Anyone seen something like this? the other mystery item from today, same place.

[blueracer]

I'm not sure what the heck this is, at first I thought it was a piece of clam shell, but it doesn't appear to be a shell. I thought it could be a piece of bone, but if it is bone it is fossilized. It isnt porcelain either. It is very hard, I think it is rock..similar hardness to chert based on the noise it makes if I tap metal on it. I cant get it to show up in the photos and It can only be seen in direct sunlight but there is a repeating pattern on there, like snowflakes or asterisks. they are almost the same shade as the object and dont appear to be raised, they may be indented but not deep enough to feel. You can barely make out a pattern on one of the pics below. I've included all sides in photos. could be a fossil but never seen one like this. any Ideas? from central Florida

 

[monsterrack]

Looks to be a flint chip from percussion flakingJust a guess

 

[Rww1987]

Looks like flint or chert to me. Maybe the design in it are fossils like this on?

 

[blueracer]

I think thats probably right. I suspect they are some type of fossil in the chert, like coral polyps though.

 

[kansa54]

Looks like coral.

 

[Rww1987]

Looks like flint or chert to me. Maybe the design in it are fossils like this on?

The ones in mine are crinoid stems.

 

[blueracer]

yup
thats a nice one. we don't have chrinoids in the fossil record down here, if we do they aren't common and are a more modern species.

 

[GatorBoy]

I zoomed in on your photo.. what you have there is a very good sign.. you might be finding some agatized coral projectile points.
Those look like coral polyps.
That is a piece of waste material from knapping fossil coral to make tools.
That piece may have been very translucent but the heat treating process turned it white.

 

[GatorBoy]

Here is a piece of raw material that has not been heat treated.

 

[GatorBoy]

Here is an example where you can see the polyps.

 

[blueracer]

the bottom pictures are exactly what I found.I thought they might have been polyps. and the clear one would make sense, because we did find a couple of pieces that looked like the one youre holding.

 

[GatorBoy]

Feeling pretty jealous about your new spot right now.. :-)
Best of luck to you for sure.

 

[Tnmountains]

Blueracer..

Welcome to T-net and especially the artifacts forum.

 

[tomclark]

looks like some microchipping on the right side of the last pic, and the left side of the second pic and top side of the third pic (same chippins??)
Second pic shows a "fresh" break.......
To me it looks like a microlithic tool, common in Central Coastal FL. An expedient tool. A lot of microliths are made of coral, moreso than chert, IMHOP, at least around here in Tampa Bay. I found one yesterday, heat treated coral, tiny, same microwork. Sometimes they are worked on several sides, sometimes just one little area.