Artifacts in Focus: Personal Artifact Collection (February 26, 2020)

2-26-20 - Personal Artifact Collection.jpg

This assemblage of artifacts is part of the personal collection of the Mydlowski family, mostly found during the 1960s in Mercer County. The prehistoric artifacts in this image range from the Early Archaic through the Late Woodland periods and are made from a range of materials including argillite, chert, Cuesta quartzite and jasper. Mostly projectile points, the collection also includes drills and a hammerstone. When this assemblage was analyzed in 2013 during the graduate work of Evan Mydlowski, some items were determined to be non-cultural. Two other items in the collection are historic, including the gun powder horn and the hatchet/hand axe blade.  

This collection, generously shared with us today, includes many more artifacts than are pictured here. It also includes a variety of flakes and other stone tools that are not usually deemed “display worthy”. It is the hope of Evan that these artifacts will also be analyzed and cataloged in the future. 

If you have any interpretations of the artifacts in this assemblage to offer, please let us know! History and archaeology are an ongoing process; one that is improved by the shared knowledge of those who engage with it. 

📸: Evan Mydlowski