found a curious thing- broken bowl?

[yakker]

So... It definitely feels like soapstone (soft and talc-ee), which would fit this area, with all the quarries. Texture seems a little unusual, but I have no idea how soapstone wears- especially over long periods of time, tossing around in multiple river floods. I pulled this from the muddy-clay side of a creekbank through the forest and down the crease from the field where I've recently found artifacts. I just got a couple pics this past week- the piece itself is on the farm. I'm letting them keep it. But I honestly don't know. The rim is flat and level, and the bottom is flat enough that it 'sits' well, even broken as it is. What do you think? I can take more pics on Wed. if anyone wants more. Thanks for looking! Yakker



Met up with this VERY large and scary spider- and nearly put my hand right on (her?) as I was clamering over the creek-side rocks (AAAaaaaaack!)



Happy Hunting All!

 

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[redbeardrelics]

Wow Yak ! That is a big weird looking spider, never seen one like that before!
I think you have found a large piece of pre-historic soapstone bowl !! It looks like the size and shape I would expect, but agree that the sort of porous looking surface is different. I am curious to see what others think. Congrats!

 

[yakker]

THANKS red! I'm certainly hoping it is. From what I've read, I always imagined early soapstone (stiatite) bowls to be bigger, but hey- I've never seen one, so who knows! Hope someone chimes in with knowledge. And yes, that was one crazy-a$$ spider .. soooo not cool! Yak Found this image on another site... amazingly similar! (mine's got a nicer rim, though!) So apparently, they were often pock-marked through the act of chiseling. Mine probably got worked over by lots of flood waters and sand and pebbles along the way, so it's not so weird to imagine any more. Plus this quote-
I have seen several carved soapstone slabs in which the Indians had frilled holes. It is believed the Indians placed the slabs directly into fire to heat them for boiling water. Soapstone slabs were fairly crudely made. It was just something that had a utilitarian purpose

and this is an image from southern Norway of soapstone vessels in various stages of production. Apparently, they did all the work, THEN detached the stone from the quarry wall... go figure! Seen similar images from other locations as well.

 

[Indian Steve]

Very nice bowl piece Yakker. What part of Virginia are you in? I live just west of Martinsville. It looks like the same soapstone we find around here. Back in 1990, I talked with an older woman that told me her grandfather had plowed a field with mules on the river only to have the river flood a few days later and washed away all of the loose topsoil. Then she said " It took us all day with the horse and wagon to haul all of them damn soapstone pots off the field so he could replow the field" They dumped them in a gully. Several years later that river bottom was graded with a dozer and all of the gullys filled in. I have spent many hours searching for that gully.

 

[Charl]

yakker, I think it's part of a bowl as well. Below is a photo of a quarry site in Rhode Island, showing the forms still attached. Also a small quarry form fresh from the quarry face, and found in a field. Perhaps most illustrative, a partial bowl found below the high tide line on a salt water bay where a hearth had been exposed. Looks like it has body rot from iron rich impurities weathering out by sitting in water. Maybe that's a partial reason for the texture you're seeing on your bowl fragment.

 

[rock]

I have found a couple of pieces while walking the creek. Ours is silver in color. Front and back views. Nice find

 

[yakker]

Very nice bowl piece Yakker. What part of Virginia are you in? I live just west of Martinsville. It looks like the same soapstone we find around here. Back in 1990, I talked with an older woman that told me her grandfather had plowed a field with mules on the river only to have the river flood a few days later and washed away all of the loose topsoil. Then she said " It took us all day with the horse and wagon to haul all of them damn soapstone pots off the field so he could replow the field" They dumped them in a gully. Several years later that river bottom was graded with a dozer and all of the gullys filled in. I have spent many hours searching for that gully.

Egad, Steve. That's a story that's hard to read. Such a loss. I live in Albemarle County- in my old man's house in Charlottesville. But the area I'm hunting is in Schuyler- down in Nelson where I teach. (every time I drive past and through Schuyler, the these song for The Waltons runs through my head )There's a still-active soapstone quarry down there- Albarene. They hooked me up (free)w/ a big pile of scrap which I built an outdoor oven w/- with my kids. Looking for property own there too. Virginia is such a beautiful place- all of it. But the further from a big town/city the better for me.

