5 inch turkeytail

[tnmudman]

The guy who has this lives a couple houses down , never met him until yesterday. He said he found this laying in a gully below a waterfall not too far from where I live. I didnt measure it but it had to be at least 5 inches long. He is looking to sell it, any ideas on what it is worth, assuming it is a genuine artifact? I didnt get a chance to really examinite closely for very long but my immpression was that it wasnt modern. Also he called it a turkeytail and thats what it appeared to be but im not sure. I thought I would share this and hopefully get some opinions on it.

 

[smokeythecat]

I doubt it's a turkey tail because there would be two noticeable indentations, one on each side of the blade within an inch of the termination. Probably a very well made archaic knife. I can't tell the difference myself (on age) except new ones look new. And from a photo, I can't tell at all.

 

[Older The Better]

Maybe a preform for a turkey tail, like Smokey said no notches

 

[monsterrack]

Without me putting it under a microscope I would not dare say if it's real or not. Just be careful that you don't buy a story and not a good point.

 

[catherine1]

Appears to be made of hornstone which is what most are made of, could be a preform due to the size as already stated......

 

[tnmudman]

Thanks for the comments, im not really thinking about buying it myself, a friend of mine who introduced us is. But like I said I was wondering what it might be worth assuming it is not modern. Just thought I would see what people on this forum thought about it, if anyone cared to offer an opinion.

 

[Tdog]

$100

 

[ToddsPoint]

How thick is it? A Turkey Tail would be VERY thin, like 7-8mm. Gary

 

[tnmudman]

Hey Gary it is quite thin for its size, Im hoping to get a closer look at it and some more pics. Also, it does have some indentions on one end of it but they are very small and it has a little damage on one side where the indention is.

 

[A2coins]

Thats a great artifact if its authentic

 

[joshuaream]

In Tennessee there is a type of unnotched turkey tail that is related to Benton points dating from the middle Archaic, almost always made from a blue grey variety of Ft Payne from the Muscle Shoals area of Alabama. (It looks a lot like Indiana or Kentucky hornstone.)

Flaking looks right, but that style is copied.

If you know the area where it was found you might try searching there, they aren’t often isolated finds. If you found the rest of the cache, you’d know this one is likely authentic. (Just a helpful suggestion for authenticating the piece.)

 

[smokeythecat]

Hey, I think I bought a "story" recently, but the point was out of a material I really wanted and it's not for sale, so I guess it doesn't matter. If you find anything else out, let us know.

 

[Tnmountains]

In Tennessee there is a type of unnotched turkey tail that is related to Benton points dating from the middle Archaic, almost always made from a blue grey variety of Ft Payne from the Muscle Shoals area of Alabama. (It looks a lot like Indiana or Kentucky hornstone.)

Flaking looks right, but that style is copied.

If you know the area where it was found you might try searching there, they aren’t often isolated finds. If you found the rest of the cache, you’d know this one is likely authentic. (Just a helpful suggestion for authenticating the piece.)

Joshuaream is correct. The material is spot on and honstone hardly ever shows any patina. When you find one of those they often buried a cache of them. Up to 30 have been found at a time. Many caches will all be purposely broken/killed and they are found in your area.
As far as value I would only trust what I found so I can not help you there.

 

[tnmudman]

Thanks for the comments and info. My friend has acquired the piece. I got to take a good look at it yesterday and take some more pics. I think he got the real deal and it is 4 and 7/8 inches long. He is wanting to send it to an authenticator. Can anyone recommend a reliable and well respected one that would be familiar with artifacts from my area?

 

[Neanderthal]

These are typically known as Woodruff bifaces (Tomak/Perino) from examples found at the Woodruff site in Indiana. They are associated with Red Ocher culture, often found in caches, and are basically a Fulton TT that lacks notches.