Shell heap

[neralich]

I discovered this large shell heap today eroding out of a bank on the river. Curious what your thoughts are. Do you think it's prehistoric maybe
It's different than a shell midden, I find those and they have pottery shards, charcoal,flakes,bone,limestone etc. This seems to only have shell but who knows how far back into the bank it may go? Not far away I found an area with heat-treated flakes/cores and also found a crude biface tool.

Here is my thoughts,,,

I was walking along the river bank and got within 200 ft from the heap and started thinking HMMM??? This heap stood out like a sore thumb, the rest of the bank is semi-gravelly and mud/dirt brown banks.

I got within 100 ft of the bank and my heart started beating faster,,,

I got within 50 ft and was more excited than my Cumberland false alarm recently,,,

I got within 25 ft and my heart was pounding,,I began thinking that I discovered an Art Gerber style Crib Mound Cache of blades

Here's another round of false alarm pics of what I thought was gonna be the cache of all caches!!

Looking towards the heap as I approached...



Sure wish these next two pics were blades instead of shells!





Standing on the heap and looking towards river...

[argohunter]

That's pretty strange. Somebody really liked to eat. I just wonder if that is located at an old bend in the river, or where a slough ran in. If so, it could of cause a swirl that piled all of the shells up. I know in a couple of creeks here, there are shell piles right before the bend where the have been pushed against the bank. I really wish they would of all been blades. That would of made for 1 heck of a trip.

Chris

[Steve Valentine]

I would still check it very carefully Jason. That could be a throw pile or trash pit and there may be artifacts in there amongst the shells.

[joshuaream]

I'd certainly check the spot out with a rake. There were a couple of spots on the Wabash river where mussel collectors steamed and stored shells to sell to the barges that took them to the button mills in Ill and Iowa, when the shell button industry crashed with the invention of plastic buttons and cheap zippers, they left huge piles of shells like that in some areas. I don't remember them having irregular holes like that, yours almost look like someone was going for the meat.

[OneOneNiner]

Nice J. Yer gonna have to get some blood pressure medicine perty soon.
There's a lot of gravel mixed in with them shells. Bet there's something good hidden in there.
Keep yer eyes peeled bro!

[neralich]

Originally Posted by argohunter

That's pretty strange. Somebody really liked to eat. I just wonder if that is located at an old bend in the river, or where a slough ran in. If so, it could of cause a swirl that piled all of the shells up. I know in a couple of creeks here, there are shell piles right before the bend where the have been pushed against the bank. I really wish they would of all been blades. That would of made for 1 heck of a trip.

Chris

It's on a straight stretch of the river and fairly high up the embankement,,I know what your talking about and we do get the accumulated shell in various spots along the river. This one stood out as different.

Thanks for your thoughts!

[neralich]

Originally Posted by Steve Valentine

I would still check it very carefully Jason. That could be a throw pile or trash pit and there may be artifacts in there amongst the shells.

That's what I'm hoping for,,,Thanks for the encouragement. I''ll give it a good rainstorm or two and inspect it a little better next time I go.

[neralich]

Originally Posted by joshuaream

I'd certainly check the spot out with a rake. There were a couple of spots on the Wabash river where mussel collectors steamed and stored shells to sell to the barges that took them to the button mills in Ill and Iowa, when the shell button industry crashed with the invention of plastic buttons and cheap zippers, they left huge piles of shells like that in some areas. I don't remember them having irregular holes like that, yours almost look like someone was going for the meat.

Good eye, Joshua,,That's one thing I forgot to mention that was very odd is that roughly 80-90% had a hole in them. Irregular, of course,,as you noted.

Wouldn't hurt to poke around next time I go, Thank you

[neralich]

Originally Posted by OneOneNiner

Nice J. Yer gonna have to get some blood pressure medicine perty soon.
There's a lot of gravel mixed in with them shells. Bet there's something good hidden in there.
Keep yer eyes peeled bro!

Lol,,,Maybe I should lay off the Monster energy drinks

I'll be checkin' it out again soon and keepin' my fingers crossed!

[questor]

Very interesting. I would consider it to be highly suspect, especially with the breaks the shells seem to exhibit. Then also if it appears as if the shells continue back into the bank a ways. Continue to check it out whenever in the area. Maybe consider throwing one of those mini gardeners hand rakes into your pack next time going by. Time may tell. Hope you make a great score somehow out of the deal.