On a hot field of newly planted tobacco in Bourbon County, a Lexington couple walks between the rows, heads bent down studying the ground.
Bradford Ledford and his girlfriend Logan Brooke Grant have the landowner’s permission to search for Indian artifacts here.
After a few days of rain, the couple says this is a prime time to spot the flint that Indians used to shape tools like axes, knives, and scrapers.
Ledford says he has a good feeling on this day that they’ll make some valuable discoveries. “I love it. I love it. And I know they’re there. I’ve discovered them many times. We have several examples here, and I just love it. I love being outside if anything I get some sun and get some exercise.”
The 45-year-old Ledford estimates they’ll walk three to four miles on this day searching for artifacts. He says a newly plowed field brings up what has been covered for thousands of years.
“You gotta imagine how many times the leaves have fallen off in thousands of years, and plant material has grown up and died, and that creates a new layer of soil each year. So, when you go back thousands of years these artifacts are several feet in the ground.”
Historians believe Native Americans go back at least eleven-thousand years in Kentucky. They camped here, hunted, grew crops, and left behind many clues of Indian life. What looks like just a shiny rock to the average person can turn out to be part of an arrowhead used with knives, or a bow and arrow.
“It’s definitely a passion. It’s definitely an obsession. It becomes addictive. It’s like going fishing for example, and there’s all those times you go and you don’t catch anything. You catch some little fish, and then that day you catch that big one.”
Ledford and Grant found what they consider “the big one” in this same Bourbon County field. Grant noticed a brown-looking shape in the dirt one day while searching. When she and Ledford slowly uncovered the object, they were overcome with emotion.
She says, “I knew exactly what it was. I knew it was an ancient Indian pipe. And I was just beside myself. I mean I was speechless.” The three-to-four-inch pipe made of polished sandstone was nearly flawless.
Often farm machinery not only digs up the dirt but it also breaks the artifacts into small pieces of rock.
Not so with the pipe that Ledford estimates is at least three thousand years old. “It was just unbelievable. You know my whole life I’ve been searching to find something like that. And it’s a once-in-a-lifetime discovery. I was just in shock and awe.”
Ledford says he can’t put a price tag on the pipe or his entire artifact collection. “The first thing people say, oh you found this pipe. What’s it worth? Well, it’s priceless. There’s no monetary value. I mean it’s priceless. I, we wouldn’t sell it for anything.”
Ledford and Grant document each significant discovery with its location and date. Some of the flint pieces are only an inch long but can be part of an arrowhead, a blade, or tool. Ledford says “you really got to have patience and take your time. And especially when it’s this dry, they’re a bit harder to see than when its wet and they’ve really been washed down.”
Near the end of a three-hour search in the tobacco field, Ledford looks down and sees something promising. Dirt has covered part of what looks like a four-inch arrowhead. If the tip of the arrowhead is intact it will be a good discovery.
Ledford bends down to gently move the dirt around the object as Grant looks on. “It’s pretty loose. We’ll just flip it over. Let’s hope and pray that it’s all there. Usually, the tip is gone.”
No one speaks for a couple of seconds, and then Ledford yells in excitement. “Oh yea! Nice! Killer! And it is perfect. Look at the fine tip on that. That’s what you come for.”
He believes this arrowhead was attached to wood and used as a knife. Ledford estimates the arrowhead is three to four thousand years old. It will go into a collection with the rest of the objects found on this day.
“People think, ah that’s cool it must be a few hundred years old. No, it’s most likely a few thousand years old. We’re talking about ancient man. The first human beings that we know that we can prove scientifically were here in Kentucky. Fifteen-thousand years before Christ.”
It’s been a productive search for Ledford and Grant. Step by step they are uncovering part of Kentucky and Native Americans' rich history.
It’s important to note that it’s against the law to hunt for artifacts on federal, state, and city-owned land. That’s why Ledford and Grant only search on private property where they have the landowner’s permission
** WEKU is working hard to be a leading source for public service, fact-based journalism. Monthly sustaining donors are the top source of funding for this growing nonprofit news organization. Please join others in your community who support WEKU by making your donation.
