Arrowheadology.com

Tom Westfall · #1 01-20-2012, 05:04 PM

I received a call from an 89 year old gentleman today, and he asked if I would like to see his artifact collection. I went to his house, not knowing exactly what I'd find but I'm always interested in looking at the old time collections. He had a nice assortment of high plains points, but he also had this amazing Alberta point that he found in 1965. Dennis Stanford cast the point in the early 70's. This monster is nearly 5" in length and is quite unusual because of the slightly inverted base. I think it's made of Big Horn Chert which is from Montana.It was found in Sedgwick County, Colorado, just miles from the South Platte River. This point was found in a cultivated field that blew away in 2 pieces and glued--the break is hardly noticeable. Needless to say, I was delighted to see this point. I'm going to do an article on it for Central States Journal, but thought you all might like to have a sneak preview.

Tom Westfall · #2 01-20-2012, 05:06 PM

oh, forgot to add, the point on the right is a cast made by Stanford.

arrow719 · #3 01-20-2012, 05:29 PM

What a killer point! It's amazing how much it looks like a Great Basin Windust. Thanks for the look.

jamiebenedickt · #4 01-20-2012, 05:35 PM

Tom-That is an amazing piece. You dont find Alberta's that look that good very often, master knapper for sure, that inverted base has me curious though, wonder if it was a signature? You could be right about that being Phosporia aka Bighorn Chert. It looks a little dark for Bighorn but that could be the lighting. Those quarries are actually in Wyoming but Montana is spitting distance away. I have jars of that stuff, I lived on top of the Bighorns for three years working range allotments for the Forest Service. The Montana end of the Bighorns holds some really nice very very fine quartzite quarries as well, I have seen points in 6 states out of that stuff. Hopefully Knife River will chime in Phosporia is right up his alley.