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Indiana Smith and his Texas Artifact Collection
Welcome to my website! My name is Lewis B. "Indiana" Smith and since 1978 I have collected Texas Indian artifacts and fossils. This page is mainly devoted to my hobby and my collection. It is a work in progress that will be expanded and updated every so often, so be sure and check back in every now and then to look at new pics and content. I want to thank all my friends from the ROCKTALK chat room and the PROS artifact forum at Arrowheads.com, who have supported and encouraged me!
I am in my 40's and live in Northeast Texas. In addition to collecting artifacts, I am a pastor, Christian School teacher, karate instructor, amateur writer, and general outdoor enthusiast. Some of the pages here reflect those other interests and passions of mine, but I created this primarily as a site for those who share my enthusiasm for the handcrafted tools of the first Americans. BY THE WAY, you'll notice a new picture of me to the left of this column. While it's really a pretty terrible image of my ugly mug (that is to say, sadly accurate), please notice the artifact in my hand - a drilled bear tooth pendant that I found on July 2, 2004.
I appreciate your visiting my website and hope you'll come back soon!
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
These are all the pages I am planning for my site at the moment.
PALEO POINTS - These are the oldest artifacts found in North America, and among the most finely made. Here you'll see pictures of some of my very best finds from the Paleo era.
ARCHAIC POINTS - The artifacts date from about 8,000 to 2,000 years of age, and are sometimes very wellmade and often fairly crude. They constitute the bulk of my collection. This page has a lot of available photo blanks, so it's also a catch-all page for extra pics.
BIRD POINTS - A common misnomer, these are actually bow and arrow points, which can be distinguished from the larger spear (or "dart") points by their small size and extreme thinness. Texas bird points are among the finest found anywhere in the U.S.
FLINT TOOLS - Various items in the Native American toolkit, some finely made, some crude, all a part of the way of life for our aboriginal inhabitants.
GROUND/POLISHED ARTIFACTS - These stone artifacts are not made by chipping but by grinding and polishing them into the desired shape. Each one of these artifacts represents a LOT of hours of labor!
IN SITU SHOTS - I like to take my camera with me in the field, and these are some of the resultant shots. An artifact is never as pretty as it is in that split second before you pick it up, so I try to preserve that moment forever!
MY FOSSILS - I live in an area where arrowheads and Cretaceous fossils wash up on the same gravel bars. Here are some of my best fossils finds.
SURFACE HUNTERS OF TEXAS - This is a club that I helped organize ten years ago, and still play a very active role in. Find info on how to join!
UECHI-RYU KARATE - At long last, here is the promised page on the karate style I've been involved in, off and on, since 1989.
INDY'S BIGGEST FIND - I recently located the skeleton of a huge mosasaur in a nearby creek - after a friend and I had found scattered pieces of bone washed down from the site for several years. This page details the exciting excavation of this massive beast. INDY'S RANT - Read my proposal to the State Legislature to legalize surface collecting on public waterways! Action is pending in the Senate very soon on this proposed bill. |
UPDATE AUG. 15, 2007 - This summer it has been time to pay the price for all the great hunting I had last year! Last summer I found over 250 points from the last week of May through Labor Day; this year I have about 35 in the same time period! But I have made a couple of decent finds which I have posted. I actually got access to a nice ranch in Central Texas, near Temple, and have done some sifter digging, and found one very nice point here locally. You can see the pictures on the "Ground/Polished" page and on the catch-all "Archaic Points and Miscellaneous". Wish I had more recent finds to post! Enjoy the update, and sorry for the long delay! UPDATE: Feb. 25, 2007 - Got out last weekend and found a few. It was a gorgeous day and I got a couple of good in situ shots, one is added to the "In Situ" page, and the other is on my catch all, "Archaic Points and Miscellaneous"! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Once more I look at my site and realized I haven't touched it in a couple of months! Now 2007 is upon us and I can look back at the most successful year I have ever had as a collector. All told, I found nearly 500 points in 2006 - 494, to be precise. As I sit here in mid-January and listen to the sleet rattle on my window, I wonder if I will ever have another year quite like this one. I will be installing quite a few pics today on different pages as I go through the site, so take the time to browse and enjoy. I have added pics on nearly every page. For some reason the site will not let me access my Paleo points page, so I may just delete it and make a new one pretty soon. Our next SHOT meeting is in Greenville, Texas, on May 5, 2007. See the SHOT page for more details! UPDATE SEPT 2006 - I just looked at my site and realized I haven't updated since June. That is for one simple reason: I spent all summer hunting points every time I could get away from my responsibilities at home and work! Conditions here locally are the best they have been in 10 years, and I have picked up over 350 points this year! (and still have 3 months to go!) As I was cataloging some of my latest finds today, I was astonished to see how many good bird points I have found this year. Just check out the picture below! APRIL 1, 2006 - Walked all day today to find one point, but what a point it was! Go to "In Situ Shots" page for the pics! MARCH 11 2005 - Got out yesterday on the first day of spring break and had a KILLER day, found ten artifacts, 2 of them Paleo. Got an in situ and in hand shot of the best piece on my "Archaic Points and Miscellaneous" page. UPDATE - December 2005 was REALLY good to me, I found over 40 artifacts and some of them were killers. Look on the "In Situ" page, "Bird Points", and "Flint Tools", as well as on the "Archaic Points and Miscellaneous" to see my most recent finds. Hope you're doing as well as I have been!
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IN CASE YOU'RE WONDERING, I USED TO SAY NONE OF MY ARTIFACTS ARE FOR SALE. NOW THAT I HAVE TWO KIDS ENROLLED IN CHRISTIAN SCHOOL, I HAVE HAD TO LET GO A FEW PIECES TO PAY TUITION. STILL, I PREFER TO KEEP MY POINTS. I WORKED TO HARD TO FIND THEM, AND I WOULDN'T WANT TO ROB YOU OF THE JOY OF FINDING YOUR OWN! KEEP YOUR EYES TO THE GROUND! |
