meeting all these archaelogists on my digs lately. They've all told me to volunteer, just need to go the office (at our college- University of Ky)... duh...

Anyway- great finds! So the point date to Pequot Wars, 1637 for sure you think? I guess they'll do some carbon dating? Can you please tell more about the project? Is it over? Going back? Thousand questions? lol

[coinnut]

Wow what a great find Coinnut! I didn't even know they made them out of brass. The ones I see are stone. Being brass does that show it came from a wealthy Indian? Dan your right about the heat, it's been brutal. Not good for older people and people like me with medical problems. Can't wait til school starts so I can get out a little during the week. Maybe some fields this year. Got a list of ones that are very promising. Fall is my favorite time to detect also.

Hey Sal, The Indians traded for thin brass kettles, and promptly cut them up and made points from them. It wasn't as much that they were wealthy, but more like visionaries. They saw the value in this metal stuff and quickly realized that it would make a more durable weapon So they traded for them.

[coinnut]

Hey what happened to my post

It went something like this


I'm so excited for you guys to be doing this!!! I'm working on doing the same in our area, I've been meeting all these archaelogists on my digs lately. They've all told me to volunteer, just need to go the office (at our college- University of Ky)... duh...

Anyway- great finds! So the point date to Pequot Wars, 1637 for sure you think? I guess they'll do some carbon dating? Can you please tell more about the project? Is it over? Going back? Thousand questions? lol

Tana did you lose a post again? lol This is a point from the wars. Not definite, but probably most likely This is a site that had an Indian fort and the chances of it being random are much less than if it was during that skirmish. Even if it was lost, it would still date to that year or before. The project is still going on and I am going back, but it's about 1.5 hour drive and I can only do 1 of the 3 days per week. So I wish it was closer and on the weekend. lol Dan is in the same boat with work and all. The project is to uncover evidence of the battle, draw up the firing lines and find evidence of the palisade (wooden fence) from the fort. This would pinpoint the fort . Then they would evict everyone from the houses that are now built on that location, and tear them down and rebuild the fort and give it back to the Indians Only kidding about the last part lol They could mark the area with a plack and put the true location, along with the artifacts in the museum. You have 864 of the thousand questions left to ask

[rsarge1]

Great going guys what you are doing is cool !!

[John M]

Congrats to you both it is great to help out.I have been fortunate to find one myself a few years back,one of my most cherished finds.

[del]

great point John , congrats on a finding a cool piece you are definately in that area to find'em