BajaNomad

Crystal Point/Arrowhead WOW!

goldhuntress - 1-21-2012 at 09:13 AM

A friend of ours had a great find! I've found a few arrowheads and lots of crystals but never a crystal arrowhead.

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smlslikfish - 1-21-2012 at 05:27 PM

pretty cool, a baja find?

goldhuntress - 1-21-2012 at 05:40 PM

yes it is a Baja find. We know these guys from camping in the mountains near GN and just as my BF was heading to the US yesterday he ran into them in town and he took the pic. It's a little chipped but my BF said the only other one he's seen is in a museum. This guy found a cool spearhead awhile ago. http://forums.bajanomad.com/viewthread.php?tid=53219#pid6255...

Bob and Susan - 1-21-2012 at 05:52 PM

dont get too excited...

they come from india too and sell for 7 cents each


http://www.alibaba.com/showroom/crystal-arrowheads.html

DENNIS - 1-21-2012 at 05:57 PM

Corona Beer Bottle Shard. Those pesky Injuns never would recycle. :biggrin:

goldhuntress - 1-21-2012 at 06:09 PM

We've found quite a few arrowheads, including some made of quartz but none as cool as these two. Lots of quartz crystals out there. My Bf is knowledgeable about this kind of stuff so I'm pretty sure it's real.

BajaBlanca - 1-21-2012 at 08:56 PM

very cool = I have never found one myself but the local kids bring me some every so often !!

BornFisher - 1-21-2012 at 10:07 PM

As I said in the other post, the real value is finding it yourself. Touching something made by someone hundreds of years ago, ohhhhhh............ we just wish that point could talk!
Oh and BTW, I`m thinking it seems more of a knife or spear point rather than an arrow, just because of size. Beautiful piece, love to see more.

vgabndo - 1-22-2012 at 12:14 AM

My understanding is that knapping crystal is pretty tough because of the lattice structure. Can't tell from the picture, but if the flakes are large on one side and smaller on the other it might indicate crystal. With so much easy to work volcanic glass around, I vote that it is modern.

Ebay is full of clear glass points.:bounce:

landyacht318 - 1-22-2012 at 12:27 AM

I once went arrowhead hunting in between swells, bout halfway down the pennisula. Found a couple obsidian ones too. One white one, not sure which type of rock that one was.

It was so cool to touch a hand fabricated item from 300+ years ago. Something somebody created, just to help themselves and their loved ones to survive. I tried to imagine how life was lived then, compare that image to the supreme, greedy sillyness that makes up the world of today.

For years afterward, every time I walked anywhere unpaved, I scanned each and every rock for the tell tale arrowhead shape.

Still do it today.

I miss the Baja I choose to remember

Bwana_John - 1-22-2012 at 08:40 AM

Quote:

My understanding is that knapping crystal is pretty tough because of the lattice structure. Can't tell from the picture, but if the flakes are large on one side and smaller on the other it might indicate crystal. With so much easy to work volcanic glass around, I vote that it is modern.


Yep. Concodial fracture requires crypto-crystalline quartz.

goldhuntress - 1-22-2012 at 12:43 PM

I'm confident my BF knows a real arrowhead when he sees one. These are all from the USA NOT from Baja.

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[Edited on 1-22-2012 by goldhuntress]

rts551 - 1-22-2012 at 12:46 PM

good thing, Goldhuntress. As I understand it (and even though many do it), the taking of artifacts is illegal.

Bob and Susan - 1-22-2012 at 02:45 PM

on maui in hawaii there are no shells on the beaches
the tourists took them all...

back in the day when we would vacation there we
would buy bags of sea-shells from the philippines at the local stores

during coffee in the morning and after "seeding" the beach
we would watch the "old people" find their treasures

i'm sure they believed they found the
RAREST hawaiian sea-shell known to man

we wonder now if those shells are passed to decendents as
"true" hawaiian sea-shells
the last of the last

yes...we were bad

[Edited on 1-22-2012 by Bob and Susan]

vgabndo - 1-22-2012 at 03:12 PM

In the fifties in the Humboldt State Parks, it was a seasonal thing, my dad had an awful time keeping the tourists from picking all the flowers. The first thousand would leave the place a desert for the next 20,000 if permitted to do so. Fortunately the flowers grow back.

And, artifacts can and are being repatriated or put on protected public display to insure access for future generations. I was privileged to lead my community in preserving a collection of NW California trade baskets in our local museum two years ago. I learned that most of our local tribes, though deeply divided, still appreciate that our non-Indian museum is honoring their sustainable art, craft, and tradition.

Edit for transparency...I have a piece of human worked obsidian from Baja in my home.

[Edited on 1-22-2012 by vgabndo]

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