Reading, the Nelson Star, the "Hugs and Slugs" section and someone has written in a complaint about the botched job of the ferry landing renovations. The same as my own rant previously on that theme, only shorter. But - an additional complaint that I hadn't noted, that the pipe installed to drain the parking lot was causing a lot of erosion on the beach...
And in my head I think: "Great, that'd be good for looking for flakes and arrowheads..."
A couple of days later I get a message from the owner of the restaurant there, she's found a whole pile of rocks she thinks might be arrowheads. And half of me is "Damn, why didn't I go when I had the thought". Nevermind, I'm in.
This morning finds me on the early bus to Balfour.
We visit, her finds, mostly triangular bits of schist or quartzite, nothing that shows any sign of having been worked. Except for this: (apologies for the poor quality photo, not mine)
Which is definitely knapped (detail in photo doesn't show), just not an arrowhead as you might think at first but in fact a fishing weight, the notches used to tie it onto the line or the netting.
So, visit, I'm thinking that she just threw some photos of rocks together as an excuse to socialize. Chat, catch up, then I'm down to properly investigate the wash, probably a 30 yard stretch that's been eroded. Flakes, some worked more than others, a few, a few more, then:
And this gets me excited, you can see it's been napped on opposite sides, it's been a while since I've found an arrowhead and this is a pretty good piece. Small, an inch and a quarter long. But it gets me going, and going back over the area the second time I find this:
Which is probably not even an arrowhead, I'm thinking the thickness of the haft suggests it was a spearhead. An even 2 inches in length.
And that's it for the day. I've got to get back there with my screen and shovel because if this is what's a couple of feet below the surface, why then, there's miles of beach here to be dug and I can hear the Indiana Jones Song in my head...but soon, it better be soon because the ground will be freezing and I don't want to be waiting for spring...
