posted on June 12, 2005 04:16:26 PM new
Does anypne know of a site that can help identify early Native American tools and other items? I have some things I would like to sell but I reallly have not got a clue as to age or value-any help appreciated-
posted on June 12, 2005 06:33:45 PM new
Are they local artifacts from your area? Do you know what tribe these items are from?
If you have a community college or university nearby, someone in the history, geology or archeology departments could be of some help. Also museum curators and don't forget local rock hounds.
posted on June 13, 2005 10:22:51 PM new
Everyone? knows what an arrowhead looks like, but when you get into the odder items the learning curve can get pretty tough.
And its one thing to id a tool (adze, drill, bird point etc.) and quite another to try to assign it to a particular era of tool manuacture, both of which may vary, even within ones state, and absolutely will vary within the larger Canadian provinces.
I've been lucky enough to pick up a little info and consider myself even luckier to have "surface found" some small tools and beads over the years at a river's edge, or a coastal beach.
Your library will have some local archaology books (assuming the tools were locally found) that would help you to ID the tools (scraper, bird point etc.) and may help to place them ino a particular culture/timeline.
Cruising ebay might help in some ways, but there's tons of fakes out there. Certain seller's are experts in how various tools were made and I'm sure that even as we speak (IMHO), somewhere in Mexico, and quite likely even in China, these seller's have arrangements with people hunched over bits of certain types of rock, chipping, flaking and making "ancient" spear points or what have you.
Here's a sample google search, changing the search terms may help you hone in on something more specific. Good Luck!
