My habit has always been to look for collectable rocks as I walk anywhere in this world of mine. While hiking across the top of Rountop (overlooking Thermopolis, Wyoming), an oddly colored rock caught my attention. When I scooped up the rock, I discovered a chip of flint.
Geologically, the flint didn’t
belong on top of the butte.
Before long, I and my nephew,
Marshall, were poking around the area where I discovered the flint. Within a few minutes, we found several chips
of chert and flint that appeared to have been knapped from larger pieces of
stone in the process of making arrowheads.
Eventually, I found the tip of
an arrowhead there.
While scouring for arrowheads
(from the era when Plains Indians dominated the land), I also found several
ancient sea fossils now weathered free from the butte’s limestone cap.
On my hike back down from the
top, I found a nearly complete arrowhead on the trail.
Partial Arrowheads and Chips
Knapped from Larger Stones
Baculite Specimens and a Shell
from the Ancient Sea
Smooth Fossils (Teeth form a
Sea Monster?)
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