AboutRalph Salier Expertise Archaeologist for the last 30 years. Norh American generalist and Hopwell culture/Red Ocher culture specifically. Lithics Expert and Ground Stone tools.
Experience
Past/Present clients Numerous museums in US and Canada. Several University Anthropology Departments.
Question Im digging in the woods behind my house. These woods have a creek nearby and lots of boulder rocks and is in abbeville sc. and ive found so many odd shapes. im wondering just by the shapes if it is an ancient man site or paeleo indian but i have not dug in the ground yet so i have not found any great things yet only shapes and a petrograph on one rock with rust looking color on two rocks ive found that are really big and heavy but shaped like an arrow not a typical arrowhead but sort of...but the two things i want to know about is if what im telling you sounds like anythin gyou have heard of. you know rocks this old would be rough looking and not like they were done with presision tools.. I have found what appears to be meteorites in one spot but I found in another location, what I thought were pointer rocks, the first two led me to a place where i am finding many of the same shape buried under a rock in a crevice on an underground rock, the shapes pointed me there..shapes that are shaped the same only different sizes , first that led me to a place where there is an underground rock. Ok without going into all the details, I want to ask if have ever heard of rocks that are shaped to be like a flowing form of communication as in several rocks the same shape only alters a slight bit on each one and different sizes, at first i was led to the place by the points on the rock, then i find several of these same rocks, shape flat on the bottom the flat up the left side then they go over a few inches then a notch either rounded or like an L shape or straight line notch or no notch at all then they go down to a point but the alterations appear like its a form of flowing communication to me. http://windtalkermeister.spaces.live.com I have blogged about it here and there. ... also above this place is another site that I found a rock in an odd shape it smaller than a bowling ball but just as heavy it looks like a form or figurine but the question is the paint on the "face" it looks like a mask or just oval shape with grey paint that looks to me like a face. i wonder if it is pictoglyph paint.
or could it be some type of natural looking grey on a rock but the shape reminds me of an ape or monk but its a rough shape you know but its like a silouette. I dont know if it is an ancient stone age figurine or just a natural rock with a natural oval grey paint but it looks like paint. My question is have you ever heard of such of these things and who or where could i go to let them see photos or test the grey color to see what it is. my blog is about a lot of
things but in between a court case im fussing about is blogs about my rocks and stuff. http://windtalkermeister.spaces.live.com where can i get a professional analysis or help with this if i do find something really tangible and if this grey paint looks like paint have you ever heard of anything in nature that would make a grey paint on a rock or does it sound like it was painted there, if so this must be an ancient stone age figurine. and that would help me decide about my other shaped rocks. do you think it sounds like something is buried under that underground rock ??? treasure or gold or other artifacts
Answer Hi Wanda,
Digging damages and destroys archaeological sites. So if you do have something important, it is critical that you stop digging and preserve the site so that professionals can do the excavation and recover the information in the site. This is most important if it is paleo-indian.
Do you have photographs of the items you are finding or the petroglyphs? If you do, then I would like to see them. I can tell you a lot just from the pics. It would be helpful to have the items identified A, B, C etc... and Front and back and if you can place a ruler next to the items being photographed, that way I have a sense of scale (size). There could be some very good things in your area. It is close to the Uware Mountians and there are some very good chert sources in your area (Chert is used to make spear points and arrow heads...) So there is a good possibility that you do have some items of interest.
You may send me the pics at rsalier@hotmail.com and I will give you an analysis of what you have.
