Peace River

[capebretonishome]

These a a few shots of our trip and the haul we had with fred mazza on the peace river on april 21 2013, we has a fantasic time and i would reccommed fred to anyone looking for a guided tour, pitcured are fred my self my bestie Dot And 2 others Shaun and his daughter..Shaun is an awesome dad not many fathers would do this for their daughters or anyone else for that matter, shes a spitfireand has one heck of a collection and was head picker on this trip, they have been with fred before and come back often...she even give fred a run for his money with finds.....

[Shellseeker]

I always enjoy success stories. The Peace River is a magical place where I can drift back into nature, drift back in time -- maybe 100 years, maybe 100000 years. It is a present I have not earned but deeply appreciate.

You might have passed me on the River. Fred and I travel the same stretches. Taking a trip with a guide is likely the best choice. Their business depends on finding fossils. I have a lot of success but I depend on going out numerous times where frequently I find very little beyond small teeth.

[Sacha]

I started my retirement by going on several trips with Fred and got hooked. Now I go almost every week, have 2 kayaks of my own and a garage full of Peace river collectables from fossils to bottles to arrowheads and chert nodules I'm planning to cut for jewelry.

Where did you put in the river and which direction did you go? I've primarily been going to Zolfo and have met Fred there, but have gone from Ft.Meade to Arcadia.

[PALEOSUPPLY]

sacha, do not ever mention the A word (arrowhead) when speaking about florida items you collect. florida is on a massive witchhunt for anyone who even mistakenly has a flake of chert. make sure that turtle shell fragment isnt a pottery piece. the state is really going overboard on any collecting of artifacts.

[BullStrong]

sacha, do not ever mention the A word (arrowhead) when speaking about florida items you collect. florida is on a massive witchhunt for anyone who even mistakenly has a flake of chert. make sure that turtle shell fragment isnt a pottery piece. the state is really going overboard on any collecting of artifacts.

Agreed, this law is seriously flawed and should be amended, does anyone know how the reasoning for this law was established? People still keep the points! Wouldn't it be more reasonable and informative to create new legislation that allows folks to keep artifacts, but must report the find(s) to a state run website, which creates a detailed database that could be used by anthropologist. As of today, that data is lost. I recently reported the sighting of a swallow-tailed kite soaring in circles while fossiling here in Florida to a S. Carolina website collecting data on that species. Making the public a partner in research instead of a criminal at large will clearly benefit all.

Edited June 29, 2013 by BullStrong

[Sacha]

Actually, Previous state statutes allowed for the collection of artifacts when found while doing anything other than looking for them. They were considered "isolated" finds and could be kept and reported to the U of F the same way we report fossils. It was still against the law to dig for artifacts on state land, but incidental or accidental finds were considered differently.

In 2003 the law was amended to the current extreme. A very good analysis of the history can be found in the special issue of "The Amateur Archaeologist" Fall 2004 along with a description of finds from the Santa Fe River. I had a great conversation with Bob Knight, previous president of the Florida Archaeological Society on the subject.

As for rational, I was given a summery of it by Fish and Wildlife agents when they stopped me on the Santa Fe.

1) People collected by digging for artifacts which is not allowed, but used the cover of the statutes.

2) Fish and Wildlife tracked people they stopped and determined that they never reported finds to the U of F as required.

3) They sold finds online and did not report sales nor did the pay state taxes.

So that's the story as told to me.

[BullStrong]

Thanks for the info Sacha! I remember distinctly the passage of the no keep law because not long after, I took my father to the Peace river for the first time, just south of Paynes Creek State Park, hoping he would dig up a Meg for himself and the very first sifter he holds up a perfect Newnan point and said " Is this what I think it is?". I told him about the ridiculous new law and he made his own decision. A couple years earlier I found what I suspect is an unusual artifact made from the same material as the point, but was unaware of the reporting procedure with U of F at the time, also, I never had it confirmed as an artifact to report it as such and remains in a box. These days though, it gets tossed back or never reported and thats it.

[Shellseeker]

.....As for rational, I was given a summery of it by Fish and Wildlife agents when they stopped me on the Santa Fe.

1) People collected by digging for artifacts which is not allowed, but used the cover of the statutes.

2) Fish and Wildlife tracked people they stopped and determined that they never reported finds to the U of F as required.

3) They sold finds online and did not report sales nor did the pay state taxes.

So that's the story as told to me.

My fossil club president investigated and got a very similar story. There was an "isolated finds" law and, for the most part fossil hunters ignored it, just like many today ignore the Fossil Hunting Permit requirements. I guess it must be human nature. Also , unscrupulous artifact hunters, used the isolated finds statues to justify finding and selling illegally obtained artifacts. So you ended up in a situation where there were significant problems and groups representing both Archaeologists and American Indian tribes did not have a relationship or a lot of sympathy for fossil hunters and were advising politicians.

Once again, it is pretty clear that many disrespect the bad law, ignore it and pocket the artifact. This makes it really difficult to persuade any of the interested parties to change the current law -- depressing!!!!