Brooklyn Rolph, a biology student at Mary Baldwin University in Virginia, made an unexpected discovery while looking for shark teeth. She found a stone spearpoint, the sharp end of a spear, estimated to be about 4,500 years old. The discovery happened on 21 September, the final day of a university field trip to Virginia’s Eastern Shore.
After lunch, Rolph explored a pile of shells on an island and spotted the object at the edge of a narrow stretch of water. She immediately told the professors leading the trip. Biology professor Paul Callo said the incoming tide would soon have covered the spearpoint.
The stone tool is about 15 centimetres long. According to local archaeologists, who study objects from the past, Native American communities along the US east coast made this kind of point between 4,500 and 3,000 years ago. These tools may also have served as knives.
The trip was part of a course studying plants, animals and their environment, and the teachers had state permission to explore the islands. The discovery site belongs to a natural area owned by Virginia, so the spearpoint is now state property. Archaeologists collected it from the university group and took it to the Virginia Department of Historic Resources for further study.
