I have the utmost respect for the scientific method and the knowledge that results from scientific study. I believe that each artifact lying below the surface has a unique story to tell. When amateurs probe the earth in search of ancient treasures, which Indian artifacts are, they invariably destroy much of that story. Professionals, trained to observe the most minute detail, will always acquire more knowledge when digging artifacts than amateurs do.
The preceding paragraph will probably trigger an avalanche of e-mail, and will, no doubt, draw ire from a few of my friends. Yes, I realize digging for artifacts on private land, with the permission of the owner, is legal in Texas. Private property rights are part of what makes this country so great. And I know many sites will have been destroyed by nature, construction, or farming long before the professionals get to them. I don't condemn those who dig, I just ask that they be selective about where they dig, choosing only the most threatened sites.
None of the artifacts displayed on this website were dug from the earth. I admit I did some digging at one of the pay-to-dig sites in central Texas early in my collecting career. But the truth expressed in the first paragraph soon became apparent. I no longer dig.
Every year, thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of arrowheads and other Indian artifacts are eroded into the our nation's waterways. The ground where artifacts have lain for centuries or millennia can be washed away in a torrent lasting but a few minutes. I hunt for these displaced arrowheads along the creeks and rivers of Texas, avoiding any Federal land. There are some who believe it is wrong to retrieve these ancient treasures from what would otherwise be a watery grave.
Those opposed to collecting from streams, surely, have not given the subject sufficient thought. Once artifacts are eroded from the ground they are likely to continue moving farther downstream with subsequent rises. If left uncollected, they will inevitably come to rest under several feet of silt in a river delta or at the upper end of a reservoir. Recovering these reburied, out-of-context artifacts would be prohibitively expensive. Such artifacts are essentially lost forever.
I record the locations of all my finds. Much of the "story" an artifact has to tell is lost when it is eroded from a site. When I find an artifact on the surface of a streambed, I save what remains of its story from total loss.
It saddens me sometimes to consider the fate of many of the Indian artifacts that have been washed away. But there is another, more destructive fate awaiting some of those artifacts. Many counties, in search of cheap roadbase, turn to the rivers for their gravel supply. I don't have a problem with this practice, since it probably lowers the tax burden. However, I have seen truckload after truckload of gravel hauled from some of the finest arrowhead hunting areas I know. How many arrowheads have been dumped on the roadbeds only to be ground to pieces by vehicle traffic?
I believe, as do many of my fellow hunters, that collecting Indian artifacts along creeks
and rivers is, in essence, salvage archaeology. We aren't
thieves of time. We aren't destroying anything. We are, instead, adding to mankind's knowledge of prehistory.