Artifacts, Ammonites, and Thundersleet

[Uncle Siphuncle]

44 minutes ago, -AnThOnY- said:

 

I'd normally agree, but I was with him this time! Brr!

The haul was worth it!

 

Just glad neither of us went snarge over tea kettle into the liquid frigidity.  

[Shellseeker]

Dan,

When we talk points in Florida, many of the prettiest one are made from Tampa Bay and Withlacoochee river corals which was likely heavily traded between tribes..  Your finds seem like similar coral materials.. Any insight on materials?

 

Thanks for sharing on this great great hunting trip.. I can see who I would like to be hunting with....

[Wrangellian]

8 hours ago, Uncle Siphuncle said:

...

I don’t know current status of this Herculean undertaking, but he spent a weekend photographing half of my collection a couple years ago, and asked to do another weekend.

...

Sounds like you have a yuuuge collection.

 

I love that 'Health Camp' (burgers, shakes...)

 

Love the fossils but the points impressed me too. How did that serrated one get made, never mind survive excavation intact?

[Uncle Siphuncle]

25 minutes ago, Wrangellian said:

Sounds like you have a yuuuge collection.

 

I love that 'Health Camp' (burgers, shakes...)

 

Love the fossils but the points impressed me too. How did that serrated one get made, never mind survive excavation intact?

Edges pressure flaked with an antler tip.

[ynot]

22 minutes ago, Wrangellian said:

How did that serrated one get made?

A very experienced craftsman, with lots of practice.

 

23 minutes ago, Wrangellian said:

How did that survive excavation intact?

A lot of luck.

 

 

@Uncle Siphuncle, @-AnThOnY-

Nice finds for both Y'all.

[Uncle Siphuncle]

49 minutes ago, Shellseeker said:

Dan,

When we talk points in Florida, many of the prettiest one are made from Tampa Bay and Withlacoochee river corals which was likely heavily traded between tribes..  Your finds seem like similar coral materials.. Any insight on materials?

 

Thanks for sharing on this great great hunting trip.. I can see who I would like to be hunting with....

The Texas Hill Country has some endless lithic material sources incl Georgetown and Edwards cherts.

[lcordova]

13 hours ago, Uncle Siphuncle said:

Yes sir.  Presence of many campsites is fairly predictable in Texas based on topography and sometimes surface expression of burned rock, chert debitage, and a few whole or broken artifacts...all harbingers of goodies hiding for centuries in the dirt.

 I love this quote.... "campsites is fairly predictable".... I can assure that I can stumble upon one and will not notice it!

Dan is the Master. 

[Uncle Siphuncle]

1 minute ago, lcordova said:

 I love this quote.... "campsites is fairly predictable".... I can assure that I can stumble upon one and will not notice it!

Dan is the Master. 

Amigo Luis, you are too kind. Truth be told, many menbers far exceed my artifact experience and acumen.  I’m just an enthusiast.

[bone2stone]

5 hours ago, Uncle Siphuncle said:

Amigo Luis, you are too kind. Truth be told, many menbers far exceed my artifact experience and acumen.  I’m just an enthusiast.

Dan,

Good to see that artefacting is still alive in you.

The types of lithics in Texas is phenomenal, Texas has the only known source of true "flint" (that I am aware of) in the continental US.

The Georgetown "Blue".

This is not to foreshadow the famous "Rootbeer" chert.

Your trip post is as always a memorable read.

Thanks for the report and hope to meet up someday.

Maybe at a artefact dig site.

 

Jess B.

[Uncle Siphuncle]

My best from Saturday.

[Wrangellian]

20 hours ago, ynot said:

A very experienced craftsman, with lots of practice.

 

A lot of luck.

 

That's what I thought. I would have expected to see a bunch of broken ones before seeing that pristine example.

