My amazing wife found something while walking 9 dogs at work!

[Bquamb]

So... I have the best friend in the world. She has a very busy job as a keeper of the hounds, sometimes out with up to 12 off leash dogs each hike. Today was a nice easy day here on Vancouver Island, BC. She stumbled upon what we think might be a Native American type or aboriginal tool for cutting. It is GORGEOUS held up to a light, translucent and looks like a ton of effort was put into crafting this amazing tool (at least in my eyes). Never have I seen a point or tool like this in display and can't seem to find much information online either. So I ask you, the experts... What did she find?

We don't want to reveal too much information as to preserve the area but she was on a small coastal mountain and the tool was located in the creek bank/wash out about 1' up in a 3' tall bank.

I love how the little notch is super smooth, it fits perfectly in her hand and is still sharp.


Thanks to all that help!

 

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[smokeythecat]

Gorgeous.

 

[austin]

Think it's obsidian(volcanic glass), but I have no idea what it was used for.

 

[Bquamb]

View attachment 1329256 View attachment 1329257 View attachment 1329258

 

[Greastart]

Wow! It is obsidian. But I too have no idea of the intended use. Could it be a spear point?

 

[Bquamb]

We thought that, but all the obsidian spear like points we have found are flat on one side, or has knotches at the bottom, and this only has one for a small dexterous finger. I feel like it may have been used to skin hides.

 

[cw0909]

We don't want to reveal too much information as to preserve the area but she was on a small coastal mountain and the tool was located in the creek bank/wash out about 1' up in a 3' tall bank.

I love how the little notch is super smooth, it fits perfectly in her hand and is still sharp.

really cool find,go back and dig a little, it might be part of a cache, not sure maybe that one is not
finished, or maybe a tanning type tool to cut meat, skin
a couple of caches have been found
NOVA - Official Website | Ancient Clovis Cache

 

[trapperart]

Very cool

 

[tomhighland]

Beautiful, absolutely beautiful. I have no knowledge to impart and truthfully usually do not spend a lot of time on posts of points and tools. But you have something special there I believe. Thank you for sharing this with us.

 

[david680]

Nice find. You might post this in the North American Indian Artifacts sub, likely it will get the most knowledgeable views there.

 

[dts52]

Beautiful find!

 

[Trezurehunter]

That is one great looking piece.

 

[Rocksy34]

Beautiful

 

[Stand Watie]

Yep obsidian - Apache Tears

 

[Tuberale]

Looks like it could have been attached to a small wooden handle for use as, I don't know, a hatchet?

 

[Scrappy]

That's beautiful. The sharpness is testament to the quality and care given, and simplicity. Take the most expensive and sharpest knives in the world and let them sit in a river for even a half century and see what left.

PS - sounds like you're wife is not one to hide anything from!! Lol

 

[Stand Watie]

It was probably used for slicing meat. Obsidian blades are sharper than any modern metal blades.

Obsidian is used by some surgeons for scalpel blades although not approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use on humans. Well-crafted obsidian blades, as with any glass knife, can have a cutting edge many times sharper than high-quality steel surgical scalpels, the cutting edge of the blade being only about 3 nanometers thick. Even the sharpest metal knife has a jagged, irregular blade when viewed under a strong enough microscope; when examined even under an electron microscope an obsidian blade is still smooth and even. One study found that obsidian incisions produced fewer inflammatory cells and less granulation tissue at seven days, in a group of rats, although no differences were found after 21 days. Don Crabtree produced obsidian blades for surgery and other purposes, and has written articles on the subject. Obsidian scalpels may currently be purchased for surgical use on research animals.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obsidian#Current_use

 

[Johncoho]

That is nice. Looks like obsidian.

 

[DirtLurker]

Little mysteries like this, make life worth living. It must be amazing to hold in the hand. congrats on an awesome find. definitely obsidian and it makes sense as there would have been villages upstream perhaps and sudden flooding could have washed it down to settle where it was found. imagine how sharp it must have been when first created and what if it's unfinished... could be a big game arrow point or atlatl? hopefully it has friends out there and you will find them, preserve them and share when/if possible.

 

[Bquamb]

Thanks to all for the input, comments and suggestions. Still trying to figure out who was here and how long ago this could possibly date back?! It obviously has some wear from erosion and where we found it but still super sharp. Will be posting this in the native section as well.

Thanks again all!