Discussion Requested - Please

[IMAUDIGGER]

I have several items that I’d love to hear some input on. Type of tool, name, suggested use, and estimate on age would be great if possible.. as said before, I’m aiming to learn.

So far I’m refining my eye and seeing things I passed up previously. Things that were just rock and waste are now being looked at differently.

All found in Northern Ca. In two locations.

 

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[joshuaream]

The orange colored piece looks like a scraper to me, that profile shot shows it well.

Obsidian will produce a far sharper edge than anything else man has created until relatively recently. But it's not very durable. You can scratch it easily, it wears down very easily, and it fractures when light torque is applied. (It makes an amazing scalpel, a decent knife, a lousy scraper.) Chalcedony/Flint/Agate etc. won't produce as fine of a microscopically sharp edge, but it's much, much more durable. If all you had was obsidian you'd appreciate that scraper.

The obsidian point is tougher for me. I'd go with what Southfork mentioned. California is a big place and there is a lot of variability North to South, and from the Coast to Mountains to Great Basin/Desert areas. Some archaeologists split it up into 6 to 9 different zones, for comparison the area of the US east of the Mississippi River is often divided into 6 to 7 areas depending on the time period.

 

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[IMAUDIGGER]

The orange colored piece looks like a scraper to me, that profile shot shows it well.

Obsidian will produce a far sharper edge than anything else man has created until relatively recently. But it's not very durable. You can scratch it easily, it wears down very easily, and it fractures when light torque is applied. (It makes an amazing scalpel, a decent knife, a lousy scraper.) Chalcedony/Flint/Agate etc. won't produce as fine of a microscopically sharp edge, but it's much, much more durable. If all you had was obsidian you'd appreciate that scraper.

The obsidian point is tougher for me. I'd go with what Southfork mentioned. California is a big place and there is a lot of variability North to South, and from the Coast to Mountains to Great Basin/Desert areas. Some archaeologists split it up into 6 to 9 different zones, for comparison the area of the US east of the Mississippi River is often divided into 6 to 7 areas depending on the time period.

Interesting. Thank you. I’m doing quite a bit of googling tonight.

How about that last rock I posted up?

I’ve got one more stone artifact that is kind of interesting to me..I’ll post it up in a few.

 

[Buckleberry]

Nice dark smoky obsidian, always loved that as an artifact material.

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

“Site B” My first thought is that this is a portion of a broken pestle?







What makes it a little interesting is that there is linear polishing near the sharper end, and the edge is worn down. Almost like it was utilized for some other task after it was broke.

I tried to get the shiny area to show up in this picture.






A wedge....a gouge? Purpose made, or just a piece of a broken tool that may have been repurposed? Looks like the polish was caused by wood, not rock or bone.
It’s an interesting material...kind of yellow/greenish on the outside and black on the inside. This is likely similar material as the rough hand maul I posted earlier.

The more I look at how that black core is tapered...I’m thinking this could be a purpose built tool...not part of a broken pestle. What do you guys think?

Anyway, I’m looking forward to finding more.

 

[joshuaream]

This one does look like a pestle that fractured, splitting off the wedge you have. The rest of it might be nearby or within throwing distance if the ancient one swore and chucked it in disgust from breaking a nice tool.

“Site B” My first thought is that this is a portion of a broken pestle?

View attachment 1846050

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What makes it a little interesting is that there is linear polishing near the sharper end, and the edge is worn down. Almost like it was utilized for some other task after it was broke.

I tried to get the shiny area to show up in this picture.
View attachment 1846053

View attachment 1846054

View attachment 1846055

A wedge....a gouge? Purpose made, or just a piece of a broken tool that may have been repurposed? Looks like the polish was caused by wood, not rock or bone.
It’s an interesting material...kind of yellow/greenish on the outside and black on the inside. This is likely similar material as the rough hand maul I posted earlier.

The more I look at how that black core is tapered...I’m thinking this could be a purpose built tool...not part of a broken pestle. What do you guys think?

Anyway, I’m looking forward to finding more.

 

[joshuaream]

Ok this one might be my imagination running away...but it’s out of place with all the angular rocks laying around. A chopper would have a flaked edge...could it just be worn out? It’s kind of more of an abrasive stone than a really hard stone. More like the material I’m finding mano’s made out of. Found near everything else.

It could be a small mano. Do you have any of the metate style grinders with longer worn depressions in them?

 

[Tdog]

I thought bow and arrow technology has been around for thousands of years?

Less than 2000 years in North America is my understanding (1500-1800 years).

 

[Charl]

Obsidian for sure.

Can’t find anything in any of the databases that look similar.