[KimTexan]

On 2/12/2018 at 12:57 PM, Uncle Siphuncle said:

The Akers ammonite reference is a compilation of species at the time of publishing 30 years ago.  It is better to view photos in the original descriptions, but most collectors are willing to take the route of expedience through Akers to get a ballpark on ID. 

 

I don’t know current status of this Herculean undertaking, but he spent a weekend photographing half of my collection a couple years ago, and asked to do another weekend.  This ref won’t be cheap, but I’ll pay whatever it costs for a copy

Regarding Aker’s book, if a person doesn’t have any reference at hand it is better than nothing. That is pretty close to where I am, but I do have PDFs of some original journals, but I do like having hard copies. While I’ve been collecting for almost 30 yrs, I’ve never learned to ID them and only recently have I begun to endeavor to do so.

 

I’m sure it’s an honor to have your ammonites photographed for such a book. I’d be eagerly awaiting the publication if I were in your shoes. Keith Minor’s book sounds like it will be worth every penny you have to pay for it, but it does seem like you could ask for a copy of the book since your own collection seems as though it will make notable contributions to his book.

I was once a coauthor of a chapter in a technical book on organ transplant, my field. I went to the booth at an exhibition where the book was on display for sale. When I told them I wanted to purchase one, because I was one of the authors they just gave it to me for free. It was a pretty large reference book too and I was surprised they just gave it to me. So, it may be worth trying to see if you can get one for free. 

However there is that factor that such valuable reference books are in short supply and the purchases help support the endeavor. I can see being willing to pay for one in the spirit of supporting the endeavor of generating such a reference book. I’ve worked as a librarian on a couple occasions and I’m big into reference books and believe in supporting the cause, but they are generally the most expensive books you’ll ever buy.

 

@Heteromorph today I went looking for an email from HGMS to see when I ordered it. There was an email in my junk mail from them from December saying the street name was missing from my address. Hopefully they can send it now.

 

Very cool about getting your ammonites photographed for his book. Congratulations!

[Uncle Siphuncle]

2 hours ago, KimTexan said:

Regarding Aker’s book, if a person doesn’t have any reference at hand it is better than nothing. That is pretty close to where I am, but I do have PDFs of some original journals, but I do like having hard copies. While I’ve been collecting for almost 30 yrs, I’ve never learned to ID them and only recently have I begun to endeavor to do so.

 

I’m sure it’s an honor to have your ammonites photographed for such a book. I’d be eagerly awaiting the publication if I were in your shoes. Keith Minor’s book sounds like it will be worth every penny you have to pay for it, but it does seem like you could ask for a copy of the book since your own collection seems as though it will make notable contributions to his book.

I was once a coauthor of a chapter in a technical book on organ transplant, my field. I went to the booth at an exhibition where the book was on display for sale. When I told them I wanted to purchase one, because I was one of the authors they just gave it to me for free. It was a pretty large reference book too and I was surprised they just gave it to me. So, it may be worth trying to see if you can get one for free. 

However there is that factor that such valuable reference books are in short supply and the purchases help support the endeavor. I can see being willing to pay for one in the spirit of supporting the endeavor of generating such a reference book. I’ve worked as a librarian on a couple occasions and I’m big into reference books and believe in supporting the cause, but they are generally the most expensive books you’ll ever buy.

 

@Heteromorph today I went looking for an email from HGMS to see when I ordered it. There was an email in my junk mail from them from December saying the street name was missing from my address. Hopefully they can send it now.

 

Very cool about getting your ammonites photographed for his book. Congratulations!

Generally I get a free copy when I help with any sort of publication, but don’t want to be presumptuous.  It’s my opinion that grown men should be prepared to pay for things of value in one form or another.  A magnanimous gesture can obviate funds changing hands, but I like to honor another man’s effort when possible.

 

Bill Morgan did afford me a gratis copy of his TX echinoid book for proofreading the entire thing and letting him photograph parts of my collection, which made up close to half of the specimen photos used. I would have readily paid, esp. because my kid’s honkin’ big Tetragramma was shown and credited to him.