Worked Quartz?

[paleomaxx]

I was metal detecting today and this turned up in a plug. I find all sorts of natural quartz shards around from glacial till, but this one just didn't look right so I held onto it and figured I would post it to see if it actually was worked. It was in a field so it's possible that a plow hit it a few times.



What do the experts think? Worked or natural fragment?

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Agony and Death on a Gold Rush Steamer: The Disastrous Sinking of the Side-Wheeler Yankee Blade - Grab it through Amazon!

[arrow86]

Tough one but about 90% of my finds are quartz and i would say yes I was on the fence until I saw that serrated edge and the thickness of it id say you have a nice knife with just a bit missing from the tip and some base damage , good find

 

[paleomaxx]

Tough one but about 90% of my finds are quartz and i would say yes I was on the fence until I saw that serrated edge and the thickness of it id say you have a nice knife with just a bit missing from the tip and some base damage , good find

Thank you! The relative thinness of the piece is definitely different from the usual quartz chunks in this area. I can't imagine trying to shape quartz like this into a useful tool with all of the natural fractures and inclusions. It must have been an incredibly tedious and frustrating process.

 

[oxbowbarefoot]

Definitely looks worked to me. Quartz is always tough to tell in pictures, but to me, yours looks worked.

 

[RGINN]

It is something that is hard to tell from pics. If there's a lot of quartz in that spot somebody could have picked that piece up and did a little test flaking then tossed it. Other more readily identifiable artifacts in that area would back that idea up.

 

[arrow86]

Thank you! The relative thinness of the piece is definitely different from the usual quartz chunks in this area. I can't imagine trying to shape quartz like this into a useful tool with all of the natural fractures and inclusions. It must have been an incredibly tedious and frustrating process.

Welcome , I’m sure it was tough to work with which really makes you realize how skilled they were I have quite a few quartz points that are beautiful and worked as well as any other material , the translucent ones are my favorite