 

[yakker]

Charl- Thanks for that. The last piece is particularly telling. The ground here fairly rings with iron (you know- this crazy red clay we have) This is VERY exciting!! I've always wondered about stone vessels, having found lots of pottery, but also know that stone came first. I never had enough curiosity to investigate and do some home-work on it. Now it's my pet 'study'! Thanks again You can bet I'll be back down there looking for more, as I'm pretty sure a lot of stuff met its demise in the same way Indian Steve described. (sigh) HH! Yakker

 

[yakker]

Hey Rock- You know, I bet our's would be silver in color too- as that's the basic color of soapstone from the quarries- ranging from pale greenish grey to medium to dark grey. The soil/clay here is wicked red (at least in some places, not all), and the creek bank I pulled this from was solid red. I'm betting if I tumbled this in pure sand (I never would!), the red pigment would eventually fade to grey (there's a song for that) I never would have figured out the pieces you found. You have a mighty good eye! Yakker

 

[rock]

Thanks I have found 2 pieces. The example I gave is very water worn quite smooth. The other piece is more rough in texture. Found them both in the same creek but a mile apart from each other. I read these types came from the Archaic period in my area. We have a lot of Late Archaic period activity around here. All the way to Mississippian as in artifacts found in this location. Not many Early Archaic artifacts found a few though. I have seen Dalton and a handful of Paleo pieces. Im still looking for mine though. You found a nice big piece.

 

[Charl]

Charl- Thanks for that. The last piece is particularly telling. The ground here fairly rings with iron (you know- this crazy red clay we have) This is VERY exciting!! I've always wondered about stone vessels, having found lots of pottery, but also know that stone came first. I never had enough curiosity to investigate and do some home-work on it. Now it's my pet 'study'! Thanks again You can bet I'll be back down there looking for more, as I'm pretty sure a lot of stuff met its demise in the same way Indian Steve described. (sigh) HH! Yakker

Here's the bottom, yakker. The hearth was freshly exposed on mud flats. At least a few dozen folks were clamming on the flats all around when we just walked up on this, in several pieces, in the middle of an ancient hearth. Nobody else had noticed or had experience to recognize the hearth. You can see here where iron has eroded out and you can see they were likely cooking with this bowl. I'd be excited too if I were you. That's a cool thing to have found.

 

[Indian Steve]

My daughter is a veterinarian at the Charlottesville SPCA. That about a 3 hour ride from here. 25 years ago, I hauled 2 tons of Schuyler soapstone down to here for a friends sunroom floor. Nice stuff!

 

[Tnmountains]

Yak does it soak in water? Porous. It sure look like a vessel.

 

[tomclark]

Great find, Yak! I've seen soapstone outcroppings in SC that showed the same technique of carving them out of the rock before taking them off, but never found the finished products. BTW: Emails I sent to you bounced back!!!

 

[southfork]

California foothills soapstone bowl most likely had a handle on both ends . From the apple hill site .

 

[yakker]

Yak does it soak in water? Porous. It sure look like a vessel.

Hey TN-- Really good question. Soapstone is completely non-porous, that's why it's so great for countertops, sinks, floors/patios, etc. Used also in early indoor/kitchen ovens- holds heat VERY well. But nothing will sink in. Odd- because it scratches pretty easily, but that is, in fact the case. So all those pock marks are more about crude chiseling and not faults- or porosity. It's a cool stone. One day, when I win the lottery, I'm going to finish my dad's dathrooms and kitchen with it In making an outdoor oven with my young students this fall, I had to be sure to leave 'steam' cracks between the slabs- and even that wasn't enough and had to employ brick- so the dough (pizza/flatbread) wouldn't get all soggy-bottomed...!

 

[yakker]

View attachment 1078472California foothills soapstone bowl most likely had a handle on both ends . From the apple hill site .

Wow- nice example! Did you find that? I think the 2-handled examples are more common, but I really couldn't say for sure. Just seems something heavy like that would require a 2-handed grip to shift and move from fire. Thanks for adding that pic- very cool. Yakker

 

[yakker]

Great find, Yak! I've seen soapstone outcroppings in SC that showed the same technique of carving them out of the rock before taking them off, but never found the finished products. BTW: Emails I sent to you bounced back!!!

My email hasn't changed. I'll try yours to get things straight. Yak

 

[Charl]

yakker wrote:

"So all those pock marks are more about crude chiseling and not faults- or porosity."

Probably a combination of pecking and just a lower grade of soapstone with impurities. The outside of bowls was often left in an unfinished state, the interior is seldom left with an unfinished surface. It's even possible your bowl broke in manufacturing. Here's a soapstone bowl that is probably as high a grade as exists.....

 

[Charl]

This kettle is thin walled and about 2 feet wide. Beautiful job. The smaller bowl shows it had some impurities in the soapstone. Jamestown, RI, public library display. Found when library was built.....