Rich Van Sickle Paleo find!

 Richard Van Sickle, who found and reported a Moose-Elk fossil that produced a C-14 date of 11,400 years, has recently found a perfect Cumberland Clovis fluted spear point of the Barnes type. The material is Normanskill Chert that exhibits the distinct green mottling identified with deposits in Greene County, N.Y. This artifact is exactly 1" wide and 2 1/2 "  long, the ideal proportion.  This point is a virtual twin to the D.Q. #1  specimen except for slight waisting on that point which also has lost a tiny portion of its needle-sharp tip. The material is identical in both cases. The specimen found by Richard Van Sickle supercedes the D.Q. #1 point as the finest example of a Paleolithic spearpoint ever found in the Northeast.

L-r: Jon Lothrop, Meredith Younge (both from the NYS Museum) with Rich.

       Jon Lothrop of  the New York State Museum recorded this artifact yesterday and included it in his ongoing State-wide survey of the distribution of Paleolithic artifacts.

        Orange County, which has produced the majority of Pliestocene Mammalian fossils found in New York State, is now moving to the forefront in yielding evidence of the people who hunted these animals. It is through the tenacity and the dedication of people like Mr. Van Sickle that these artifacts are not only found, but they are reported instead of sold or simply closeted away.

         Mr. Van Sickle has the gratitude of the Orange County Chapter, NYSAA as well as the entire Archaeolgical community.Any serious publication addressing the peopling of the Americas written forthwith must necessarily include this artifact.

Photos and story by H. Ray Decker