Best Guess Appreciated

uzd · Apr 16, 2015

The lighter colored pecking centrally located was done by 1880's schoolkids. Based on patina how old is the darker original surface? I realize what I'm asking is entailed, informed comments would be appreciated.

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villagenut · Apr 16, 2015

patina on rock or sediment is not an easy thing to put a date on. It is hard enough to do on man made material like a buckle. Usually age is based on context and not on patina. Patina is just natures way of making an artifact look appealing, thus just a bonus for the T- hunter. Of course, I may be presumptuous about what this object is...so I will ask what is it and what is some background on it and the story that goes with it?

uzd · Apr 22, 2015

It's a 200lb limestone that along with several others have been ground/pecked. The jumble of stones are all figural, for argument sake lets assume I'm correct about them being artifacts. I was raised on this unimproved acreage and my father was under the impression the stones were a cellar,cistern or foundation. As a boy in the 60's I accepted his assessment. In the last 50+ yrs. scouring this acreage I've learned a lot about the effect of time on people/possessions. I had ?'s about these rocks and others that were large, flat and obviously flaked to a point. The man next to my ranch was born on the adjoining property 98yrs ago and is sharp as a tack. He has proven to be more help than all the 'ask the expert' types combined. When I tw him he said based on the info I gave him the large figurals were burial related and the large flat stones were trail markers. Then he confessed that in their youth he and his brother dug graves/treasure sites at night for an old man that paid them a dollar apiece. He said at least 3 gravesites existed on the ridge I described to him. From the area in ? on the hill, the grave of Phillip Nolan, Buzzard Cave digsite, Chisolm Trail are all within sight. A stagecoach line/route /stop shut down by Civil War is now a CR that led to an 1880's Grange supported school/hall that is part of the place. The county was known to be safe to travel, of the nearly 300 documented Amerindian raids in contiguous counties, none in Hill. Geographically positive, highest elevation in county suited as a lookout , confluence of Nolan and Brazos Rivers = water and game, largest wild mustang population anywhere. Desirable spot in years past......Lots of traffic on this place

Unable to edit pics...some irrelevant.....

coinman123 · Apr 24, 2015

I'm thinking that it naturally eroded that way...

uzd · Apr 26, 2015

That would be my 'guess' also and it would be correct 99% of the time regardless your earth science skills. Especially if a picture was the only determining factor. Looking at a picture dictates a 'for the sake of argument' type debate or it should. Add to that seeing a figure in an inanimate object is met w/ the same ire as....ufo sightings. I've a marble that is fairly collectible, I thought it odd when I dug it that it was flawless except for one missing flake barely perceptible to the naked eye. It was an old Aerial Agate. I had purchased a computer and software from an oil patch engineer that was used expressly for evaluating core samples. I put the marble through the hi-res imagery steps and around 3k the blemish turned into a micro relief perfectly etched of the iconic Kilroy. It was signed Oz. A deer jawbone commonly used sans teeth as a bow saw by Natives was retrieved from under a root in a creek bed on my place. Upon cleanup I found the etched inscription Dh hearts Cr Sr's '23' go Wampus Cats. The lighter patina in the big limestone is mostly due to upper and lowercase letter practice. Ironically the same thing appeared on the underside of the mantle I recovered from the clapboard farmhouse built circa 1880....the kids used charred wood from the fireplace to practice lessons on the mantles under side.

Mystery after mystery....why are all the bottles in the dump broken. All have tops. Did you know bottle codes were sometimes molded in caps?

Do you feel the same about the river flagstone that is atop it. The one that favors a horses head. The river rock at the highest elevation in the county seemed odd. Who knows. Added pics that show bulbs from percussion and toolmarks where material was removed. 3D scan is more definitive,shows edges

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GatorBoy · Apr 27, 2015

What on earth is all this about? You have natural rocks there and a few fossils that's it ...whatever that thing about the bottles was about their broken because they're glass glass breaks.

Charlie P. (NY) · Apr 27, 2015

What you have there are a couple rocks.

A huge portion of the human brain is devoted to interpreting other people's faces. Part of our survival hard-wiring. Also, the brain decides what your eyes are seeing and part of it's job is filling in the blanks for missing information. A swishing tail or twitching ear may be a tiger. The brain fills-in quite a lot so we can function. Want to see a UFO or ghost bad enough you eventually will.

So, when the eye begins to interpret a shape the first attributes it processes are: is it a face? That's why people see faces on rocks, toast, etc.

Are you implying river rock should only be in rivers? Most "river rock" formed under oceans 450,000,000 years ago and what are mountains now didn't exist then. It was still sea bottom. The tallest mountains are usually the youngest because erosion hasn't had long to wear them down.

GatorBoy · Apr 27, 2015

Nicely done Charlie I love that photo

coinman123 · Apr 27, 2015

Charlie P. (NY) said:
What you have there are a couple rocks.

A huge portion of the human brain is devoted to interpreting other people's faces. Part of our survival hard-wiring. Also, the brain decides what your eyes are seeing and part of it's job is filling in the blanks for missing information. A swishing tail or twitching ear may be a tiger. The brain fills-in quite a lot so we can function. Want to see a UFO or ghost bad enough you eventually will.

So, when the eye begins to interpret a shape the first attributes it processes are: is it a face? That's why people see faces on rocks, toast, etc.

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Are you implying river rock should only be in rivers? Most "river rock" formed under oceans 450,000,000 years ago and what are mountains now didn't exist then. It was still sea bottom. The tallest mountains are usually the youngest because erosion hasn't had long to wear them down.

Good explanation Charlie,

GatorBoy · Apr 27, 2015

I had to read this thing again it's so erratic and weirdly random it reminds me of watching the ancient aliens program.
I mean everyone who finds a marble that has a chip in it put it through analysis correct? I mean what if it was aliens?.. But then there's no bones in ice cream

uzd · Apr 28, 2015

My intent being to enlighten rather than confuse. I thought I had posted the basis for those comments earlier. What it is about is an old dump on private property where all but the smallest of the old glass is not just broken but shattered. Normally you associate it w/kids, lots of traffic.. I thought it was strange. Same with the marbles, I could see finding a few but not a hundred. The only children to live on the place were girls born prior to 1900. So where did the marbles come from. The answer seems simple enough after I considered why the marbles were in the shape they were in. Marbles were ammo, bottles were targets.

As for what is real vs delusion/perception I'm aware so I try to rely on factual accepted practices b4 spouting off. What would you say to the notion the point was broken intentionally to look like a left facing figure? Also a jointed lightning rod if you haven't seen one, recent find.

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GatorBoy · Apr 29, 2015

Whatever floats your boat

uzd · May 5, 2015

My take being we are quick to accept past practices as they call it instead of using our own deductive skills. I'm all for education but I've heard some fairly creative analysis by the experts. The point is just one example, it has shards of brass in the bottom of the holes outlined by the black carbon metal stains. A prominent issuer of coa's missed it as did countless others citing the 'our brain does this thing'' and you've imagined it rebuttal. If you're [collective not you) attempting to appear informed simply use the word, there is a name for the condition, saves time and you still appear brainy. A geologist married into the family and I asked what he thought. He pointed out a popped fossil made the crater and something had to cause the discoloration,probably carbon based. When I cleaned it up the discolored metal reflected a penlight. Just saying we do an injustice to a hobby we enjoy learning more about.