In everyday life we as humans often lose sight of the most simple things. These simple things take us back to a time when we relied upon our instincts and strength to make it through every day. The events of the past are lost to time and as much as some love to lose themselves in the romance of what they could have been in another time, in another life, truly our only connection to the past are the relics and artifacts that have been left behind.
Many of my earliest and most fond memories of the outdoors come from the days that I spent walking bare and recently plowed or planted fields with my father in our quest for the stone artifacts left behind by the first inhabitants of the land that we all occupy now. The long forgotten day-to-day life of these people, nature hardened survivalists who were well acquainted with the world around them and living in a perfect albeit sometimes brutal harmony. To find one of these artifacts forgotten and alone in the earth for centuries and more often millennia is an emotional journey in itself. To be the first human being to hold it and respect it for its perfectly simple yet elegant utilitarianism is a humbling rush of emotion, at least it is for me.
Perhaps it is a purposeful day spent slowly walking the fields in search for these artifacts. I've also spotted a fair number from my perch upon a tractor as I roll along in my ventures on the farm. A simple afternoon walk and the coincidental glance at the ground in the right place at the right time. Regardless of the circumstances, each one, big or small, complete or just a small broken fragment is a unique experience that will linger in the mind and spark wonder at the stories it could tell. Who was the individual that produced it with attentiveness and talent? A loner? A provider who was deeply endeared to his family? A prominent figure in that community that he belonged to? All we can do is theorize. It leaves the mind to wonder.
In conclusion, I would encourage anybody who has never set aside the time to go in search of the stone tools and weapons of these long gone peoples to consider it. It is a mind opening and enjoyable experience that can't be purchased or reproduced by anything in our modern times. To a certain extent we are keeping history alive by claiming these items and bringing them back to humanity. With the focus on the search, my father and I were able to have some of the deepest conversations that we've ever had while in our field endeavors, no easy feat for some. Memories that will never be lost to time, very much like the artifacts that are in that soil.