On May 1st of 2014, John Benedict and Frank Binetti visited Site 41KE198 that was recorded by Frank in 2008. There were no diagnostics found at the time of the original recording of this site. Diagnostic artifacts tell us how old the site is. The purpose of this new visit was to explore the possibilities of finding diagnostic artifacts and additional burned rock middens. During the exploration, no additional burned rock middens were found, however three distinct lithic scatter areas were discovered, HCAA KE-11, 12 and 13! We spent the next several hours marking off the boundaries of the lithic scatter sites and placed flags to mark their location. During our surveying of Lithic Scatter 1, John found a diagnostic point that we identified as a possible Baker-Gower-Uvalde like point. These point types are from the Early Archaic period, 6,000 to 8,000 years ago—suggesting that the area was occupied during that time.
On May 3rd, John and I returned to record the three lithic scatter sites. We used our compasses, GPS’s, and tape measures to measure and record the sites. We bagged a representation of the lithic scatter from all three sites, and took pictures. A son of the owner requested that we aid in digging a test pit near the original burned rock midden site. The owner and another son showed up and requested that we help in determining where to locate the test pit. We suggested the southeast corner of the BRM and the owner and his sons proceeded to dig and screen for artifacts. At approximately 10 cm down in NE corner the test pit, two broken Montell points were found. These diagnostic points were used by prehistoric Indians during the Late Archaic period, 2,400 to 2,800 years ago. This was a very exciting day for everyone!!