You Had To Be There....

Ok, this series deserves more than just a couple lines of explanation. Our favorite hobby is walking the riverbottom fields, hunting for arrowheads and artifacts from the prehistoric inhabitants along the river. We spend a lot of time "walkin around, lookin down". The piece in this first pic was found June 15, 2008. Remember that date. It is part of a gorgeous butterfly bannerstone, made from blood quartz. There are many theories as to it's purpose, but that's just what they are; theories. Anyways, my mate finds it, and brings it over to me. I swear, the Grandfathers smile on him every time we hunt. That is a most good thing. He gifts it to me, and after photographing it, I run a leather string through the hole and hang it on my rearview mirror, so I see it everday, and rub it at least once a day. It brings me joy just to touch it. Here it is:



Fast forward to June 12, 2010. 2 years of spring and fall backwaters, when the Ohio herself leaves her banks and covers these fields, renewing their fertility. 2 years of crops planted and harvested. 2 years of fields readied for planting, and put to bed for the winter. June 12, 2010, a perfect day for walking these fields. We arrive at the field next to the bannerstone field. The farmer who rents the adjacent field is on his tractor, preparing his land for planting. We start walking the field we have permission to hunt. Just the two of us, with walking sticks. Nothing nefarious going on here, I swear, lol. After about 30 minutes, the farmer hails my mate. He's known this man all his life, so he tells me to keep on hunting, and goes to see what the fellow wants. Directly, I hear my name being called, and I am waved back toward the truck. I head that way, wondering what I am fixin to hear. My mate is laughin, but it isn't a "funny ha ha" laugh. It's a "can you believe this shit?" laugh. I am relieved that it is any kinda laugh. You'd have to know my mate, trust me. Looking back, here's where the hair on the back of my neck shoulda begun standing up, but I've never been one to look a gift horse in the mouth. Turns out, said farmer had appointed himself "PoPo" of the bottoms, and said he was to run off anyone he didn't know from these fields. Remember he knows my mate well, and we have permission. I didn't hear the conversation, but the farmer did stalk off back to his tractor. Anyways, my mate has decided we will just load up and move one field over and continue. Same farmer we have permission from, and the field where we found the piece of bannerstone, as well as other arrowheads. I tell him I am proud that he didn't let "asshole" ruin a great day to hunt. As we're bumping slowly along the rutted road, he says, "I think I'll just go find the other piece of that", pointing to the stone hanging from my rearview mirror. I laughingly encourage him to dream on. We park at the end of the dirt track. We get out, grab our sticks, and he points out in the field and says, "that's where I found it" meaning the bannerstone. I take the lower end of the field, and he heads out to the spot he pointed out. Not 10 full minutes later, he yells to me, "Found It!", and he starts my way. I call back, "Found what?", (while thinking to myself, abso-fuckin-lutely no way). He gets closer and says "at least I think it's part of it", and holds it up. Now he was still about 10 feet away, but I am dumb-struck. You know, your jaw drops open and your eyes know very well what they see, but the logical part of your brain does not want to accept it. He reaches me and hands it over. He's grinnin from ear to ear, and shows me the goose-bumps on his arms. I let him know it's not part of the missing piece, but the entire missing piece. He can't believe me, but I explain I look at it daily, and this is all that's missing. Here it is:



We both realize this just does not happen. 2 years of backwaters and active farming have rolled by. As much of the stone as we found 2 years ago, is a once-in-a-lifetime find for a lot of folks. You simply can't just go back and find the rest of it. We know that if farm machinery broke it, it must have been pulverized. If it was broken the last time human hands touched it, there is absolutely no way to determine how or why, since we don't even know how it was used. What I do know, is that The Grandfathers meant for it to come back together, and they apparently meant for my mate to be the one to make that happen. I could get all philosophical and spiritual about this, but that is for everyone to decide for themselves. I'll just show you one final picture.