Thought I'd found the spot (cliff) of a lifetime

[beargrass]

today I just wrapped up about 8 years worth of digging on and off. will post pics soon in the other forums but here is my "report"

agggh sometimes collecting has some heartache along with the fun and joy...to set this up, my area here in swva and east tn has been worked 2x over for the last 100 years..I have walked 10 miles back in the woods to a places that I would have never of dreamed had been dug only to find the ledges or cave completely exhausted and worked. Almost all the rock shelters have been dug here with only a few good stories retelling the great finds of 40 years prior.

With that said, about 10 years ago I was driving along the holston river when I saw a gigantic cliffside jutting out of the river and running along its bank for about 500 yards. It was near the road and near a populated area so I figured it had been hit pretty hard over the years but I thought I'd like to take a closer look just to admire it with no expectations of having any virgin area. So I asked the owner If I could have a look to which he obliged..more on the owner later...As I walked to this bluff I quickly realized that it didnt have the huge mound of dirt and trash near the dripline that you would expect from a dugout spot. The bluff was huge and the living space was a strip running from the water to the top of the bluff that averaged a width of about 15 ft wide from the dripline to the face of the rock. The length of the living area ran about 200 yards or so, with 3 distinct flat areas. The angle of the bluff made it possibly to go from the sandy floor at the base of the cliff to a rocky upper region of the bluff, with the middle area being elevated out of the flood zone and ideal to living. It was basically a perfect site that had never been dug but did have modern campers that floated down the river and broke some glass while camping. The bluff was also nicely stained by smoke almost the entire length..To this day I have no idea why it was not dug..perhaps the prior owner was more strict...you could dig this site without notice but you would have to float to it and work at night. Or maybe people just assumed it had allready been dug! There is a rock shelter about half a mile above this one that was dug at least 8 feet deep..yet this one remained untouched

So immediatly I start scratching around with only a few hours more of daylight, basically just using my hand or a rock hoe. Almost immediatly I find flint and pottery cherds, ash..all within a few inches of the top soil! The next night I couldnt sleep and went back the following day with my sifter and shovel...this place is just perfect. It's near historic areas in almost every direction...I almost cant believe my luck...

8 years later I just cant hardly believe it. What I found amounted to peanuts...probably 100 plus pottery sherds...maybe 15 points, thousands of shells, both periwinkle and muscle shells, plenty of burned bones..a turtle shell bowl...some interesting nic nacs..a crappy drill or two. So why keep digging? This site for whatever reason seemed heavily used for cooking and not much else but I tell you the ash and soot are incredible here. Almost the entire site was lined in thick ash starting from about 2 inches into the soil and running about 2 feet deep at spots, sometimes so ashy that you could almost feel the animal fat in the soil with your hands...over vast amounts of this spot. I always held out of the hope that I was just around the corner of finding the great stuff...and this wasnt a boring dig. Almost every sift included shells, firerock, flint, or something like that to keep your interest going. I don't want it to sound like I am complaining because I value learning about the indians just as much as finding the artifacts and I would never buy or sale anything I find...But damn, I really thought this site would hold some great things. What went wrong here guys? Is it really possible this entire bluff was only used for processing food?

The points I found were extremly crude looking...The pottery is interesting because its unlike most pottery I find in this area. Its very hard, with a different design.....I'll id the pottery type later. I did find one giant piece of rim pottery that still had the intact hole drilled through it that I thought was pretty cool. I found one huge river rock that had been dragged up to the living area...it was about the 2 feet long and circular. I assumed this was used as a mortar type but I am not sure. Plenty of fire cracked rock of course and a ton of mollusks...I still have the upper part of the cliff to dig but I am doubtful I'll find much different

[gpblood]

Welcome Beargrass ,
Thanks for the report ,
Good luck on finding the actual camp ,
I have sites that still continue to give up
teasing pieces from time to time .
Greg Blood

[ghost recon]

Sometimes campsites can be discouraging. Maybe that cliff area was only inhabited for a short period of time or someone else cleaned it up already. There's probably a larger village in the area. I've found a few spots that looked like they'd be a prime location for prehistoric occupation that didn't cough up a flake. Enjoyed reading your report and welcome aboard. You're in a great area for hunting artifacts, I've seen alot of nice relics from that location. I'm a few counties east of there.

[rmartin]

Welcome to the forum and loved your report. Its hard to guess just what they were doing there. It might be a seasonal camp, as you say just for processing food. As Ghost said, there is probably there is probably a larger area close by. Keep us posted.