Florida Sand Stone(?) pendant?

[PetesPockets55]

I found this on the beach locally back in Feb(?).
I know this is probably just a natural piece but the hole is well centered and tapered so I thought I would ask for opinions and help as to whether this might be a pendant.
(Hope the images are good enough)







Thanks for looking and any insight you can offer.

 

[outlaws15]

Thats a keeper, no matter if man made or not. If worn around neck, must of been a person who didn't run much

 

[kentucky Quinn]

Recent drilled hole or ancient? Can an expert chime in please. Thanks for sharing!

 

[smallfoot]

I believe the material is coquina and having found a worked piece in a midden years ago I believe it is an artifact.

 

[outlaws15]

Sure resembles this one.



https://stores.arrowheads.com/detail.php?pid=NTM3MzM=&pn=Awesome-3.25

 

[H.P.]

Looks intentionally conicaly drilled to me..natural holes tend to have edge wear on both sides..I have several small slab lookin sandstone pieces ( abraders) that came from Tampa bay village sites..I vote it’s a sandstone pendant.

 

[tomclark]

I call "Piddock" stone woi

 

[H.P.]

I call "Piddock" stone woi

, back to the reasearch an urban dictionary,Lol.

 

[PetesPockets55]

The hole being so well centered is what got my attention initially.

I believe the material is coquina and having found a worked piece in a midden years ago I believe it is an artifact.

Here is what I think of when I think of coquina.

Sure resembles this one.
https://stores.arrowheads.com/detail.php?pid=NTM3MzM=&pn=Awesome-3.25

Thanks for the link. The hole does look similar even though the material is different.

Thats a keeper, no matter if man made or not. If worn around neck, must of been a person who didn't run much

I noticed that it didn't have much wear either around the hole but figured if it was a pendant, "they" might not have had it long before losing it.

Recent drilled hole or ancient? Can an expert chime in please. Thanks for sharing!

You're welcome. It's looking up for this one.

Looks intentionally conicaly drilled to me..natural holes tend to have edge wear on both sides..I have several small slab lookin sandstone pieces ( abraders) that came from Tampa bay village sites..I vote it’s a sandstone pendant.

Thanks HP. The conical hole is one of the few things I've come to realize is important. I've had my hopes up before simply because of the creativity of Mother Nature. (She likes messing with my mind I guess!) A lot of the sandstone pebbles will have all kinds of circular holes in them that fool me.

I call "Piddock" stone woi

Thanks Tom for your name for it, but what is "woi"?

 

[joshuaream]

Any other signs of relics on the beach? It's one of those things that if found on a site, very well could be something. But I could also see it being completely natural.

 

[newnan man]

I would say natural except the hole does look man made. If you found it on the beach in Indian River County there are a lot of well know habitat sites all over that county, mounds too. Pretty dense for Coquina so may be some other material. We collect shells from all over Florida & have hundreds of stone with holes in them. We call them Hagstones. None have tapered holes like that one.

 

[PetesPockets55]

Any other signs of relics on the beach? It's one of those things that if found on a site, very well could be something. But I could also see it being completely natural.

It was found after a high tide but nothing else at the time. This type of material is washed up a lot, in all kinds of shapes. (I've even found Mickey and Minnie before.) It was the overall compact size, symmetry, and tapered hole that made it stand out.

I would say natural except the hole does look man made. If you found it on the beach in Indian River County there are a lot of well know habitat sites all over that county, mounds too. Pretty dense for Coquina so may be some other material. We collect shells from all over Florida & have hundreds of stone with holes in them. We call them Hagstones. None have tapered holes like that one.

Thanks because that conical hole is what was throwing me.

Here are some recent natural pieces I've found for comparison. (To help give everyone an idea of the difficulty trying to determine man made or natural.)




i was hoping that some wear marks from whatever cord it may have been attached to would be visible in the closeups.
But nooooo!

Thanks again everyone for helping me hash this one out.

 

[tomclark]

top two pics are are an Omarolluk and the third is a Piddock stone just like the first one you posted in this thread. You cannot trust beach stones with holes, especially if they are all over the place like in some places...unless they have undoubted diagnostic traits and/or found on a site where other stuff has been found... ...and while many things they made don't seem "right" to modern artistic eyes there is no real symmetry to this piece, it could have been modified in shape a little better....

 

[outlaws15]

Great information

top two pics are are an Omarolluk and the third is a Piddock stone just like the first one you posted in this thread. You cannot trust beach stones with holes, especially if they are all over the place like in some places...unless they have undoubted diagnostic traits and/or found on a site where other stuff has been found... ...and while many things they made don't seem "right" to modern artistic eyes there is no real symmetry to this piece, it could have been modified in shape a little better....

 

[newnan man]

Hag stones from our local beach. I've never found anything I thought was an artifact on the beach. Nothing lasts tumbling in the rough surf.

 

[Tdog]

My understanding is that biconical drilling is the common Native American practice for such pieces (pendants & gorgets).

 

[PetesPockets55]

top two pics are are an Omarolluk and the third is a Piddock stone just like the first one you posted in this thread. You cannot trust beach stones with holes, especially if they are all over the place like in some places...unless they have undoubted diagnostic traits and/or found on a site where other stuff has been found... ...and while many things they made don't seem "right" to modern artistic eyes there is no real symmetry to this piece, it could have been modified in shape a little better....

Thanks Tom. I had to look them up to satisfy my curiosity.

Omarolluk

Piddock stone

These wouldn't have been able to travel from Hudson Bay or Wales would they? (Location references mentioned in the links for each) Or is that the common name for each and would have been produced by a local creature or process.

Great information

I agree. So many helpful people willing to share their knowledge.

View attachment 1886967
Hag stones from our local beach. I've never found anything I thought was an artifact on the beach. Nothing lasts tumbling in the rough surf.

Yep, those are the ones we find all the time. I've heard the term before and can finally put the name to a sample.
(I still like "Florida Friendship Stone"! )

So I think I'll be safe to label this one as "Probably natural with an outside chance of being man made"?
Thanks again everyone.

EDIT: I think I'll try wearing another hag stone on a leather piece (or sinew?) to see if it might show any wear or other signs of being suitable as an ornament. I'm not sure how durable the sand stone might be.

 

[PetesPockets55]

My understanding is that biconical drilling is the common Native American practice for such pieces (pendants & gorgets).

Thanks T-dog.
When you say "biconical drilling", do you mean drilled from two sides? That seems logical to confirm man made over natural, since natural holes from two sides would be random and seldom line up intentionally like a human would try to do.

 

[outlaws15]

I had to look it up. I have over 20 pages open trying to learn. Thats not counting the projectile points pages.

EVERYTHING ABOUT ARCHAEOLOGY: WHAT IS THE BICONICAL DRILLING ?

Thanks T-dog.
When you say "biconical drilling", do you mean drilled from two sides? That seems logical to confirm man made over natural, since natural holes from two sides would be random and seldom line up intentionally like a human would try to do.

 

[Tdog]

Thanks T-dog.
When you say "biconical drilling", do you mean drilled from two sides? That seems logical to confirm man made over natural, since natural holes from two sides would be random and seldom line up intentionally like a human would try to do.

Yes.