Author Topic: Anyone Recognize This Stone  (Read 2514 times)

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Ahnlaashock

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Anyone Recognize This Stone
« on: October 29, 2013, 04:19:26 pm »
Most of the stone in this collection is pretty nondescript.   There is a very fine gray flint.  There is a very fine very dark flint.  Nothing really in either to try to identify online.  There is this scraper tho, that is made out stone that may be able to be traced to a single source. 
The piece is a double sided scraper with a thick center.  Each edge is sharpened differently, but both appear to have been worked for use as edges.   About the most interesting things about it, are that the rind on one end appears to have been used as a tool also, to sand, smooth, or abrade something. 
The other interesting thing is the material it is made of.  The material is almost grainy.  There are spots worn smooth and shiny on the back of the tool, but where it is worked, the surface is rough, and looks like leather almost under magnification. The color of the steaks is reddish to almost purplish under natural light.  Almost looks like the juice from Polk Berries outdoors and when wet. 
I am hoping that it is distinctive enough to identify the source.  Here is a picture of the piece. 



Thank You in advance! 

Offline mullet

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Re: Anyone Recognize This Stone
« Reply #1 on: October 29, 2013, 04:49:12 pm »
Nothing I've seen in Florida.
Lakeland, Florida
 If you have to pull the trigger, is it really archery?

Ahnlaashock

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Re: Anyone Recognize This Stone
« Reply #2 on: October 29, 2013, 04:53:55 pm »
I would have tried to polish a piece if I had seen it before.  It was used long enough to have polished places on the back from use. 

Offline knapperhead

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Re: Anyone Recognize This Stone
« Reply #3 on: October 29, 2013, 06:51:27 pm »
I don't know much about it but some of the stuff I've been heat treating turn red like that.....

Offline caveman2533

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Re: Anyone Recognize This Stone
« Reply #4 on: October 29, 2013, 07:10:03 pm »
Looks like a fine grained quartzite to me.

Ahnlaashock

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Re: Anyone Recognize This Stone
« Reply #5 on: October 29, 2013, 08:12:26 pm »
I would almost say quartzite, but it apparently knaps pretty well. You might try to sharpen your knife on a piece broken flat.   
It must knap pretty well, since there are long flakes gouged out of the belly side, one of which is 2/3rds the length of the piece, and only about a half inch wide. 
Apologizes if discussion of such simple artifacts offends anyone. 
The edges were only sharpened about 2/3rds of the way up the sides.  It is sharpened, removing flakes from the polished edge about 2/3rds of the short side edge, and the same on the long side edge.  There are no wear marks after sharpening.  Each starts being blunted at the same spot on each side.  The blunted areas still show the polish and wear from long use.  That would suggest is was gripped or hafted in some way on that end, which made little sense to me.   I had been trying to figure why the one corner was as polished as it was. 
After a little more looking, it appears to have been a hoe or adze, and the blade end was smashed, so they put it to a different use.  Guess that explains the polishing from wear.  It appears the modifications were done to straighten out the sides to use it as a scraper.   The ends of the flakes that made the edge are still there, and so is evidence of the damage.  Seems the tool makers who produced these tools liked to end their impact blades with a deep notch, and when the end shattered, it broke to that notch, and drove flakes off both sides.
This picture shows the common notch at the end of the two sharpened areas, and the long flakes from the bottom area too. 





Offline caveman2533

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Re: Anyone Recognize This Stone
« Reply #6 on: October 29, 2013, 11:14:36 pm »
Some quartzites like Hixton, spanish diggins or the varieties from Colorado can be very fine grained and easily knapped, not at all like the rough material we have here in the East.

Ahnlaashock

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Re: Anyone Recognize This Stone
« Reply #7 on: October 30, 2013, 11:54:44 am »
The tool originated in Ohio, but who knows where the stone was from.  I was hoping it was distinctive enough to identify the source. 

Offline Dalton Knapper

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Re: Anyone Recognize This Stone
« Reply #8 on: October 30, 2013, 12:11:12 pm »
Could be Brushy Creek Chert from Ohio - unsure.

http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/w/File:Brush_Creek_Chert.jpg

Ahnlaashock

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Re: Anyone Recognize This Stone
« Reply #9 on: November 02, 2013, 05:04:32 pm »
The Man from the Archeological Society was here today.  We spent 4 hours going through the artifacts. 
He identifies the stone as a chert from Ohio, and says the color pattern is known.
He said Edena to Madison.  Around the time of Christ, with some stuff older, but generally, most is from the same time period.