Throughout our rock picking process, I would find triangular shaped rocks and would ask dad if they were an arrowhead. He would just laugh and say, "You'll know if you find an arrowhead...they have a distinct look to them." Well...as we were finishing up our last major load of rocks yesterday, dad said, "Well look here!" Yep...you guessed it...It definitely does NOT look like other triangle rocks I had been finding!
At first, we thought it was an arrowhead but after some research, we are led to believe it may have been a "hafted scraper" possibly belonging to someone in the Osage Indian Tribe. Our scraper is pictured on the left but the picture on the right shows a picture I found on the internet of another hafted scraper. These were tools used for scraping hair off animal hides, smoothing wooden, bone, or shell tools or ornaments.
My dad's a historical type of guy and if he can put the pieces together, he will...He did some research last night and here's what he had to say about his findings:
"It sounds like the Osage Indians came through our area annually into northwestern Arkansas from at least the late 1600's until the early 1800's when their lands in both Arkansas and Missouri were taken from them by the U.S. government in 1808 and 1818. They were a seminomadic people with a lifestyle based on hunting, foraging and gardening. They were known to have camped near a spring at the head of Elk Valley which is located a little less than 1/4 mile northeast of our garden. The spring is now usually dry but often overflows for several days through Elk Valley during big rains and extended wet periods. The Osage men hunted buffalo, deer, elk, bear and smaller game. The women butchered the animals and dried or smoked the meat and prepared the hides. The women also gathered wild plant foods and at the summer villages tended gardens of corn, beans, squash, and pumpkins. Surplus products including meat, hides, and oil were traded to other Indians or Europeans. Most of the men shaved their heads, leaving only a scalplock extending from the forehead to the back of the neck. They wore deerskin loincloths, leggings, and moccasins, and bearskin or buffalo robes when it was cold. Beaded ear ornaments and armbands were worn, and warriors tattooed their chests and arms. Women kept their hair long and wore deerskin dresses, woven belts, leggings, and moccasins.Their clothing was often perfumed with chewed columbine seed. They also wore earrings, pendants, and bracelets and decorated their bodies with tattoos. I can visualize them being here in the summer because of the nice spring, available shade, and the deep topsoil throughout the valley for their gardens. They were obviously much smarter than us, having their gardens down there instead of up here in the rocks on top of the hill! My dad's (your Grandpa Ward's) family piped water from this same spring up the hill to their Civil War era house with a small gasoline engine when they became available in order to have running water. This was before White River Valley Electric brought electricity to them around 1940 so they could have a modern day well. At one time a pig fell into the deep spring and managed to swim or somehow make its way to dry land (underground). The pig was never recovered but could be heard "grunting" underground for several days! One or more of my uncles explored the underground cave from which the spring flowed during a dry period one summer and reported an underground stream inside a big limestone cavern which was large enough to put a boat on."
Here's a picture of the water flowing from the above mentioned spring after our first 4 day stretch of rain totaling about 3.65" of rain:
This is SO gorgeous to me...I LOVE living in the country...this is just some of God's awesome beauty!
