Tornado Alley (PROG)

[DesertDrifter]

I don't know a super amount about moccasins because they are not something one can find and study easily. I do know that they made the sole portions from the nape of the neck and back because the leather is much thicker there on most large mammals, such as elk and bison. I have had elk hides tanned as whole thickness, and the leather is quite thick. Most of the time, if you send a hide off to be made into leather, they split it and give you back half thickness.

I think they went through a lot of them, depending upon the terrain. I know there are references in Lewis and Clark's journals to them trading for fresh moccasins along their route.

Modern ones are soft-tanned leather and wear holes in them quickly, but thick buffalo hide would wear quite a bit longer.

There was also footwear made from woven plant fibers such as bullrushes that sort of look like sandals that have been found preserved in caves (famously) fairly near to where I live, such as the lovelock and Humboldt caves and the Paisley caves. In winter, they stuffed the moccasins with grass for insulation and to act as "socks", and when used in burials (which most of the cave finds are) they would be adorned with shells and beads.

As to the medicine stone I found, fuagf nailed the right google search. The piece has bits of native copper in it, and very likely came from arizona deposits, most of which are gone now. I am sure there is someone out there that can tell which deposit, but it really won't change my opinion of it; it is a rare gem.

By contrast, most of the obsidian flows are known and cataloged and can be easily matched to tools and projectile points, for example in my area I can tell exactly where an arrowhead originates from and which culture made it just from its characteristics, even without resorting to chemical analysis. Volcanic glass has another property, in that it slowly hydrates on fresh cut faces at a known rate of a micron per couple centuries, so all one has to do is measure the depth of they hydration on a place that was flaked by the original toolmaker, and one can determine how long ago the tool was made.

The chrysocolla piece I found has no pressure flaking, so the very unusual color must have been its appeal and probably had meaning to people that were devoid of most any luxuries. (other than the owner lived at a hot spring, which was a decided survival advantage in winter, so i surmise the person was of strong character, to both have an eye for beauty and the ability to defend his warm spot in the world).

local cave archeology: (includes a picture of a pair of moccasins that had patches on them)
http://www.onlinenevada.org/sites/default/files/NewInformation_Tuohy_Dansie_1997.pdf