Possible arrowhead, would like opinions

[EricTheCat]

Hi,

I stumbled across this piece in my yard in southern Minnesota while hunting for agates last weekend. It looks kind of like an arrowhead to me. There are a few things about it that make me think it is not an arrowhead. I thought it would at least be worth seeking other opinions since this is not something I know a lot about.

There are a few reasons I think it may not be an arrowhead. On the first photo, the top side of the piece does not look very "worked", though it is still fairly sharp. Most arrowhead photos I have seen seem to have more chips along the edge. Also it is not quite as symmetrical as most arrowhead photos I have seen. Most arrowheads you can tell that the maker took great care in making it look nice which makes me suspect that this piece of rock just happened to break in to this shape somehow.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Eric

 

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[Felinepeachy]

Hi Eric, welcome to Treasurenet. Although it resembles an arrowhead I think it may just be a natural occurrence, a broken piece of rock. There will be plenty more opinions to come I'm sure, far more knowledgeable that mine. I will say this though, you have a good eye for spotting shapes

 

[flintdigger]

I beleive it is natural, just a chip off of a broken rock, I don't see any work on the edge. I agree you have a good eye for shape the shape is close it's just not quite close enough. Just my .02 cents Keep looking there out there.

 

[EricTheCat]

Hi Felinepeachy and flintdigger,

Thanks for your thoughts. You are probably right that it is just a piece of rock.

Last night I read up a little about what to look for in good arrowhead hunting spots. Flint and flecks of flint were mentioned. I already knew there was a fair amount of flint here, though mostly small pieces, so I decided to walk out and look around in the dirt tonight and see what I could see. Right away I found a small (~1cm) flint node and a neat little fossil rock.

At least if I do not find any real arrowheads in my yard I can at least find fossils and agates. For that I feel pretty lucky.

I have to admit this does make me want to check out a local creek.

 

[joshuaream]

It very well could be the result of someone making arrowheads, if there are a lot of chips like that it's a good bet you are looking in the right area.

If you like agates for polishing, many types of colorful flint are basically agates that will take a similar polish, try it out.

 

[EricTheCat]

Hi Joshua,

Thanks for your thoughts.

As far as polishing goes, I've only dabbled so far polishing the face of some of my agates using a dremil tool though I do plan to get a good tumbler sooner or later. Still researching, since tumbling takes so long I definitely want to do it right the first time. Perhaps I'll start a thread in the rocks/gems forum when I have some time and share some pics of what I've found.

The more I look at this piece the more I think this is just a chip of rock. Glad I found it though, it got me to learn a little about artifacts and now I have something new to look for when I'm out looking for things.

 

[PrimitiveOne]

looks like a piece of flint debris, keep your eyes open