Stone Loaf - Ceramic Stoneware? MUST SEE

[Mayof1968]

Cant figure this one out for the life of me. Never seen anything like it. Found it in Southeast Ohio about 30 yards from a creek I often find points at. Cant find anything like it on the web. Any ideas would be greatly appricated. Notice the semetrical lines on located on the bottom. Ive seen them before on a cone griding stone.

 

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[Relicgrubber]

Looks like a Naturally weathered creek rock to me.

 

[uniface]

Looks like a trade blank of hematite. I found a similar but larger one. If it's heavy (like iron), there's your i.d. They seem to date to the transitional Archaic (broadpoint -- in your area, Ashtabula) era although later is possible as well.

FWIW

 

[Mayof1968]

It is quite heavy. Thanks for the info. At first I was also thinking it may just be a creek stone, but the symmetrical nicks on the bottom right and placement of the notch on top got me thinking. The way the front of it is kinda pointed is also interesting. I've also seen a few stone loafs with either two notches on the top or two holes drilled on the top. Was thinking maybe whoever started it never finished or gave up due to the hardness.

 

[smokeythecat]

I will agree with a hematite trade piece. Never finished. It's still a nice find.

 

[Relicgrubber]

Sure was nice of the maker to take the extra time to round off and polish the edges on that trade blank of Hematite...

 

[kentucky Quinn]

Really neat piece, thanks

 

[Mayof1968]

The more I look at it the more it looks like it may actually be pipestone. Im in Jefferson County and we have native pipestone here. The lighting was kinda bad in the photo, ill show better one's. The stone is actually reddish. You can get a better idea of the coloer in the third pic to the right.

Here is a photo of some verified pipestone artifacts found in Ohio. Here is a link to the article
https://kb.osu.edu/bitstream/handle...ally in Scioto, Lawrence, and Gallia counties. Notice all the ones with the notch? I will post a top view of my stone with better lighting later tonight.

 

[Tdog]

I vote natural hematite (reddish) and not catlinite (red).

 

[Rege-PA]

Interesting rock....but I see no grinding striations or pecking consistent with shaping. Not sure if it is hematite, I too would have brought it home though, if top dimple had some evidence of conical grinding would have been nice for a drill stone.
Just my opinion from pictures.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

No signs of being worked visible in pictures.

 

[dognose]

Its an interesting stone I think. I would have likely kept it.

It appears to be worn in most areas, cant tell if natural or man made wear. but what it could have been used for I have no idea.

 

[DaveSmith]

Just found this. Scroll down and look at the sixth picture.

Variously known as "cupstones," "anvil stones" and "nutting stones," among other names, these artifacts are among the most com

 

[OntarioArch]

Hematite density is about 5.0 grams/milliliter. Other common rocks around 3.0 or less. Sooo, borrow a digital kitchen scale, determine mass in grams; borrow kitchen measuring cup, in milliliter, use displacement to determine volume. Mass in grams divided by volume in milliliters equals DENSITY. Hematite is so much higher in density than most other common rocks....even with some error....should be easy to determine if it's hematite.

Lab quiz Friday.

 

[The Grim Reaper]

I have hunted southeast Ohio for over 50 years and have found a lot of Hematite, both artifacts and raw chunks, and I've never seen a piece that looks like that. I don't think that's Hematite or even an artifact. Just an oddly eroded stone.

 

[Tony in SC]

Nice piece whatever!! I have found points in a rocky NC river that were so smooth they looked like plastic. Sometimes It is so hard to tell what is man made or nature made?