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Thomas Marwood's Native American Artifacts

How old is it? 

In 1965, a grouping of Native American artifacts belonging to Thomas Marwood was donated to the Antelope County Museum by his family. According to museum records, Thomas’s parents moved to Clearwater area in 1869 where they built a log cabin and began farming. Thomas spent the rest of his life in the area and amassed a sizable collection of stone artifacts collected around the Clearwater area.

The size, condition, and variety of the artifacts are impressive, but what is even more interesting about the collection is the vast difference in age of some of the stone projectile points. The attached picture shows a grouping of points covering a several thousand year time period. While it is impossible to assign a definitive date to a specific projectile point without further evidence to go on, it is possible to look at the physical characteristic of a point and assign it to a certain culture which can give a rough idea of its age. Simply put, certain groups of people made their points a certain way, for a certain purpose, during a specific time period.

The three largest points in the picture are commonly associated with the use of a spear or lance and are generally older than 1,500 years which is when the bow started to replace the spear in the plains. The small triangle points are generally associated with arrow points and can range from 1,500 years to a few hundred years old.

The brown projectile point on the top left is likely the oldest point in the picture. Its size and shape is consistent with points referred to as Alberta points belonging to the Cody Culture which means it could be between 9,250 - 8,850 years old. These types of points have been found in Nebraska and other plain states as well as Alberta and Saskatchewan Canada.

If you want to know more about the artifacts you have bring them to the museum. There’s a whole lot more to see and admission is only $3.00 for adults. Kids and students get in free.

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