Has anyone seen one of these?

[bruce]

This is not a find of mine. It came from old timer Tex in on a trade I made.
Good or no good? What do you think?

Thanks on replies!
Bruce

 

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[Airborne80]

Purely natural rock formation. They call it a Hook Rock. They are all over the ground out here. Hahahah.... just kidding. Very interesting and I can't wait until someone identifies it.

 

[bruce]

Oh, You had me goin. NOT. I am not an expert but I think its authentic.

Bruce

 

[jonnyrebel00]

can u put something in for a scale in another pic?

 

[jonnyrebel00]

oops i didnt see the diminsions at the bottom. thought it was camera info. but still could be nice

 

[jonnyrebel00]

Id be inclined to say a fishing hook. lookin at the little barb up at the top of shaft to tie a string to.

 

[pickaway]

I've seen some Mayan stuff look like that.

 

[Jazdo]

I though fish hook at first. But i think they are mostly made from bone!

 

[ohio]

I am with Pickaway. A Mayan eccentric??
Chuck

 

[jonnyrebel00]

http://images.google.com/imgres?img...fishing+hook&start=40&ndsp=20&um=1&hl=en&sa=N

here is a link to some that are a bit smaller than what you have. but still ston fish hooks none the less.

 

[Adena_man]

That's the first I have seen of one. Wish I could help you. Pretty cool!

Brian

 

[Cannonman17]

Well- interesting piece. It almost certainly wasn't used as a fish hook though... it just wouldn't have worked. These things have been called fish hooks since the beginning of time I think but mostly due to the fact that people just didn't know any better and they had the right shape so the missinformation has been passed down from generation to generation, the truth of it is though if you tied a line to this and actually tried to fish with it you would starve to death before you caught a fish or lose the hook. Now if you don't believe me I will knapp out a decent hook like this one and send it to you to use for fishing and we'll see. In addition to that, I don't believe there is any correlation what so ever with these hooks being found in streams or lake bottoms or even shoreline sites for that matter (that I know of anyway). Sooo.... what was were they used for? I'm not sure anybody knows... some people still argue fishing hooks (Note: there's plenty of authentic fishing hooks, but made from bone, antler, and copper, not stone IMO), some say they were suspension hooks, I find that idea much easier to swallow as a line could be better secured (without always being soaked in water as a fishing hook would be) and perhaps used to hold cooking pots over the fire or hang things up in the house or whatever, still others argue that they served other functions as odd tools, charms, etc. although in lesser numbers.
The other thing about these and eccentric pieces in general is that there are a lot of fakes on the market... they tend to bring a pretty good price since they are so rare and I would estimate that at the current time there are likely more fake eccentric pieces on the market than there are authentic ones. This one looks authentic to me but it's impossible to tell from a pic and maybe even in person as some of them have gotten so good at it. This one appears to have a decent patina and everthing so I say cool piece man! I would just hesitate to label it as a fishing hook-

 

[rocky]

Bruce, I think you found a questionmark - very appropriate, but go back and look for the dot.

In fact I think you might have a shaft scraper type of tool. I have some in a comma shape, and have
seen many flaked curved specialty tools.

Flint fishhooks are modern and sold to tourist as are thunderbirds. The idea that they would make
and try to catch a fish with a stone hook is too foolish to consider. Traps, nets, poison, weirs,
noodling - yes, stone hooks - no.

I have seen one small flint 'hook' with an Adena type base that was ancient and very delicate - finely
made, but I believe it was some type of ornament.

One of the most interesting fish finds I have heard of was Red Snapper bones 300 miles from the
Gulf of Mexico from a site about 3,000 years old. Might have been the first Red Lobster restaurant.

Best Regards, ROCKY.

 

[bruce]

Thanks to everyone who gave this a thought and reply.
New angles to now look at this. Tex did say it was local
find seven miles south of Ft.Wayne In. on the east side of the St. Mary's
river. He also said he thought it was a hide stretcher hook. Picture of
the flip side.


Bruce

 

[Cannonman17]

JMO but hide stretcher makes about as much sense as fishing hook. A simple straight bone pin or toggle would be far more effective.

 

[bean man]

Cannonman, you could knapp one out one that size, and then do some experiments next time you go catfishing. Personally, I think it can be done.

 

[Cannonman17]

I would agree with you in so far as it may be possible... maybe.. but so impractical that it's silly. A bone carved down to a couple of inches, sharp on both ends and tied with a line in the middle would get you a lot more fish much quicker. Beano- if you want I will knapp you a hook and you can try it, I'll mail one to ya... of course I'll have to wait until I can get outside again to do some knapping..

 

[bean man]

I think that it would definitely be sharp enough, but would it be strong enough? Can you imagine the size of some of the fish swimming around in our waters in them days? Did they go after those big fish with a line and hook? I would have thought no, then I saw that big bone hook, that was posted on here. If they fished for little fish with hook and line, then they eventually, probably tried it with big fish. If you think it would hold up Cannon, I'd give it a try.

 

[SwampHunter]

Looks like it would make a nice carving tool.

 

[d2]

I saw a picture once of a "box grave" , years ago, that had been opened and if I remember right there were "cloak hooks" holding the cloak on the body. The cloak was made of feathers and was drapped around his shoulders. A very neat picture. The feathers fell apart like ash, when the body was moved. I always thought they were fish hooks till I saw that picture but now believe that they were used as cloak hooks or to hang stuff or used as ornaments. It appears to me that they would be hard to make...d2