Worked stone or a random rock? (Picture heavy)

[BladeRunner2019]

Was out metal detecting today in a local park and found this in a washed out area. To my highly untrained eye it sure looks like the edges have been worked. I would appreciate any information the experts may have.

I am in North Carolina.

I tried to take pictures from all angles but if any additional pics are needed just let me know. Thanks in advance for any help!

 

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[ptsofnc]

It is a piece of spalled rhyolite. And if you're not close to the uwharrie mtns, it was brought there by man. Maybe a tool. I don't know the rules about metal detecting, but be careful about what you pick up on public lands that may be Native American. Good luck hunting.

 

[BladeRunner2019]

I'm about an hour from the Uwharrie National Forest. It was found in a small inner city park in Winston-Salem.

So being spalled rhyolite, does that mean it's natural and probably not worked? Bummer.

 

[ptsofnc]

No. I think it was some kind of tool. The large flakes removed look purposeful and deliberate and there might be a little edge work. I'm very close to you and the Uwharries are about 35 miles south. That's a long way to bring that stone (rhyolite... the stone preferred by Native Americans in piedmont NC) and not use it for some purpose. Nice find.

 

[willjo]

Looks like it could have been a hand Chopper for separating animal parts.

 

[crj1968]

Looks like it could have been a hand Chopper for separating animal parts.

Agree! hand axe for whatever purpose needed. Cool find for sure

 

[Mark Todd]

I agree with Willjo and crj1968, probably a chopping tool, or possibly a tool for pecking hardstone.

 

[Mark Todd]

Here's a similar piece I found in Illinois, but made of Burlington chert. If not a chopping or pecking stone, perhaps a small hoe...

 

[Old Pueblo]

Looks real, not just natural. Hand chopper or axe thing, possibly. Or it just be a core piece, from which smaller flakes were removed for working into stone tools. That thing at the bottom is definitely the real deal too.

 

[rock]

Nice hand tool find

 

[BladeRunner2019]

Thanks to everyone who responded. Great info! I was thinking that IF it was a tool it may be some sort of hand held chopper. There is one way it can be held that just fits the hand perfectly.

You have to wonder how it got into that city park.

Thanks again!

 

[Old Pueblo]

Looking aat the first photo again, Im thinking chopper. It looks like it was worked on the sides with intention.

 

[joshuaream]

It's definitely an artifact.

I've spent a lot of time studying quarry sites, and quite often those are simply roughed out blanks made to reduce the weight and check the quality of the of material being carried back to the camp/village. Your area of North Carolina has so much of that material that it was moved around extensively. Hike around a county or two south of you, or go over to Chatham county and you'll see quarry debris used in landscaping. (I've got a big piece of a thick biface that I pulled out of the landscape rock in front of a restaurant in Pittsboro.)

Some might have been used as a quick tool. I think they also used them to whack off flakes of other bifaces, which might be what you have there.

Did you see a lot of angular rock broken rock mixed in? There might be a small quarry site there where you picked it up.

 

[Tee. Garibay]

I can totally confirm that yes it is man made and a native artifact. Im native from California and my job is to protect things like that from being stolen trust me you don't want it anyway i wouldn't. I've been doing this for about15 yrs I've seen and heard enough crazy things happen to people who took something home from a site "IT'S BAD JUJU" I've even had people bring back what they took apologize and asked to be cleansed

 

[Tee. Garibay]

Now here's what you should do either take back what you took but with an offering like tobacco but don't just leave it in the open. Bury it or cover it under other stones or you can just call your local native American heritage commission and ask them. Oh yeah it is a nice find though good luck with that you might need it!

 

[redbeardrelics]

I agree that it is probably an artifact, and that the two most probable uses have already been mentioned. The first being a crude hand held chopper, and the second being a blank piece of raw material brought or traded from the quarry site, to be used later to make smaller tools from. I would guess it is more likely a raw material blank.

I do not agree that you should take it back in fear of bad ju ju, or mojo or karma. I would keep it as it has already brought you good ju ju, in the form of increased knowledge of prehistoric artifacts from your area. HH

 

[ptsofnc]

Thanks to everyone who responded. Great info! I was thinking that IF it was a tool it may be some sort of hand held chopper. There is one way it can be held that just fits the hand perfectly.

You have to wonder how it got into that city park.

Thanks again!

I don't think there is anywhere in the Americas that Native Americans did NOT live. They lived everywhere....even where major cities would be 100s of years later. Maybe, ESPECIALLY where major cities would be 100s of years later. The "good" resources found in areas that our (European) ancestors decided to settle (and would gradually become major cities), would have been found and exploited 100s, 1000s of years earlier by NAs because of the "good" resources. The Moravians who chose the SALEM part of Winston-Salem did that because it was the best resource area. I think that you found that tool where you did because it was last used by NAs right near where you found it.

 

[BladeRunner2019]

It's definitely an artifact.

I've spent a lot of time studying quarry sites, and quite often those are simply roughed out blanks made to reduce the weight and check the quality of the of material being carried back to the camp/village. Your area of North Carolina has so much of that material that it was moved around extensively. Hike around a county or two south of you, or go over to Chatham county and you'll see quarry debris used in landscaping. (I've got a big piece of a thick biface that I pulled out of the landscape rock in front of a restaurant in Pittsboro.)

Some might have been used as a quick tool. I think they also used them to whack off flakes of other bifaces, which might be what you have there.

Did you see a lot of angular rock broken rock mixed in? There might be a small quarry site there where you picked it up.

I looked around but didn't see any other similar rocks.

 

[BladeRunner2019]

I can totally confirm that yes it is man made and a native artifact. Im native from California and my job is to protect things like that from being stolen trust me you don't want it anyway i wouldn't. I've been doing this for about15 yrs I've seen and heard enough crazy things happen to people who took something home from a site "IT'S BAD JUJU" I've even had people bring back what they took apologize and asked to be cleansed

While I'm not one to shrug off bad juju, it's not like I took the stone from ancient ruins or a burial site. I didn't steal anything. I found it, just like the thousands of other arrowheads and points people find in fields and creeks every year.

 

[sandchip]

I can totally confirm that yes it is man made and a native artifact. Im native from California and my job is to protect things like that from being stolen trust me you don't want it anyway i wouldn't. I've been doing this for about15 yrs I've seen and heard enough crazy things happen to people who took something home from a site "IT'S BAD JUJU" I've even had people bring back what they took apologize and asked to be cleansed

Oh, for crying out loud.

Every tool that an Indian had was important to them, but not a sacred object. They were out to survive and didn't have the time to blah, blah to the spirit in the sky every time they turned around. I take care of my tools, thank God for everything I have, but I can't be at church 24/7 or I wouldn't get much done. These folks would've starved to death or been whacked by other tribes if they lived the romanticized way so many today think they did. I'm sure they celebrated when they had the time, gave thanks for sure, but their existence was rough going. And as far as bad juju goes, I believe the American Indians of the past (not the political activists of today) would be tickled that someone would find their old tools desirable enough to take home, wash up, study, admire, display and protect. I also believe that the bad juju will be reserved for the deadbeats that go around digging graves to finance whatever bad habits they might have, all the while making the rest of us collectors look bad.

I hope that somebody gives a damn about my tools (and Daddy's, and Granddaddy's) after I'm gone. I sure as hell won't come back to haunt them if they do.