Clay piece or stone?

Arrow1491 · Sep 25, 2015

Found in area in Illinois where campsite was known. Looks a bit odd to be natural but Mother Nature does odd things. It is quite light in weight and can be scratched with a fingernail. Any ideas or thoughts? Pottery was found in the area.
Thanks

quito · Sep 26, 2015

It does not look like any pottery making material I have seen.

rock · Sep 26, 2015

welcome to the site. I cant enlarge the pics and its dirty so I wont be able to help. Has the rite color but cant tell for sure

Mark Todd · Sep 26, 2015

Just looks like a rock to me.

NCPeaches · Sep 27, 2015

When I first started hunting my creek I found something that looked different...it didn't look quite like any rock and it had the feel of clay. When I cleaned it up it was off white and had what looked like a plant fossil. I knew it was different so I kept it and now I can't find it but will post a pic when I do. After finding a soapstone pot shard last month now I know what it is and why it is different than the rest, it's soapstone. So maybe if you get your piece cleaned up it will make it more identifiable. Maybe it's pottery or maybe a rock but it's hard to tell when it has iron stains on it. Try wetting it and taking another pic or two and post them, we just need better views to rule out rock.

rginn · Sep 29, 2015

Nothing to it, just a rock. Cool if you have a camp site, keep looking.

NCPeaches · Oct 1, 2015

arrow1491 - I found that soapstone I mentioned. It had creek stain on it and I cleaned it up and kept it and I admit it does look like a rock but it's not. Everyone on here said it was a rock and soapstone is but now I've found part of a bowl it means something to me. It has the feel of clay and an X on it which I think is a plant fossil and I've seen the same X in the clay shards. So don't lose hope and don't toss anything until you're sure it's just a rock, or at least toss it where you can find it later when you figure it out. Here's some pics: