James Laswell Clovis
Very few relic hunters are lucky enough that their first finds are extraordinary. James Laswell is one of those lucky individuals. On July 16th, 2012 he found what has become known as the Laswell Great Pipe in the White River in Madison County, Indiana. That was his first Native American relic find.
It was then that he started hunting the fields for Indian relics. On February 19 2016 outside of Pendleton Indiana while hunting a field with his brother, a field I also have hunted with Darrell Cross, James found an outstanding pristine Clovis. The field drainage ditch had an enormous amount of water flow through it recently after 4 continuous days of heavy rain The water had eroded the side of the ditch exposing the Clovis for the first time. The depth the Clovis was found at was well below the normal plow zone.
Here the arrow points to the Clovis InSitu, the small white area in the water. |
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A close up of the InSitu Clovis point in the ditch at the edge of the water line. |
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Turning around from the image looking west. Note the depth of the ditch. |
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James Laswell holding the freshly found Clovis. |
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James Laswell holding the freshly found Clovis other side. |
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On January 1st 2017 there was an auction at the Hancock County Fairground with Indian relics up for bid. I was in the field searching for relics when I remembered the auction so I exited the field and headed for home. I got home and said to my wife that I was going to change then head up to the auction and asked if she wanted to go along.
We arrived after the auction started; just as the auction team was moving the relics from the table to the front for going up for bid. I checked out the relics. There were a few paleo, a few bird stones, axes, pestles and points. However I was not certain of the authenticity and did not have the opportunity to use my loupe on the relics.
I don't feel the need any more to have everything I see. Resigned to observing, I asked a few of the winning bidders if I could checkout their newly purchased relics. The relics were all sold and I was threading my way through the crowd heading out when a man walked up to me and asked me if I would like to check out a Clovis he had found recently.
We walked out to his car, and he pulled a frame out holding the Clovis. He started telling me about finding a great pipe and how he spoke to many people about it, asked me if I had ever heard of him. I said I don't think that I had heard of him; He told me a detailed interesting story which he ended up selling the pipe to Tony Putty of Shelbyville Indiana and how the pipe was in the Central States Archaeological Societies October 2015 Journal. It was a fascinating story from the beginning of finding the pipe through selling it. Getting the Clovis out of the car and handing it to me, James told me the story of him finding the Clovis and how he became interested in Indian artifacts. Before we parted asked if I was interested in purchasing it.
Later that week James emailed me some images and we made plans to get together.
I met with James on January 11 th 2017, and after negotiations he agreed to sell me the Clovis. To James the Clovis was a cherished relic.
Clovis points are the characteristically-fluted projectile points associated with the North American Clovis culture. They date to the Paleoindian period around 13,500 years ago. Clovis fluted points are named after the city of Clovis, New Mexico, where examples were first found in 1929.[1]
A typical Clovis point is a medium to large lanceolate point. Sides are parallel to convex, and exhibit careful pressure flaking along the blade edge. The broadest area is near the midsection or toward the base. The base is distinctly concave with a characteristic flute or channel flake removed from one or, more commonly, both surfaces of the blade. The lower edges of the blade and base are ground to dull edges for hafting. Clovis points also tend to be thicker than the typically thin later-stage Folsom points, with length ranging from 4–20 centimeters (1.6–7.9 in) and width from 2.5–5 centimeters (0.98–1.97 in).
Clovis points were first discovered in the city of Clovis, New Mexico, and have since been found over most of North America[3] and as far south as Venezuela. Significant Clovis finds include the Anzick site in Montana; the Blackwater Draw type site in New Mexico; the Colby site in Wyoming; the Gault site in Texas; the Simon site in Idaho; the East Wenatchee Clovis Site in Washington; and the Fenn cache, which came to light in private hands in 1989 and whose place of discovery is unknown. Clovis points have been found northwest of Dallas, Texas.[4]
In May 2008 a major Clovis cache, now called the Mahaffey Cache, was found in Boulder, Colorado, with 83 Clovis stone tools. The tools were found to have traces of horse and cameloid protein. They were dated to 13,000 to 13,500 YBP, a date confirmed by sediment layers in which the tools were found and the types of protein residues found on the artifacts.[5]
I met with James on January 11 th 2017, and after negotiations he agreed to sell me the Clovis. Here James is holding the Clovis. |
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References Clovis point - Wikipedia
• "A Clovis Spear Point". Archaeological Research Center. South Dakota State Historical Society. 2004-02-13.
• Justice, Noel D. (1995), Stone age spear and arrow points of the midcontinental and eastern United States: a modern survey and reference (reprint ed.), Indiana University Press, p. 17, ISBN 978-0-253-20985-6
• Elias, Scott A. "Paleoindian and Archaic Peoples". People of the Colorado Plateau. Northern Arizona University.
• "13,000-Year-Old Stone Tool Cache in Colorado Shows Evidence of Camel, Horse Butchering". University of Colorado at Boulder. February 25, 2009. Retrieved 22 September 2010.
