An indian face paint bowl?

[BigDan]

I'd never heard of such a thing. But I picked the pictured item up in a creekbed in the area of Kentucky known as "The Purchase". It was just a curiosity to me until I stumbled up some pictures. Just looking for any opinions, think I have one, or a lookalike?

http://www.meteorites.wustl.edu/id/concretions.htm

Scroll down to the last picture, and then please compare with these, thank you for any thoughts:

[The Grim Reaper]

It looks like a natural rock to me that just eroded into that shape.

[Swims with Beaver]

I think I have one that I found not too long ago.

[BigDan]

That is kind of what I was thinking. I may have a genuine naturally occuring stone which isn't really a native american artifact. It gets a reprieve from my bucket of odd stones, yet rather than promoted to the coffee table shadow box...it's taking a trip outside to the rock garden.

I appreciate the info!

[Twitch]

I have picked up quite a few of these as well because they're neat. I believe most, or even nearly all of them are natural with no artifactual use. I assume much of the confusion comes from the fact that many of them are iron concretions, meaning that when ground they produce a red pigment, similar to hemetite. Actual paint stones are also common but generally come in the form of a faceted piece of hemetite. I believe they were rubbed onto a plat stone, generating the flat facets rather then ground in a bowl or pot. I have never seen one of the paint pots that showed any sign of grinding within the bowl. I'm sure someone will prove me wrong but overall these are just cool rocks in my opinion.

[Swims with Beaver]

I went out last night shortly after I posted my pics and found hundreds of these stones. Thanx.