Coral ID.?

GatorBoy

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Here I have a Florida point Made of agatized coral That has not been heat treated. I was hoping some guys With an extensive background With agatized Coral might be able to tell me the type of coral.

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Clearly visible polyps on this one.
I could be wrong .. but this point appears to have pitch residue on the stem.
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I found a chunk of rock/coral (whatever the he!! It is) just like what your point is made of and another piece that obviously came from a coastal/ocean environment among worked pieces of various colors of chert, quartz and obsidian. They all resemble effigies but haven't had time to check them out further. P.S. I'm in West (by god) Virginia...far from the coast. Found them all together. I'm interested to hear more on heat treatment, using this type
 

I don't know how to reply to all that.. other than I doubt any are effigies.. and the material you found is most likely petrified/agatized wood in your area. Here is petrified wood for example.

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In my area at least two different materials were used.... asphaltum/tar.. and pitch. I have preserved examples of the tar that naturally washed up on the beaches from offshore oil seepage. That may or may not be pitch on that point above.... but I can say under magnification it is separate from the material of the point and appears melted. Here is the tar. There was apparently a large enough gob on the stem of this point to still be visible after the patina it may have also inhibited patina in that area.

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Double post by mistake..my guess is that piece of debitage was on the ground at someone's feet while a tool was being hafted. People have questioned the possibility of hafting material surviving... then I show them all the bone material. There is a lot of examples from archaeological reports.. some from Florida and some from Texas being the best I've seen.
 

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I don't know how to reply to all that.. other than I doubt any are effigies.. and the material you found is most likely petrified/agatized wood in your area. Here is petrified wood for example.

<img src="http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=752538"/>

<img src="http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=752539"/>

Gator,
Wasn't asking you to reply...only sharing an experience. I apologize for being new and not realizing that isn't kosher. Probably a big reason I've steered clear of social sites like this (including this one - which is what kept me away from it til now). It's seems every forum like this I've come across has a group of "experts" ready to pounce on a novice's questions/comments as opposed to being helpful. Or more importantly... Why not just ignore the post all together because your busy or too educated to reply to such nonsense? I'll try to brush up on my etiquette before randomly posting again. Cheers. (*Putting my big girl panties on now* and apologies if I'm taking it the wrong way - but several condescending posts before reading this one kind of got to me). It's something I do for fun and the thrill of finding the treasure....history has always been a draw for me as well so it's an added bonus. So, I can only hope to meet/consult like minded people who don't take it too seriously. Peace and chicken grease. Going to flip on some tunes and play with my rocks. I've enjoyed looking at everyones "treasure". I'll post pics of things I'd like help identifying later.

Brandiwine-O
 

Gator,
Wasn't asking you to reply...only sharing an experience. I apologize for being new and not realizing that isn't kosher. Probably a big reason I've steered clear of social sites like this (including this one - which is what kept me away from it til now). It's seems every forum like this I've come across has a group of "experts" ready to pounce on a novice's questions/comments as opposed to being helpful. Or more importantly... Why not just ignore the post all together because your busy or too educated to reply to such nonsense? I'll try to brush up on my etiquette before randomly posting again. Cheers. (*Putting my big girl panties on now* and apologies if I'm taking it the wrong way - but several condescending posts before reading this one kind of got to me). It's something I do for fun and the thrill of finding the treasure....history has always been a draw for me as well so it's an added bonus. So, I can only hope to meet/consult like minded people who don't take it too seriously. Peace and chicken grease. Going to flip on some tunes and play with my rocks. I've enjoyed looking at everyones "treasure". I'll post pics of things I'd like help identifying later.

Brandiwine-O

Hey girl take it easy.... if I come across as an "expert" it's totally by mistake... all I can hope for is to go to sleep a little less stupid then I woke up. I was honestly trying to help. Don't get scared off... this site is full of helpful people feel free to ask me as many questions as you need. Welcome aboard.
 

Ok well I put this on mine also after I found out they were flints and I put some more odd things up on mine. But here it is. I found both of these where I found some of those flints.

That looks like the byproduct of melting down metals. A type of slag
 

Oh and definitely not petrified/agatized wood. I have many amazing pieces found in the coal mines and worked pieces I've found walking the fields. However, upon closer inspection once I got home I'm not sure it's the same material. I definitely have a couple marine like pieces though. I'll post them in a different topic (with the entire lot i found at the same time) so I'm not hijacking yours. Thanks for taking the time to reply and in hindsight I sound a little on the whiny side in previous post. It's Monday and a hell of a Monday to boot. Again, cheers.
 

Cheers
 

Here is a couple examples of asphaltum on projectile points. Both of these are from Texas. The 1 with the catalog number is from the Morhis Mound.

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The other one was found in a wet site that accounts for the extent of preservation.
 

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Here is a couple examples of asphaltum on projectile points. Both of these are from Texas. The 1 with the catalog number is from the Morhis Mound.

<img src="http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=752763"/>

<img src="http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=752764"/>

The other one was found in a wet site that accounts for the extent of preservation.

That is a rarity in the right hand pic. I found one point years back that had the adhesive "goo" left on it. Being unlearned I scraped and scraped until it was gone. Lol! I was probably 15 years old.
 

Party foul
 

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