Knapping tool?

[darthoblio]

This is a small tool I found while hiking in San Diego County a couple years ago. At first I thought it was some kind of hafted tool, but it seems to small. It's just a couple inches in diameter. I don't think it's a net weight; I found it many miles from water. I'm guessing it's a knapping tool. It fits the hand perfectly. Anyone have any ideas?

 

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[Neogeo]

It could still be a net weight..I live pretty far from water as well and find'em a lot.I dont think it was for knapping,I knapp all the time and I dont think it would hold up.JMO....What ever it is they went through a lot of trouble to make it.

 

[GatorBoy]

It shows no sings of ever being used as a knapping tool.
Fitting in the hand doesn't make any stone a tool or artifact... if its not natural it fits the bill for being a net weight.
Just my two cents.

 

[rock]

When people think of net weights they think water like a cast net. Well allot of net weights were used on birds and small animals on dry land. Looks to be quartz.

 

[GatorBoy]

Good point rock.

 

[RGINN]

Once and for all, 'fits the hand perfectly' needs to be banned from any of us using in this forum. I'm not familiar with the cultures that used them, but net weight crossed my mind. Maybe bolo weight? That's not typical of knapping tools I'm familiar with. Hammer stones were just big rocks and the finer work was done with bone or antler. Good eye on your part to spot that find.

 

[rock]

Once and for all, 'fits the hand perfectly' needs to be banned from any of us using in this forum. I'm not familiar with the cultures that used them, but net weight crossed my mind. Maybe bolo weight? That's not typical of knapping tools I'm familiar with. Hammer stones were just big rocks and the finer work was done with bone or antler. Good eye on your part to spot that find.

Do you have an example of a Bolo Weight you can post for us?

 

[GatorBoy]

There are a couple styles of bola stones. One looks like an egg with a flat spot or dimple on the small end."top" some look like this.
Some refer to these as sinkers also.

 

[RGINN]

Thanks GatorBoy and I meant to type 'bola', not 'bolo', rock. Bolas might have been used way more and in a wider area than we know. I haven't collected any examples, but that could be just because I didn't know to look for them.

 

[rock]

Thanks I was confused.

 

[GatorBoy]

Thanks GatorBoy and I meant to type 'bola', not 'bolo', rock. Bolas might have been used way more and in a wider area than we know. I haven't collected any examples, but that could be just because I didn't know to look for them.

Your welcome..

 

[darthoblio]

Thanks for the replies. I believe it's granite, though there isn't much of that red granite around San Diego County that I know of. I would love to know more about this piece. As for "fits the hand perfectly," well it does. If not a knapping tool (I've never seen one like it), the only thing that occurs to me is a weight. But it took so much time and trouble to make, would someone have put that much effort into a weight that might be easily lost?

 

[rock]

Sure they would just so the other people in the tribe would know whos net it was. It could also be a preform for something else. Sometimes they started to make something and it didnt work out so they tossed it. I have a strange piece I could post that was worked but never finished and then just tossed. It is a orange piece of quartz which is rare for my area. It would of been a truly great artifact if finished.

 

[catherine1]

I am thinking net weight or natural. Nice pics and find.