Did a couple surveys in NE SD with the annoying-but-harmless coworker yesterday and Wednesday. The first was at Roy Lake; surveying for a new foot-bridge in the campground. Nothing interesting, but nice weather...crisp, cold and cloudy. Then we drove up to Sica Hollow State Park, near Sisseton. Survey for proposed hiking trail upgrades, so for the rest of that day, and the morning of the next, all I had to do was wander the hiking trails looking for artifacts. By myself, no less...the survey corridor was pretty narrow, so we only needed one person per section of trails, so it was blissfully silent and beautiful. Astoundingly beautiful, fairy-tale lovely, green catheral-esque. I want to go back and hide myself away in the trees with the deer and the streams and the birds, and maybe never come back.
My first find was the most exciting...a historic/prehistoric site...some depressions indicating structures, historic debris scattered about, a Catlinite flake (very exciting, as we don't see it very often, and the Pipestone Quarry was a sacred site), some other flakes and...two glass trade beads, and one unidentified object that is shaped like an animal claw or a drinking horn, is as glossy as glass, but makes me think instead of smooth-surfaced seashells. The hole went all the way through it, being small at the pointed end, but widening all the way to the opposite end...exactly like a drinking horn, only with a hole in the opposite end. I'm wondering if this is some type of shell that was traded as if for a bead...it made me think of dentalia shells, only is larger, and far smoother, slightly more curved. The glass beads were one white tube bead, perhaps an inch long, several mm diameter, and one tiny white seed bead.
They are the only trade beads I've ever personally found in the field. Ever. Finally, after waiting my entire archaeological career. I'm putting the day on the calendar, and Sica Hollow on my (not-really-existing) "Personal Journeys" map.
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