Atlatl Hook or Some Other Bone Tool?

[Harry Pristis]

Many years ago, I recovered this piece of worked bone in an area where many Paleo to Early Archaic artifacts have been found. My best guess is that it is an atlatl hook, though I am uncertain how it was hafted, even with the obvious grooves.

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This bone is well-mineralized, but not much degraded by stream polishing (you can still see evidence of cuts in the end-notch.) There are no apparent broken edges.

The bone is solid cortex with no evidence of the marrow cavity. Cortex that thick implies that this piece was removed from a substantial bone (including antler).

My find does not greatly resemble the obvious atlatl hook from a known Paleo site in the Aucilla River. This Aucilla hook is made of antler.

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My questions, then, are:
1. Is my find an atlatl hook, or is it some other sort of tool?
2. How was this bone piece hafted to an atlatl or to some other tool?

Speculation welcome!

 

[NC field hunter]

Harry, you aren't supposed to ask questions!! Just kidding you. You are so knowledgable, and I'm sincere in saying that, that for you to need advice kinda blows my mind. I'm glad to see you asking and wish that I could be of some help. If you would like my vision, I'll tell you what I see. Actually, what I do not see. I do not see a hook that could hold a shaft. If an atlatl could be made to stay on this piece, I still couldn't imagine any accuracy on a target. You mentioned water polish. At certain angles the piece looks like it has a socket on the end. Could water have just worn this bone down creating the appearance of an artifact? Could the grooves have been cut into the bone during butchering with time and water altering the appearance of the cut? Not sure Harry! You have helped me on several occasions. I know I was no help. I still wanted to let you know I like this bone and it's mysterious alteration.

 

[GatorBoy]

I've come back to look at this several times. I don't know if its the odd computerized image but something looks very "off" about it to me.
It looks almost exactly the same material as the resin cast in the other photo.
I know you have a pretty good eye most of the time so I'll have to take your word for it but by the photos alone I wouldn't even think it was an artifact.
One place where it seems to be "cut" in a rectangular shape is the only thing that looks like it "may" not be natural to me... even then I've seen nature do some strange things.
I've found alot of bone artifacts none of the material ever looked like that.

 

[Tnmountains]

I love polls ! Looks like one. Not everyone made the same item identical. That is my theory and am sticking to it.

 

[NC field hunter]

I love polls ! Looks like one. Not everyone made the same item identical. That is my theory and am sticking to it.

Is a poll the proper name for an atlatal hook?

 

[old digger]

Hey Harry, I did a little digging and and I was thinking, do you think it be the opposite end of the atlatl hook as pictured in this photo?

 

[Harry Pristis]

LOL Despite the consensus of opinion in the poll, I have a new theory.

I still cannot imagine a reasonable way this piece of bone could be tethered to a throwing stick. But, something was tethered to the piece . . . the grooves are too obvious. Maybe that's all there was . . . some cordage. Maybe the smooth curve on the inside of the grooved end is simply to protect a knot. Maybe this was the lead end of a fish stringer that could be staked into the riverbank.

I considered a fish gorge, but it seems a bit large for river fish and not big enough for a gator. Someone spent a good bit of time carving this tool, and I suspect that it was not meant to be a throwaway.

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[old digger]

Is a poll the proper name for an atlatal hook?

I believe TNMountains is referring to as a survey, if I am correct.

 

[NC field hunter]

I believe TNMountains is referring to as a survey, if I am correct.

Ahhh!! Went over my head! Lol! Thanks Digger! You have to help the feeble minded, such as myself.

 

[old digger]

I don't think so, your a pretty smart guy in your own right.

 

[NC field hunter]

Harry, do you know if early archaic natives trapped food? I'm not talking a steel trap. Rather, a box with a trip line that would catch the animal and keep the animal alive. I see this piece being used with a line/rope of some sort. Bone is light enough for a ribbit or animal of that size to trip. Bone is nothing that would spook an animal. I know some animals are not good to eat without cleaning their diet a little. Would this bone have been fossilized during its time of use? The thick groove may have held a drop door. After the line was tripped, the flat would lay on the ground leaving no way out. I can't explain what I see in a manner that makes any sense. It's a cool piece. I better stop typing. If I look at it much longer, it's liable to be the first computer. Lol! Nice threat Harry!

 

[tomclark]

Harry, I can't tell if it's been worked or tumbled. It looks like a fish bone, either a tilly bone/hyperostosis or another bone of fish. We call them fish bladders but that is not what they are. I have found many of these, the groove is natural (originally if modified later...) and it's broken along the midline. I've seen these in fresh large fish on the spine and again, many in Miocene/Pleistocene deposits in FL. What do you think?

https://www.google.com/search?q=fos...bN7S-sQTKoILYCw&ved=0CCcQsAQ&biw=1280&bih=857

 

[Harry Pristis]

That's all reasonable speculation, guys. However, this is textured mammal bone (including possibly antler), not a Tilly bone. This would have to be from an enormous Tilly bone, Tom, either recovered and worked while green OR mineralized then fractured into an astonishing shape. I've seen a lot of Tilly bones, but never one that looked like anything but a Tilly bone.

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Trap doors and box traps don't sound feasible, NCfh. Dead-fall traps with this piece of bone as the trigger is more feasible. Keep in mind though that this object was found in a river bottomland in which there are no large flagstones exposed for use as a dead-fall. The limestone would have to be retrieved from the river, and what right-thinking NA is going to do that when a snare (multiple snares) would require less work?

Old digger, help me visualize how this piece of bone could be fastened to either end of a throwing stick. I can't see it yet.

Other ideas? Imagine that this is a piece of tool made from a Late Pleistocene equus horse cannon bone. Within the constraints of the bone shape, what did this complete tool look like?

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[GatorBoy]

Some natural bone for comparison.
I'm fairly certain that piece was not *made* from any part of a horse... That would take a lot of imagining

 

[joshuaream]

No clue, I've looked at it and see what looks like work, but no guesses come to mind.

 

[centfladigger]

could it have been socketed with the tapered end ?

 

[tomclark]

TILLY I Tells Ya!!!!

 

[curious kat]

That's a really nice piece you found Harry, wish I had an idea about it for you......but that Aucilla hook sure looks like a giant crochet hook!

 

[Harry Pristis]

That's a really nice piece you found Harry, wish I had an idea about it for you......but that Aucilla hook sure looks like a giant crochet hook!

The original giant crochet hook is from the Page-Ladson Site, a controlled dig in the Aucilla River. Dave Webb, the now-retired Curator of Vertebrate Fossils at the FL State Museum, literally forced this cast on me (I don't have casts of fossils or arifacts in my collection). Dave was sooo happy with this atlatl hook find, he couldn't stop grinning the whole time I was in his office on other Museum business.
Page-Ladson prehistory site - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

BTW, I use the finest size crochet hooks to remove bit of grit from fossil tooth crevices and recesses. They make good picks for this purpose.

 

[GatorBoy]

That Equis fossil is amazing by the way... Is that "bone valley blue"?