I know this is not a typical "hunting" question but given the recent threads on arrowheads I figure this is the best place to ask for advice.

A buddy recently bought a ranch in Mason county. He has not found anything yet but has not actively searched since he is not sure where to look. His property has no live creeks but has a good bit of Llano river frontage. It is primarily limestone and not the typical granite found in much of the area. It is the typical topography for the area.

Where should he focus his search given the above information? Anything in particular he should look for as a likely spot to find something?

Any tips or advice is welcome. He does not follow the forum but I pass along a lot of information I come across on THF. I know he will appreciate any help.

Thanks in advance.

Buy some off ebay then go "hunting" for them and show your friend how many you found!

I would think any protected areas from winter winds,high ground and shade next to the river. I know on the Brazos and clear fork of Brazos this works.

Yes, usually the camp sites were on high ground that didn't flood. Check any washes or gullies to the river as well as roads. Sometimes a person will find what is called a midden where there are piles of rock and these were technically a refuse heap for the peoples near their camp sites. Lots of brokes and sometimes tools or broken pottery can be found at these. If you find an area with a lot of flint chips or chert then you will probably find some points. On my place most of the points are from 6 inches to 2 and a half feet under the ground. Check especially after heavy rains!

^^^^^

River frontage is preferable to creeks anyway. Much more likely it was a reliable source of water than many creeks are. In any case, often there are main camps and smaller camp sites outside that area perhaps closer to water. But you won't find large main camps any lower to a water source than the 'second bank' of a river simply because of the flood potential.

There might be many terrain features that would make one area more desirable or attractive than another with respect to setting up a camp.

Some considerations:

Shelter from inclement weather/conditions (heat, cold, wind, insects).

Proximity to a reliable water source.

Ability to defend the site/dwellings (high ground, cliffs to back, any terrain feature that would lend an advantage). Remember...to look for permanent structures and land features. The trees, grasses and flora were nothing like what we see now....a few thousand years ago. That goes for water sources as well.

Once you've found a well used camp site, you can expect to find others approximately one days foot travel (for a large group of people).

When seasons change or any circumstance presents that require the people to relocate, they can only travel about a day at a time. So smaller 'day camps' can also be found and can have artifacts as well. Remember these camps were used by generations over a long time period.

Any property that you can 'dig' on will yield much more material than you will ever 'surface find'. At potential camp sites we would always 'pot hole' about until we started finding pottery, flint chips or points and then dig in a line from that point forward.

Central Texas is chock full of artifacts, you simply need to find camp sites. They aren't on every property naturally. But reliable water sources, sheltered areas and in latter years trade routes....were areas heavily used.

Really appreciate the response. Thanks for all the good information. This is just what I was looking for. I will pass it along this morning.

What I look for is chips of flint. Here we have 99.99% limestone rock and caliche. If you find any flint it was brought in from elsewhere. Where you find this, you usually find burnt looking rocks. Here on my place, you seem to find places that were maybe just overnight camps for just a few. Not the large group camps that were used yearly.

If you've got some sandy soil, look or dig where the sand meets clay, dirt, or limestone, bull nettle is a good sign. Look along game or cow trails after a rain. Keep your eye on new gopher holes, they sometimes throw them out.

Look for camp sites like Flintknapper mentioned. Look for rocks that appear to have been burned and broken open. A good sign of a former campsite.

Any large encampment will have 'middens' which are basically trash piles. You'll find piled up rocks, dark charcoal colored dirt mixed in. You may find bone, teeth, lots of broken points. In Central Texas (especially the Hill Country) there will be a lot small, white snail shells mixed in. They aren't usually worth digging through but a good indicator that an encampment (over many years) existed there.

Sometimes you can find a decent artifact in a midden. The Golandrina (a transitional Paleo) in the frame below (upper left) I found at the very bottom of a trash midden. Unfortunately, knocked a little chip out of it while digging with a framing hammer. But a nice find anyway.



Every artifact in that frame was found in a single day of digging on property my Aunt owned at the headwaters of BullCreek (Austin, TX, early 70's). Friend of mine, digging with me ...found more than that and lucky Son of a Gun unearthed a small cache of perfect Montell's. Made me sick.

But at the end of the day....that Black 'Darl' plopped out and kind of evened things out, he wanted to trade some of his Montell's for it. NOPE!

flintknapper, do you know what kind of material that black darl is made of and any known location origins for the material? I have large SE OK points made of that same material but I have never seen that type of raw chert in TX or OK before.

An archaeologist I spoke to years ago (University of Texas at Austin) thought it was 'Brushy Creek Black'. A very localized material found only along Brushy Creek in Round Rock.

Not unlike Georgetown flint (Georgetown Blue) but a more rare material than that. This would align well with where the point was found as the camp site is only 10 miles away from Round Rock.

But yes, it is a unique color and material. Something I recognized right away.

https://www.projectilepoints.net/Materials/Brushy%20Creek%20Chert.html

This is one of them. Probably a different material. It's not translucent at all. Not even on the edges.

Yours could possibly be Black 'Owl Creek' Chert, though much of that has small white specks in it....or Smithville Chert, but again I'd expect to see some white lines in that.

Mine is not as shiny/glassy as it would have been when first made because of the patina from having been in the ground for so long.

Yours is a nice specimen and an unusual color for just about any area in the central U.S.

In the hill country I have had the best luck on creek banks, washes, and bluffs with a decent sized knob you can get to. I don't have the experience or eye to find old camp sites. My finds have almost always been incidental after hard rains. The best point I ever found I saw from the tractor.

I've found lots of camps along the Colorado River, especially around Colorado Bend SP. Under high bluffs and also caves along the river. One spot on the Llano River that has been good Longs Fishing Camp, located a couple miles up the Llano from Kingsland. My wifes family has a ranch in La Salle county on the Nueces River. The camp we found there is at least a mile from the river. Our best guess is the river was a lot closer to the camp than where it is today. As for the black arrowheads, wasn't there a band of rock at Longhorn Cavern the Indians mined for their heads?

i found an elevation map online and tried to hunt the spots with the largest drops. seemed to work fairly well.

also be cognizant of the type of rocks in the area while searching. if you look for awhile and don't even find 1 piece of flint, it might be time to try a new spot

I appreciate the additional information. My buddy plans to spend more time on his property after the first of the year and will use the tips and advice to help in his exploration. He has a couple of areas in mind based on the information you have offered. Thanks again.

Indians were pretty smart about campsites. All of the above mentioned for sure with this added. The high ground above the river needs to be a pretty large area. Indian camps were usually very large so a small rise won’t produce much.
The high area needs to pretty easy to get to the water. A cliff over looking the river is not what they would chose, to hard to get to the water. The high side of current river crossing areas are usually ideal areas.

So much depends on the region, topography, tribes inhabiting the area(s) over the years. Whether permanent/seasonal camps or a day camp (used when traveling to a more desired location). Certainly....we can make generalizations....but it is important know which Native tribes were in the region. The more you know of their habits, the easier it is to find places they occupied.

Water sources, shelter from the elements, food resources....all represent staple needs, so will always be considerations when searching out campsites.

But 'size' of a campsite would generally be dictated by the size of the party and the amount of time spent there.

We used to own a family place on the Llano River northeast of Junction. A level 2nd bank with big trees and lots of room for different activities with a first bank going to the river with considerable elevation change would represent a great place to look for artifacts. We had such a place on our property. The soil was dark all over this 2nd bank that overlooked the first bank. We found numerous artifacts including many arrowheads. These were found with very little effort. Now I wish we had really put in some time looking for artifacts in this area.

Walk around looking for flakes of stone. If you find an area with a significant number of flakes you’ll soon find some worked pieces.

That black rock reminds me of the dacite we used to find in very small quantities and often associated with obsidian -- at least in Oregon. I am a lousy knapper but I liked to work with that stuff as it was tougher than obsidian but more forgiving, if that makes any sense.

Fill a backpack with lunch and water, put on some good hiking boots and learn the property. I do it with a lightweight rifle slung over my shoulder during hunting season. The black points in the center of my pic are obsidian. Just be aware if you start finding points it gets in your blood and you never get over it. My buddy grew up in Mason along the river and he has made a life long career on almost every vacation looking for artifacts. He has thousands of them and lots of them from the Mason area along the river. It also turns into work.

That’s a nice collection.
We have been finding a few heads on our ranch in Coleman County, we haven’t even tried to look for them, we found them just out doing things.