Is it a projectile?

And if it looks like glass, that’s because obsidian is a form of volcanic glass....

 

[DaveSmith]

The last item, I would guess a chisel. I have a couple with a similar end from NC. The reasoning, my reasoning weather right or wrong, is the modern wood workers always had a chisel in their tool box. The native Americans made many things from wood and would have needed a tool to "finish" wood items to remove rough spots, smooth insides of wooden bowls, etc.

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

It could be a small mano. Do you have any of the metate style grinders with longer worn depressions in them?

Not yet. But that is something to consider. Unfortunately this location has been picked over for decades by locals, so that piece may have been carried off long ago. Now that I own it...I have to look for less obvious items.

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

The last item, I would guess a chisel. I have a couple with a similar end from NC. The reasoning, my reasoning weather right or wrong, is the modern wood workers always had a chisel in their tool box. The native Americans made many things from wood and would have needed a tool to "finish" wood items to remove rough spots, smooth insides of wooden bowls, etc.

I believe it was briefly used as a chisel or gouge after the pestle broke. It doesn’t show signs of really being sharpened, which I think a good chisel would.

The polishing only near the sharp end and the worn leading edge is what made me think it was re-utilized...of course the convenient shape with the built in battered end for striking with a wooden club is what made me instantly think wood working tool. I know if I had to knock off a knot and that was laying around...I’d use it.
———————
I like to think about what REALLY happened. The lady that broke the pestle may have done it in anger after arguing with her husband or kids. She probably was scared what her man was going to say when he got back from hunting and saw she broke their best pestle right when they needed it the most (probably early fall). Deer hunting was going good and it was peak acorn season. They needed to get winter stores put away.

Probably didn’t help that her son told her that “dad is going to be angry when he sees that”. She may have tossed the other half of the pestle at him. I bet she immediately went looking for a replacement stone.

Either that or SHE wore the loincloth of the family and she made her husband go out and make her another pestle the second he got back from hunting. She may have been angry that he choose such a poor stone in the first place, which caused her so much more work.

The fact that he came back from hunting empty handed was that much more reason to give him a tongue lashing. She likely accused him of being lazy and wandering off to sleep the day away under a tree in the shade, while she DID ALL THE WORK.

 

[unclemac]

pestles are not mauls and to break one with a split like this is not very likely. They are similar tools but used in different ways for different purposes. The beaches and creeks/rivers I walk are filled with such stones. I can pick up "pestles" by the bag full on any given day.

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

pestles are not mauls and to break one with a split like this is not very likely. They are similar tools but used in different ways for different purposes. The beaches and creeks/rivers I walk are filled with such stones. I can pick up "pestles" by the bag full on any given day.

I hear you, it would have had to been misused/abused. The end certainly does look like it received several blows one way or another.

It could have also broke from freezing.

To give a little context, I picked it up on the edge of a tepee/camp shelter which a dozer has pushed through several times. It definitely was packed in from somewhere else. All the other stones in this area are soft and angular. Maybe a smooth hard rock was packed in and the dozer broke a wedge off it.

I’ll keep it in my pile of possibilities just in case the other half shows up.

 

[southfork]

it was a poor flake to begin with, so the less pronounced notch on the other side most likely reflects just that ...it looks to be an arrowhead based on its size, so I doubt it to be of great age, I like it more in the hundreds of years old as opposed to thousands.

You might be right I was only making a guess as to type not knowing where found . There are over forty side notched points found here over half being archaic Dart points so its a guess at best without a better description of where found .

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

You might be right I was only making a guess as to type not knowing where found . There are over forty side notched points found here over half being archaic Dart points so its a guess at best without a better description of where found .

Sorry, I've got a pretty narrow definition of Northern California (which excludes most of the state. I should have been more specific. Near the slopes of Mt. Shasta is probably more helpful.

 

[unclemac]

i love the drive along 44!

 

[Tdog]

Looks like that one has been repaired.

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

Looks like that one has been repaired.

The person that found it called to tell me about it when they got home, then proceeded to drop it on the sidewalk.

 

[Tdog]

The person that found it called to tell me about it when they got home, then proceeded to drop it on the sidewalk.

That could explain the asymmetry. I did a double-take on the stem and shoulder before I said "repaired". That could very well be recent damage in those areas although I still think it was re-chipped on the right face of it in your last pic.

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

That could explain the asymmetry. I did a double-take on the stem and shoulder before I said "repaired". That could very well be recent damage in those areas although I still think it was re-chipped on the right face of it in your last pic.

I think the break was the tip, but I’ll ask to see if anything else broke.