'This is so crazy!' Virginia college student looking for shark teeth finds rare Native American spearpoint
A biology student found a Native American stone spearpoint when searching for shark teeth along the coast of Virginia.
On the final day of an ecology field trip to Virginia's Eastern Shore, a Mary Baldwin University student named Brooklyn Rolph made an unexpected discovery while searching for shark teeth. Rolph, a biology undergraduate, found a 4,500-year-old stone spearpoint, which she immediately informed her professors about. The 6-inch-long artifact, known as a Lehigh/Koens-Crispin point, is believed to have been used by Indigenous people across the East Coast of the U.S. from 4,500 to 3,000 years ago.
The discovery, made during a biology course led by Mary Baldwin University faculty, was described as "unbelievable" by Paul Callo, a biology professor who co-led the trip. The tide was coming in when Rolph found the spearpoint, ensuring its preservation for study by archaeologists at the Virginia Department of Historic Resources.
The student was content to let the artifact remain the property of the Commonwealth of Virginia, expressing relief that she wouldn't be cursed for keeping such a valuable item.
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