Arrowheadology.com: Arrowheads, Indian Artifacts and Early Man

The Sun Sets on Temple.

Posted on 09. Jun, 2009 by Shannon Graham in Events, Miscellaneous, Texas

And the 12th annual Lone Star Archeological Society Show is now in the books. As folks departed the G.I.R.S. sponsored show this weekend in Temple, Texas, I overheard one eager attendee saying “only 363 more days until the next one!”

Kudos to Leslie Pfeiffer, the show host, for orchestrating such a well organized and ‘clean’ event. The show would not be what it is today if not for Leslie’s tireless efforts and contributions. Leslie arranged for several significant finds to be displayed during the show. The first was three Clovis points (out of the original eight) from the Naco site in southeast Arizona. This was the first mammoth kill associated with Clovis artifacts to be identified. The second display comprised a Clovis cache from the Gault site in south central Texas.

There were many, many familiar faces, fellow collectors and friends alike in attendance . Visitors and participants came from all over including, California, Colorado, Arizona, Iowa, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Florida and beyond.

Fred Marsh and John Pafford did a fabulous job of adding new members to the G.I.R.S. ranks. (Have you seen the latest Prehistoric American!?!)

Woody Blackwell ’s informative and impressive knapping display detailed the reduction sequence for a Scottsbluff. And all of this was even before you entered the main hall!

Exhibits within were a good mix of collectors, educators, and dealers with many informative displays. Three days was apparently not enough time for me to get around to see everything, but the ones I did get to see included many fabulous site and type collections.

Rusty L. of central Texas has possibly the finest Texas type collection with outstanding examples of each type arranged by period. A few of the site collections that I was able to take in included Jim Cox’s Spiro display containing many of the rare artifacts photographed by Dr. Bell in the 1930s. On display were Tribute Points, humongous shell pieces engraved with elaborate scenes, original cloth from costumes found within the inner Spiro Mound chamber, pearls, beads, large pipes, maces, and much more. Richard Rose had his Folsom finds from the Shifting Sands site. Other great site collections included artifacts from Paleo camps along the Canadian and Red rivers as well as artifacts from sites in Alaska, Arizona, and the Pecos region in southwest Texas.

Lyle Nickel had his impressive and never-ending collection of Alibates, Calf Creek, Paleo and everything else that is Oklahoma. Kevin Dowdy of the ‘Best Of…’ fame, had his amazing Hernando collection and other Florida gems. Hixton material was well represented by Gene Hynek. Rick Miller had his absolutely amazing paleo pieces for all to see. Dwain Rogers mixed it up by bringing in three different frames of artifacts for each day of the show including Corner Tangs of course, drills, San Sabas, Pedernales, Ensors, and large blades to name a few.

There’s always at least one ‘G10′ artifact that walks into a show and this year it was a 5.25″ ‘rootbeer’ Scottsbluff that was found the previous Sunday. It created quite a buzz on the exhibit hall floor.

Another highlight was visiting with legendary central Texas collector, Don Screws, who discovered the superb cache of 53 Scallorns and a separate cache of 25 piece Pedernales Blades. Oh, the stories and experiences Don has…

It was good seeing old friends and meeting new. Mark your calendars now for the first weekend in June 2010!

Related Posts

1. Temple 2011 Comes to an End
2. UPDATED: Temple 2010 is in the Books
3. Arrowheadology Is Headed To Temple!

Tags: Artifact Show, GIRS, Temple, Texas