Three mystery pieces Ive picked up over the years.

[Th3rty7]

Three mystery pieces I've picked up over the years.

Any comments / opinions on these three pieces are appreciated. The first piece is made of an unknown material to me. It has drill holes? or puncture marks around the entire circumference. It looks fragile and like it could easily break, but is actually quite solid, it was found on a multicomponent site in se Wv.

The second piece to me looks worked to me as well, it has polish in areas and sits flat as a board. The material is limestone like but I'm not really sure. It was found in a creek in sw Va.

Third piece is highly polished, I think it may be creek stained hematite? It has a metallic sheen and it's fairly heavy.

All three of these pieces were found on or near sites but I've never been able to id them with much confidence, what do you think?

 

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[ink-a-alot]

Re: Three mystery pieces I've picked up over the years.

thx thirty7 for putting up the pic,i dont know what to think of that piece.very cool whatever it is.

I think they are just rocks man... That last rock is cool. crazy how time can shape things.


me either man, always been a puzzle to me. I've just noticed that three of the four sides are symmetrical and line up, possibly ground to form?

 

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[creek astronaut]

Re: Three mystery pieces I've picked up over the years.

any evidence of pecking or is it completely polished?it does have some symmetry to it.

 

[Th3rty7]

Re: Three mystery pieces I've picked up over the years.

any evidence of pecking or is it completely polished?it does have some symmetry to it.

Not that I can see. Except for a couple of dings, it has a uniform polish over the entire piece.

 

[creek astronaut]

Re: Three mystery pieces I've picked up over the years.

kind of looks like it could have been a pottery trowel,but those are not usually so highly polished and they are round typically.maybe it got polished up from laying in the water for a long time.oh well, guess it will go on being a neat mystery piece.

 

[pointdlr]

Re: Three mystery pieces I've picked up over the years.

Here is a quick pic of the hematite "brainstone". It is a cone with a worked and flattened bottom. I could take some more pics if you wanted to see more angles.
The extra pics of the 3rd piece are not helping me make a call on it. If a natural formation, it is an odd one. If it is an artifact, I have not seen the exact form before. It does loosely approximate some of the grooved atl-atl weight forms. It sorta reminds me of a mystery piece in my collection. This one was found in Southern Kentucky on a known site, and I haven't ever been able to figure it out. It is highly polished and appears to have a groove in the top. I can't even figure out what the material is. Some have suggested it is fossil ivory. Some pieces just want to remain mysteries.
Regards,
Jon Dickinson.

 

[Th3rty7]

Re: Three mystery pieces I've picked up over the years.

Alright, that material is a spot on match. It's great to see some correlation in the material, especially because they were found in the same general region. That's a really nice, rare find, congrats Jon. I found a greenstone cone this spring in WV and have since tried to research cones and what they were used for exactly and haven't come to any conclusion. I've read one theory that they were ceremonial and possibly placed over the eyes of the deceased. Another theory I've read associated them with a grinding tool, sort of a miniature pestle. There isn't much info on these artifacts, do you have any opinions on them?

Your other piece is interesting, at first glance it looks like an ancient fossilized bone section of a tail or vertebrae. But that groove looks like it could have been worked by man? Your right about how some pieces just want to remain a mystery. Thanks for showing us those.

 

[oldgoat]

Re: Three mystery pieces I've picked up over the years.

Can't help on the first two pieces, but from reading the post, I can see that you have lots of help on those...The third piece looks like a net sinker/weight...Are there any large bodies of water nearby that could help explain it? Don't know where you are from...

 

[Airborne80]

Re: Three mystery pieces I've picked up over the years.

Can't help on the first two pieces, but from reading the post, I can see that you have lots of help on those...The third piece looks like a net sinker/weight...Are there any large bodies of water nearby that could help explain it? Don't know where you are from...

Ditto If there is water nearby, I would vote sinker/weight. No matter what it is.... its clearly (to me anyway) fashioned by man and is a very cool find

 

[ole_grisley]

Re: Three mystery pieces I've picked up over the years.

I am going to guess the 3 rd one down is a rubbing stone used to work the skins to make then soft and plyable.
the only other use I cold think would be to rub the gunales on the canoes to make them rounder the one thing I did see one time that was siular was for makeing arrows round, but it was quite small.

 

[Th3rty7]

Re: Three mystery pieces I've picked up over the years.

Can't help on the first two pieces, but from reading the post, I can see that you have lots of help on those...The third piece looks like a net sinker/weight...Are there any large bodies of water nearby that could help explain it? Don't know where you are from...

Hey Old goat it was found on a high spot or hill about 300 yards from a major river in southern West Virginia.

 

[Th3rty7]

Re: Three mystery pieces I've picked up over the years.

I am going to guess the 3 rd one down is a rubbing stone used to work the skins to make then soft and plyable.
the only other use I cold think would be to rub the gunales on the canoes to make them rounder the one thing I did see one time that was siular was for makeing arrows round, but it was quite small.

That's something I hadn't thought of, and I could see it being used for working skins. That could explain the polish to imo. Appreciate the opinions and help ole grisley. Do those tools go by a specific name that you know of.

thanks for the comments and opinions folks, good hunting friends.