Lost and found...

A walk on the beach can be just that...a walk on the beach.

Some days you go to look for driftwood, sea glass

or nice pebbles to bring home.

These are treasures, yet somewhat 'ordinary'.

Then there are those days which a walk on the beach

can become extraordinary.

You find the rare and unusual.

Thursday was one of those days.

I've been walking on the beach and rambling through

the bush with my friend Irma for more than 15 years now.

She is the queen of finding artifacts.

Growing up on a small coastal Island, she learned to look for stone and bone

tools and such alongside the rest of her family.

She has an extensive collection from walking on the beaches around here.

Once, she even found a mastodon tooth!

And then, the find of her lifetime was a small bone

 carving in the image of a man.

A very rare find indeed.

I began looking as well and started to find the odd treasure on the beach...

Here's my small collection.

The black arrows are various stone arrowheads.

The green arrow shows a stone spearhead (tip broken)

and next to that the start of a jade chisel.

The red arrow shows a bone cleaning tool.

The light blue arrow show a bone blanket/shawl pin.

The white arrow shows two flints for Colonial flint lock rifles.

Here is a close up of one of my best finds...

A small jade chisel found where there is no jade.

May have been traded or brought by someone from another part of B.C.

This bone weapon was part of a double side harpoon used for fishing...

Here is the end of a clay pipe...

On Thursday, we were exploring a favorite area where we've

both been lucky enough to find artifacts.

I seemed to be focused on bits of old bottles and glass pieces,

when I bent down to pick up an odd bit of glass, my heart jumped!

There on the beach, rolling around for who knows how many decades,

was this...

The most beautiful, clear, agate arrowhead!

Irma and I both squealed like school girls, knowing

that this was one of those extraordinary days!

I had been with her when she found her bone carving

and she was with me to find my best find...so far.

As we walked, I kept taking it out of my pocket and we would look

and marvel at the skill and beauty of such an object...

To think how much time and effort went into producing such a thing.

 And the unanswered questions of who and when?

How did they lose such a piece?

Oh! to be a time traveller and to look over the shoulder of the past.

But then some things have not only the beauty of a mystery

but also the ability to take us away and wonder at days gone by.

Finding these things is a gift and a reason to keep looking,

to keep wandering, rambling and wondering.