Some friends took me to northern Arizona to old excavation traces left by the University of Northern Arizona. Above a valley, each little knob of hill had a stone house foundation on top, and under foot were millions of shards of pottery of different colors and types: grey, red, black on white, white on black, black on red, red on tan, and polychrome. The black on white is Anassazis, and the red on tan is Hohokam. My friend Tom D. explained that the Sinagua (meaning without water) lived here from around 300 AD to about 1200 AD and had been related to the Hohokam. We spent the whole day looking for arrowheads.

I got lucky and found two undamaged points. The first is made of obsidian and was directly underfoot when I stepped out of the truck in the morning, I found it immediately. The point is less than an inch long. Finding it so easily was a bit surreal and I spent the rest of the day not finding anything and being visually distracted by the many pottery shards.

Tom has an amazing ability to spot millimeter-sized beads from a standing position. At his urging in one place I lay down and, with my eyes only six inches from the ground, was able to spot these two:

Another friend, Paul, found a copper jingle bell and Tom found a damaged obsidian point and a  bird effigy made of shell. This is very diverse collecting. The pot hunters and the University archeologists have left a lot of interesting debris on the surface. In one place we saw an oval ballcourt, 40 yards across, out in the dry grass below the largest hill. Things like this, and the copper bell, suggest that these people were within the sphere of influence of the Maya.

Until the end of the day I didn't find anything else. Finally I was looking very slowly and carefully and found this little beauty near my foot as I walked along.

This one is approximately one half inch long, made from a kind of tan and gray chert. I have to admit I was gloating when I found this one. Hey guys: THANKS, I hope I can return the favor somehow.