Another Indian find from Union, SC

[heybubbajay]

Alrighty, here's another artifact found in the Lockhart area of Union County, the finder claims he found it in the woods in the 1970s. Small, approx. 1", It has a human face carved into it and on the left hand side of the stone it looks like a boring was started. Any thoughts?!

 

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[GatorBoy]

I think identifying the material would be a good start.
At first glance it looks like things I've seen from Canada and Alaska carved by Inuit.

 

[monsterrack]

Nice find

 

[SCrocks]

- A carved face from this area would be one of the rarest of the rare things to find. For that reason along any collector from around here would have some reservations . I would email Dr. Goodyear at U.S.C. the pictures and get his take on it.

 

[rock]

I could be wrong but the carving doesnt show that much patina on it. Looks good though but all the artifacts I find that are old there is always dark patina all over it. How did he clean it I guess would be my first question? The 2nd question would be if found in the woods was in in the ground or just laying on top? Im not doubting his find Im just wondering why the patina looks the way it does.

 

[heybubbajay]

thanks SCrocks...do you mean USC as in University of SC?

 

[heybubbajay]

Hey rock, this seems to be some form of stone, and the finder claims it was found on the ground in the 1970s, not dug. Would a stone have patina rather than say pottery? I am with a Museum and I often get hit with unusual local finds and I do my best to authenticate them but I also try to look at all pieces with a higher level of skepticism....

 

[GatorBoy]

The more I look at it the more the material looks like a fossil..mabey wood?

 

[heybubbajay]

I just emailed Dr. Goodyear @ USC and we shall see if he can offer a professional opinion

 

[heybubbajay]

Maybe petrified wood? But most petrified wood I have seen is a little lighter in color....

 

[heybubbajay]

A response from the archaeologist at the University of SC:

"Thanks for sending these images. The dark colored pieces I can’t make out as true artifacts. We are always suspicious of fakes when it comes to carvings like this. The two points may be real but might also be fakes. If they are SC coastal plain chert they are awfully fresh which could mean they are late prehistoric or modern replicas."

The two arrowheads mentioned are from my earlier thread, but the treasure.net community has already thrashed them as repros....

 

[GatorBoy]

That's about what I expected.... Is there any way to get some more in-depth information from and about the person that this came from?
Some specifics on where it was found any other objects found in relation to it.. That kind of thing.
There's got to be more than just "found in the woods"
Have you looked at it under magnification? Is there a repeating pattern in the spacing of the scratches in the carved areas?

 

[rock]

The stone type to me looks like Hematite or Iron ore type. Which both have the same family I do believe. It would be nice if its real but the first pic dead on is quite blurry. You got a better pic?

 

[heybubbajay]

Sorry this is the best I could do with the camera...see the 2nd pic above seems to be the best one...

 

[heybubbajay]

No other artifacts were found, he seems to recall that he was resting and poking or digging a stick around the ground. There seems to be some smoothing out on the piece caused by some sort of rough sanding, which once again makes my leery of the piece.

 

[GatorBoy]

Yeah I would be too