Archeological Finds
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ChadTower
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Well, most recent was a draft horseshoe from (I think) the 1900s. Found that a month ago in a small conservation area by my house that was a farm in that time period.
You don't find nearly as much in the Northeast US/Canada. Winter claims things.
You don't find nearly as much in the Northeast US/Canada. Winter claims things.
wvbreamfisherman
Active Member
In the Monongahela National Forest, 1974, off Shaver's Fork, I came across the remains of a logging camp from probably the turn of the century. Lots of discarded stuff, but one cool thing was a big stack of horseshoes as big as dinner plates- must have been for Clydesdales.
Pathfinder1
Well-Known Member
Hi...
What I enjoyed locating more so than anything else were arrow shafts, pottery shards, and ears of corn smaller than your little finger, all found in a former Anasazi Indian's hut.
Although they disappeared perhaps a thousand years ago, I am very fascinated with their culture. Their primitive wall pictures are also quite interesting.
I've also found antique bottles in an old, leaf-covered dump next to a cemetery. And an old tin beer bottle and double-bitted axe near an old road where logging with horses was done years ago.
What I enjoyed locating more so than anything else were arrow shafts, pottery shards, and ears of corn smaller than your little finger, all found in a former Anasazi Indian's hut.
Although they disappeared perhaps a thousand years ago, I am very fascinated with their culture. Their primitive wall pictures are also quite interesting.
I've also found antique bottles in an old, leaf-covered dump next to a cemetery. And an old tin beer bottle and double-bitted axe near an old road where logging with horses was done years ago.
ppine
Forester
The Town of Rosebud, NV. Also Indian burial grounds, adobe ruins and a thousand pottery shards.
Old logging evidence in the Sierras includes 5 foot cross-cut buck saws, old railroad beds, cables, and many handmade draft horse and mule shoes.
Lots of sheepherder camps, mostly just good trash dumps, but sometimes old wood stoves, and buildings.
Mine trash including, buildings, stamp mills, crushers, head rigs, ore carts, trammels, wooden waterlines, hand tools, and old bottles.
In Arizona, dinosaur tracks, and Anasazi artifacts like bows and arrows, and intact pottery.
Old logging evidence in the Sierras includes 5 foot cross-cut buck saws, old railroad beds, cables, and many handmade draft horse and mule shoes.
Lots of sheepherder camps, mostly just good trash dumps, but sometimes old wood stoves, and buildings.
Mine trash including, buildings, stamp mills, crushers, head rigs, ore carts, trammels, wooden waterlines, hand tools, and old bottles.
In Arizona, dinosaur tracks, and Anasazi artifacts like bows and arrows, and intact pottery.
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Hikenhunter
Well-Known Member
On the Laurel Highlands Trail there is a small cemetary out in the middle of the forest. I think it was probably a clearing at one time. The trees have just taken over all around it and it seems to be unattended. Except for the trail itself there is no other visable means of access to it, though I suspect there may have been a road there. As I recall you couldn't read too much on the headstones but they had dates from the early 1700's.
ChadTower
Active Member
Heh, wander around Massachusetts, and there are cemetaries like that all over the place. Where I went to high school there must be 25 of them. Some right in the middle of downtown.
cabinfever
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As far as archeology finds, the closest I've come was the ruins of a cabin with evidence that it had been that way for a very long time. Couldn't tell you if it had been 50 years or 150, though.
I've discovered nothing that hadn't been discovered previously but my discoveries have included some oddities. Last year I hiked a section of the Middle Fork of the Salmon river. Now this canyon is steep, nasty hiking but awesome scenery and pristine fishing. About 15 miles from the nearest trailhead/road, lying not far off the trail was an old one bottom horse drawn plow. From the looks of the point and the looks of the moldboard, although well rusted now, this plow had been bought new and hauled in but never used. I didn't think there was two acres in that entire canyon that could be plowed without the loose dirt rolling all the way to the river. I also wonder how he broke that plow down so two or three mules could have packed it in. I suppose some old prospector liked his fresh lettuce during the summer.
