Sometime between the mid 1930’s and the late 1960’s, Forest Sargent, an avid, avocational artifact collector, discovered a rare, clear quartz crystal Paleoindian Clovis point in the Ouachita Mountains of central Arkansas. Always on the move, these nomadic, hunter-gatherers left few traces of their existence across the state.
In the alluvial river valley sites, many ancient campsites have been buried over the thousands of years of Paleoindian occupation. Mr. Sargent and his family discovered approximately forty sites near their home in the area around the Hot Springs National Park. The find of the crystal point was discovered some twenty feet below grade at the bottom of a ‘borrow pit’ of a construction site.
After Mr. Sargent’s death in 1984, his heirs maintained his extensive collection. In 2015, the family donated in excess of 40,000 artefacts to the University of Arkansas’ Arkansas Archeological Survey, which is currently cleaning and cataloguing the finds for future housing in the AAS System.
Source: Quartz Crystal Clovis Point
Dr. Troglodyte
ETA: Correct spelling/Dr. Troglodyte