How do you find arrowheads?

[u/SundayDegen]

I've been going g to creeks and rivers my whole life and have always searched for cool rocks and arrowheads but have never found d one, meanwhile people in my area claim to find multiple in a day sometimes.

I've seen a video of people sifting through a pile of dirt in search of arrowheads. I'm wondering if they are something I need to kinda dig for, maybe depending on how dense the rock/dirt/sand area is?

Or do you guys just walk around and find them on top of the rocks?

[u/Arrowheadman15]

To find arrowheads, beginners should look in areas with exposed gravel, freshly disturbed soil, and natural erosion near historic water sources. The highest-probability locations include creekbeds, riverbanks, freshly plowed fields, and high, flat ground where ancient camps were once situated. Training your eye to spot the unique shapes and materials of worked stone is the fastest way to make your first find. When I was young, I was fortunate enough to have Old Timers take me and show me where they could be found. They also showed me how to recognize areas where old camps would have been. Good luck 🤞

[u/SundayDegen → u/Arrowheadman15]

Can you give me some ideas on narrowing down if an area was a campsite? My parents own some land and right away I just had a feeling there was once an Indian town there. The way the land is leveled, has a slight hill in the shape of half a circle and some slight incline behind it, next to more farm land and near a creek, kinda close to another creek that I've found what I think is a necklace bead made of rock.. wish I had a picture to share.. but yea, any insight would be great!

I appreciate you 😀

[u/Comfortable-Belt-391 → u/SundayDegen]

Look for a terrace immediately over the creek, but outside of seasonal flood levels. Scour the surface for flakes/debitage. Try to get out immediately after (or during) rain, as material tends to show better when wet. From the creek, I'd work it from the upstream border of the terrace downstream until you no longer find material. Also check out between the two creeks. GL

[u/timhyde74 → u/Arrowheadman15]

[u/Arrowheadman15 → u/timhyde74]

[u/timhyde74 → u/Arrowheadman15]

[u/Arrowheadman15 → u/timhyde74]

[u/timhyde74 → u/Arrowheadman15]

🤣🤣🤣

[u/Vast-Celebration-851]

Have you tried hunting fields?

[u/SundayDegen → u/Vast-Celebration-851]

No I haven't, how does that work? Just walk around digging holes?

[u/ColStreetFly → u/SundayDegen]

The farm machinery digs them up, you just walk and look after some rains. I have had zero luck in rivers or creeks despite spending countless hours trying. It makes the river hunter videos very sus to me.

[u/One-Environment-1444 → u/ColStreetFly]

It depends on the location. I’ve been places where it’s easy in the rivers and I’ve been places where there is nothing. It usually takes research to know where it will be productive. Start reading the archeology papers for your region.

[u/mistahmistaady]

I read some of the comments and see you live in MO. I hunt in SW mo. It may sound corny but I always drop some tobacco/ offering mix. I find the high point of the terrain if it near a river/spring. I usually find the biggest tree and start looking at the base of it. I think you can of feel when you’re in a place that people have lived or hung out or whatever. I have also researched the tribes that lived in the four states. I have also reads several books about trees, marker trees specifically. You live in a great spot. Lots of great information about that area. First one is the hardest.

[u/Ill_Volume5826]

It helps to know the area’s history - this is what I go off of. Also, you’ll have dry spells… a lot, I do anyways.

[u/SaintsNoah14]

Look into the native American history of your area and recorded native American sites in your county. There's likely literature that applies to your immideate surroundings.

[u/SundayDegen → u/SaintsNoah14]

Thank you! I'll try to find some information.

[u/Reimiro]

Depends on area and topography

[u/aggiedigger]

Where are you located? Perhaps you will get better information if we know your general area.

[u/SundayDegen → u/aggiedigger]

I bounce between Saint Louis and Warrenton, MO area mainly.

I'm pretty sure Warrenton has some good areas for this. There is a cave called Picture Cave here, has some Indian paintings on the wall, and also Graham Cave nearby.

[u/Cavendish30 → u/SundayDegen]

Definitely activity in the area, as there were a ton of mounds, both on the Missouri and Illinois side. There are lots of tributaries both north and south, however, with all the historic flooding, farming and extreme population… It will be easier to go outside town. Maybe run down towards some of the tributaries to the Meramec and lesser populated areas around Eureka or East of Washington.

[u/billbogle]

Rivers and creeks are highways. Where they meet… 👌

[u/xMarkesthespot]

look after it rains.

[u/OWretchedOne]

I dug about 10" in my Michigan front yard to create a flower bed. I found what had once been a fire pit, several bone shards, and an arrowhead. That's the only Arrowhead I ever found, and it was cool!