I looked around, trying to find some remains of a camp, cabin or even old stumps that had been man cut but saw no evidence of any of it.
I looked around, trying to find some remains of a camp, cabin or even old stumps that had been man cut but saw no evidence of any of it.
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Bojib
Active Member
When I first read the title of the post, I couldn't think of anything archaeological that I may have seen. Then I began reading other posts, and things started popping into memory.
I know of one trail back near my parents house, there are two very old rock chimneys along that trail, as well as one still standing house. Well, the house was still standing about three years ago, the last time I was on that trail. The descendants of the people that lived in those houses still live in the area, so there is some neat oral history. The houses all come from around the late 1800's to early 1900's when there was a logging and coal boom in the area. Up on the hill above the houses I've also found old entries to underground coal mines with some of the original equipment still visible. Mostly just rails and old mine carts.
Also near my parents house there is a very old cemetery. It has long since been forgotten I think. The stones there are from the same era as the houses, with dates from the late 1800's and early 1900's up through about the mid 1900's. There are actually several old abandoned cemeteries in the area that I've come across by hiking or ATVing. They are miles from current civilization, but it doesn't take long to find evidence of the original community, old house seats and such.
I've never found anything interesting like an old dinosaur bone though. However, I do have several plant fossils that I've found. Those are still at my parents house. My mom liked them so much she wouldn't let me take them with me when I moved out several years ago. One of those is really neat, it's basically an old fossilized tree limb about three feet in length. Then I have several leaf fossils, but no animal fossils.
I know of one trail back near my parents house, there are two very old rock chimneys along that trail, as well as one still standing house. Well, the house was still standing about three years ago, the last time I was on that trail. The descendants of the people that lived in those houses still live in the area, so there is some neat oral history. The houses all come from around the late 1800's to early 1900's when there was a logging and coal boom in the area. Up on the hill above the houses I've also found old entries to underground coal mines with some of the original equipment still visible. Mostly just rails and old mine carts.
Also near my parents house there is a very old cemetery. It has long since been forgotten I think. The stones there are from the same era as the houses, with dates from the late 1800's and early 1900's up through about the mid 1900's. There are actually several old abandoned cemeteries in the area that I've come across by hiking or ATVing. They are miles from current civilization, but it doesn't take long to find evidence of the original community, old house seats and such.
I've never found anything interesting like an old dinosaur bone though. However, I do have several plant fossils that I've found. Those are still at my parents house. My mom liked them so much she wouldn't let me take them with me when I moved out several years ago. One of those is really neat, it's basically an old fossilized tree limb about three feet in length. Then I have several leaf fossils, but no animal fossils.
As I youngin growing up I would be playing in the woods and come across and old arrow head or a piece of pottery. Nothing really big nor valuable. But it was always fun.
There was also an old cemetery that was on a trail until they built a development around it.
There was also an old cemetery that was on a trail until they built a development around it.
ppine
Forester
The age of log buildings can be surmised by looking at the fasteners. Hand made nails versus factory made nails. The style of the joinery is also diagnostic. Knowledge of the settlement pattern timeline for the area usually one to piece together the time of construction and occupation. Middens and trash piles can be dated by looking at things like the solder marks and crimps on old milk cans.
ChadTower
Active Member
Any chance that was brought in by flash flooding? Stuff like that sometimes migrates over the decades with each flash flood that comes through.
Or perhaps bootleggers? That seems about the right timeframe for someone who intended to set up a large scale still site or maybe just a transfer point.
No, it was 200 yards up the canyon wall from the river and this was too remote for anything like bootlegging. This was and still is very remote wild country. The nearest outpost with permanent summer dwellings would have been over 60 miles away.
ChadTower
Active Member
A lot of bootleg transfer points were that far out. Is the forest in that area soft or hard woods? There are a lot of wooded areas here that were farms 100 years ago but you'd never know it. The forest has totally reclaimed the land. The only real indicator is that it's mostly pine/fir and any maple/oak is young.