Fertility Frog Pipe Bowl

Yesterday was annual artifact ID day at the local museum.  My last springs finds were designated likely Matanzas of the Mid-Archaic age, pushing 6,000 BP (before present).  Curiously, the older the artifacts, the fancier the stonework.  Mostly I had a lot of flakes and some ‘blockies’, a new term for me, meaning just a rock, not a prehistoric artifact.

As I browsed the museum, lots of things reminded me of Forrest Fenn and the Chase.

Forrest Fenn’s Treasure Chest

No surprise there;  it invades the mind.   [Not unlike the virus in the Preston/Child book I was in the middle of reading.  More on that in a moment.]

The frog, of course.

The stone faces — think one of his bronze jars.

Mackinaw Cache

A cache, not the Fenn Cache.

Red ochre…..

Surveyor’s Compass…

This strangely shaped stone piece…….

And, okay, not a Clovis in a Mammoth (on Forrest’s bucket list), but how about a spear point that nicked a bison’s rib?

Bison Kill found in Illinois River at ‘water low’

Lots of interesting maps and letters on the walls, showing the moving Indian boundaries, the Military Land Grants on the (then) frontier, settlement of Illinois from the south toward the north.  (I’m awaiting a copy of An Illinois Reader, editor Walton.)

Cover of Fever Dream

Back to the book —  Fever Dream — the finding of which was in itself, serendipitous.  Think second-hand shop.  It was an advance reader’s copy.

I was most of the way through the book before yesterday’s outing.  When I came to this cabinet, I did a double take.

Carolina Parakeet

Yes.  The extinct cornuopsis carolinensis, or Carolina Parakeet.

What were the odds!  The bird and the artist Audubon play an intriguing role in the thriller, which I went right home to finish.

Happy hunting!  Or should I say Chasing…..

Audubon’s Parakeets