Indian artifact collectors display their finds at Sunday exhibition

The attraction to the hobby of looking for American Indian artifacts, says Terry Goette, is the thrill of the find.

"It's just something about picking something up that nobody has touched in a thousand years," said Goette, who was among those attending the Bootheel Archaeological Society exhibition Sunday at the Drury Lodge in Cape Girardeau. "It's just really neat."

Local organizer Jerry Davis of Jackson said this year's show had 62 exhibitors displaying their collections of Indian relics. He estimated that attendance for the one-day event would be around 180 people, including exhibitors. The event has been held annually in Cape Girardeau since 1998 after being held previously in Sikeston, Mo., for 10 years.

Davis, who was an area farmer before retiring, found his first arrowhead while working the sandy soil near Sikeston. He said that many Indian relics have been uncovered by amateurs like himself and members of the organization.

He said that changes in farming methods are making the discovery of arrowheads, spears, knives and other Indian artifacts a little tougher.

"They're getting into this no-till farming, and they just don't work the dirt like they used to," Davis said.

Goette, of Florissant, Mo., attended the event not only as an exhibitor but also as business manager of the Central States Archaeological Society. The organization oversees 19 regional organizations, such as the Greater St. Louis Archaeological Society, of which the Bootheel Archaeological Society is a chapter.

Goette said that the conversion of farmland to commercial and industrial developments also threatens the prospect of artifact finds.

"Everything's getting covered in concrete and asphalt," Goette said. He predicted that in 50 years, the activity "will probably be dead."

Although artifacts are getting harder to find, the hobby is still attracting new followers. Shane Cumbee of Jackson came to the show with Brandie Wolfenkoehler and her son, Alex Peterson.

"This is the first one we've attended," said Cumbee, who brought in two boxes of finds that he has collected in more than two years of hunting.

Wolfenkoehler said she picked up the hobby when she was young.

"I've been finding arrowheads since I was about eight years old," said Wolfenkoehler. "My mom was a science teacher, so finding rocks was pretty cool, and I stumbled upon one and picked it up."

Alex Peterson, an eight-year-old student at Orchard Elementary in Jackson, has followed in his mother's footsteps. He recently found a tip of an Indian tool in a creek close to home.

While archaeology is just a hobby for most of those at the exhibition, Jerry Dickey, of Lynchburg, Tenn., earns a living authenticating American Indian relics for collectors.

Dickey started collecting Indian artifacts when he was 6 and became president of his local archaeological society at age 15 before studying anthropology at the University of Tennessee.

"There are a lot of people that go into shows that are not really knowledgeable collectors," Dickey said. "They want to know 'what is this and how old is it?'"

He said he is frequently asked to identify which tribe created a particular relic.

"Most artifacts that people find are between 2,000 and 10,000 years old," Dickey said. "These things go way back further than the early historical tribes."

Dickey said that the age of a find can usually be determined by the style of tool or weapon it is, since the techniques Native Americans used to manufacture tools evolved over time. An approximate age can be determined by comparing a style of tool to a similar one that has been dated using radiocarbon methods.