Natural Burial of Artifacts

Extract

In a recent issue of American Antiquity Douglas S. Byers, in “Bull Brook — a Fluted Point Site in Ipswich, Massachusetts ” (Vol. 19, No. 4, pp. 343-51), pointedly raises the question of how the stone artifacts at this site have become buried rather deeply in the soil. To quote Mr. Byers: “Not the least of the problems is that having to do with the means by which the implements became buried. The surface of the land shows differences in elevation that could not have amounted to more than 5 feet over the entire area. There is no sign of an old land surface at the depth at which the fluted point complex occurs. Neither slope wash, wind action, nor frost action seem to offer satisfactory media for burying the objects. The matter remains a puzzle until further study may uncover new evidence.”

This particular dilemma, is one that I am sure will be encountered in the study of any old site, such as the fluted point sites.