Found today

[BeachComber7]

I could not resist taking a peek at the river. Was passing by it and had no intention of stopping, but I just had to see what the area looked like after TS Issac roared through soaking us for two days. Did not have a lot of time so I just browsed a little. There was not as much erosion as I expected, but plenty of shells and other things on the bank. I did not have time to comb through it all but did find a couple of things during my hurried walk. There seemed to be a lot shoved up on the river bank.

One picture is a celt, it is 4 3/4 inches long and 2 inches at its widest part. It is a nice little piece but it dries nearly white so all the lines and color is gone.
The picture with the ribbing, I have seen it on here before but I do not know if it is a celt
or what. Anyone?

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[GatorBoy]

the ribbed piece is another celt just broken..the ribs are where cordage was wrapped around it.

[BeachComber7]

So it is a celt, thought at first it was just a stone. The person must have wrapped the cordage very very tight and used it constantly for it to wear grooves in a hard shell! Any idea what they used for cord?

[Tnmountains]

So it is a celt, thought at first it was just a stone. The person must have wrapped the cordage very very tight and used it constantly for it to wear grooves in a hard shell! Any idea what they used for cord?

I think the first picture is a fossil maybe. Here is a site that shows shells used as tools and celts. See what you think.

FLORIDA SHELL IMPLEMENT see item#200 from St Johns think gatorboy nailed your shell?

[natchitoches]

I am pretty sure the 2th picture is a fossil also.
i get you a pic. on it in the morning.

[GatorBoy]

Dude..they are both Celts made from queen conch. I go to the spot they came from. Here are a couple more from that exact spot. They are both broken. The broken bit is facing her palm in the first pic.











Brooke's too

where do you get white fossils? I want one lol

[larson1951]

you guys sure found some cool stuff

[GatorBoy]

Thanks I call the spot "the boatworks" Its been producing among other artifacts a wide variety of woodworking tools for me for the last ten years. That's funny..looking again I might have the other half of Beachcombers piece furthest up my arm.

[theonlinefisherman]

I cannot tell you how many of those we passed over as kids, looking for what we thought was "real" stuff. My outstanding tool and scraper collection is because of my feeling that THOSE were something interesting. Definitely celts. I now go back and pick up hammers and celts I remember seeing 40 years ago. A lot of times they are still there. People used to say "that is just a shell with a hole in if!!". The holes show the wear from wooden handles having been tied to them

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[GatorBoy]

Like this I picked up two days ago. This has an edge and appears to have been used as a cutting edge tool. Like a large diamiter drill bit.

[GatorBoy]

I didn't start picking them up only because they were interesting. They are well documented in archaeological reports from my state that I studied alot when I started hunting the area.

[Harry Pristis]

So it is a celt, thought at first it was just a stone. The person must have wrapped the cordage very very tight and used it constantly for it to wear grooves in a hard shell! Any idea what they used for cord?

You are right to be skeptical about the assertion that these ridges and grooves are "cordage" scars. It's another story in which there is more imagination than fact.

The grooves are naturally occurring in the exterior of the living shell. You can determine this by looking at these two images.
The first image (Marion County) shows that there is a smaller pattern within the grooves - a pattern which would be obliterated if the larger grooves were worn into the shell by cordage.

In the second image, you can see high points along the margin of the celt that would have been notched by any cordage binding. And, of course, they are not notched.

[GatorBoy]

Harry...if your done splitting hairs the focus was weather or not it was an artifact. How many shell Celts do you have. Not one right. Those natural ripples in the shell were worn deeper and wider becuse they were utilized in hafting to secure the cordage. I might start calling you mosquito.

[GatorBoy]

so what are you saying....the one you found online was never hafted?

[BeachComber7]

Hey nice collection of the smaller celts, broken as you say but still, nice. I knew I had seen that ribbed one from your pictures, i just could not find it in your posts so i could seem like i know what I am talking about! hahaha! Yep you might just have the other half of one of my shell celts!

And I think i have passed over the items you call 'scrapers'. You should go down there, I passed over two stones that 'maybe' stone adzes-they had the right shape but, I did not see any lines or markings. IF that is even how you would ID a stone hammer tool.

[GatorBoy]

[GatorBoy]

Thanks!!! I might take that half with me and place it somewhere for you.

[Tnmountains]

Well gatorboy here is a "white fossil "kinda. It is a cave bear tooth I took out of a skull embedded in a cave below a river. I only say cave bear cause we found a sabre tooth tiger skull but the bear was in bad shape. Still there. May not be a fossil yet ?

[BeachComber7]

.. same city....but that would be great I would like to have the other half. !

[BeachComber7]

Oo nice tooth!