Stone tool?

[IMAUDIGGER]

I was prospecting on private property in the northern part of California when I noticed this rock that was out of place.
It was located on a very steep hillside that was probably 1000' in elevation higher than a river, which was located about 1/4 mile away.

The reason it stood out is because it was rounded like it had been in a stream channel. I happened to be prospecting so I instantly thought there may be a high channel somewhere nearby that may be worth looking at.

I searched around and could not find any other wash rocks.

For some reason I decided to pack it home.









After looking at it closely I became convinced that someone had packed it up from the river.

The rock fits comfortably in your hand with a very hard sharp edge that could be used in a scraping fashion.

When looked at under a microscope the pores of the stone have a dark reddish stain and there are several fine hairs that are stuck under the dark reddish stain.
Several of the pictures have a pink arrow pointing to the most visible hair.

I have spoke to someone else about this and was told that it could be a tool and that it is not unheard of for blood and hair to last thousands of years on artifacts if they are sheltered perfectly.

What do you guys think? Is it just a shard of smooth river stone or a tool an indian lost while dressing out a buck up on the steep hillside?
It definitely was an isolated object and there were no areas where anybody could camp due to the steep terrain.



In this photo there appears to be fat residue on the right side of the rock, but it could be pitch I suppose.



This picture shows the staining better. It looks almost black but it does have a brown/red hue to it.

 

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[IMAUDIGGER]

This picture shows how well the stone fits your hand.

 

[eastTNJoe]

It doesn't looked worked based on the pictures, but if it has hair and blood residue I would think that it was a recent tool? Sounds interesting for sure...It would be cool to get the hair DNA tested to determine what it was from.

 

[rock]

Natural fracture from creek tumble looks like to me

 

[JJ1965]

If it has blood and hair on it, its probably a broken river rock that was used as a murder weapon. Maybe the rock that Cain used to kill Abel? That would be a great artifact to find....

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

Well it sounds like a test to verify the presence of blood would be the only way to verify.
There were no creeks or wash rocks nearby. This was most definitely packed up on the hillside from the river.

 

[JJ1965]

My mom had a rock garden in her yard in Sumter county SC that was filled with rocks she hauled back from the Yadkin River in NC. When I was a kid, I used one of those rocks to bash in the skull of a possum with rabies. Does that make it an artifact, because it was not from round here and had blood and hair on it?

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Natural fractured rock...

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

My mom had a rock garden in her yard in Sumter county SC that was filled with rocks she hauled back from the Yadkin River in NC. When I was a kid, I used one of those rocks to bash in the skull of a possum with rabies. Does that make it an artifact, because it was not from round here and had blood and hair on it?

I get your point. You would have to carbon date the blood - which will never happen.


If it was sharp, fit the hand well, and served a purpose as is - it would be used as is. I don't typically pack home leverite, but this one is a mystery due to the location in which it was found.
I showed these pictures to several lithio folks and they were of the opinion that it was a cobble flake that could be used as a multi function tool.
---------------

Long ago my dad once found a very smooth and hard water worn rock, which is the size/shape/color of a human heart. If it were laying in a riverbed it would look like any other neat rock.
However this rock was found on a ledge in the cavern of a small cave. There were arrow heads found near the entrance.
He had to belly crawl his way into this cavern, which had a spring fed pool of water in it.

When you pick the rock up, it is smooth and shiny and you can feel the oil in the rock from years of handling. You feel without a doubt that this particular rock had been held many times by many other people.
It's a weird feeling that kind of makes the hair on your neck stand up.

I have no doubt that it was a medicine rock and was probably used for it's powers. However anybody could have placed it in the cave at any time.

The piece of fractured green stone bedrock in the picture above has that same shiny oily feeling like it has been handled before. The context just isn't there.

 

[filmiracl]

My mom had a rock garden in her yard in Sumter county SC that was filled with rocks she hauled back from the Yadkin River in NC. When I was a kid, I used one of those rocks to bash in the skull of a possum with rabies. Does that make it an artifact, because it was not from round here and had blood and hair on it?

Yes, while not unheard of, it's nearly impossible for an opossum to get rabies. Leave them alone!

 

[JJ1965]

Yes, while not unheard of, it's nearly impossible for an opossum to get rabies. Leave them alone!

It attacked a dog, it attacked me, and was obviously sick. I was about 8 years old, and I defended my pet, and myself the best way I knew how. The health department took the body and tested it, and said it was rabid. Luckily my dog was vaccinated, and I ended up getting about a dozen shots in the abdomen to prevent infection, so thanks for the information, but you have no idea what you are talking about.