Surf-polished arrowhead crafted from local basalt, which is indicative of the older Martis Culture (1500-4000 bc) of the Washoe, before they started using obsidian from south of here. The basalt was much harder to work with, requiring a more refined technique. I left this right by where I found it on the shore, and came back and visited it periodically for a few years, before the lake took it back, with a rogue wave. Artifacts like this belong to this place, a Washoe man once told me. They are not ours to keep just because we stumble upon them. Someone labored for hours to craft this crucial tool, and it has tossed around in the surf here for thousands of years since. Hopefully it will for another few.
