Identification please.

[bigjohnnyblue]

Does anyone know what this is? Found in a field in southwest ohio.

 

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[Gold Maven]

You have caves in the area?

That's what I was thinking, a stalactite/mite with a hole drilled in it......could it be calcium? looks a little rough.....very interesting.

Great stone tools, btw.

 

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[bigjohnnyblue]

Thanks. No caves around here. I will be researching any suggestions y'all come up with.

 

[bigjohnnyblue]

I've found Clovis, woodland and hopewell era points and stone tools all in this same 5 acre field.

 

[GatorBoy]

Was the creek you said your 12 year old nephew found it in by the same field?.. That's kind of rhetorical it doesn't really matter.. It doesn't look like any artifact I've seen so I'm just going to sit back and see if someone else knows good luck

 

[yakker]

Hi and welcome! That, my friend, is a drilled petrified baby elephant foot lamp base. (sorry couldn't resist)
On a more serious note, are there any quarries in your area? That hole reminds me of a test/sample cut. And yet you have that round impression on the bottom... Is there soapstone in your area? Could it have been the beginnings of a bowl? (I kinda doubt it though. Forgive me, I'm brainstorming and thinking out loud...)
That's a stumper.
Can't wait to see your points 'cause man-o-man those hard stone tools are beautiful Yakker
BTW, VERY cute pup you have there!

 

[katdancing]

Very interesting piece ! Your 2nd pic is so, wicked cool. Great job, so happy for you Kat

 

[ShieldJaguar]

Hmm. Possible mortar? Or mortar preform?

 

[ShieldJaguar]

I like the idea of stalactite. That makes sense the way it looks like it has dripped down the side to the bottom. Maybe they were making a mortar or a bowl out of it.

 

[bigjohnnyblue]

Thanks for all the great feed back. I've definitely never seen anything like it and I've been a rock hound all my life. Keep the suggestions coming! I'll post more pics soon.

 

[The Grim Reaper]

It is a very interesting piece and an oddity for sure, but like the others I too don't think it's Indian related or ancient.

 

[rock]

Now I do find nutting stone type of artifacts that are square made from quartzite cobbles but none have had holes that deep. Is the stone heavy or lite for its size?

 

[Mark Todd]

Hi bigjohnny, awesome find whatever it turn out to be. I have a different opinion, perhaps possible hypothesis is a better term. I've done a fair amount of spelunking and I don't think it's made from a stalactite or ...mite. I believe it looks like it could be a volcano effigy. And if so "big if", it could have been something on the order of a fire stick platform effigy. I know ! Someone will say: but there are no volcanoes in Ohio. Answer : your hard stone axes span the whole prehistoric era from full groove to 3!4 groove ( only missing a half groove) all the way to Celt. By the way "nice"! And I think you mentioned paleo stuff is found in your area too. All I'm trying to get at is, that's a lot of different culture over a long span of time when prehistoric goods could have been traded or transported. If I'm not mistaken many Central American artifacts have been discovered in Hopewell sites in Ohio. If this is true finding a volcano effigy in Ohio would not be a great anomaly. This hypothesis may be totally wrong in regards to what you found, but I do think it's viable. After all what makes more sense than ( a volcano with a hole in the top) , "laughing".

 

[Cosmo]

Obviously Peter Brady's volcano.

 

[bigjohnnyblue]

Here is what I know. It's quite heavy, around 4 lbs. looks like limestone which is quite common in butler county ohio. The lines you see coming down the collar are in fact grooves and the deeper grooves towards the bottom have tooling marks that have been slightly smoothed by the current. The bottom is extremely smooth and has the same dark stains you see on some pestles and grinders. I like the volcano effigy theory. It does look like one.

 

[The Grim Reaper]

If you are in the Butler county area you aren't far from Ripley Ohio so you should bring that to the show this coming Sunday, the 15th. The show is at the Ripley High School and very easy to find. Just take Rt 52 east and you will go right past there. It's a great show with lots of very knowledgeable collectors who could give you a better assessment seeing it live. Hope you can make it. I will have 5 tables set up of my artifacts.

 

[unclemac]

no...no...no...just....no....

 

[unclemac]

not volcanic oriented...

 

[joshuaream]

Looks like a tree stump to me, my guess would be some type of candle holder or some other historical item.

 

[Mark Todd]

If you search "effigy volcano" Johnny you'll find textual information on volcano effigies recovered in Mexico. Didn't find any pictures though, however I didn't wade through all the matches . Would be interesting to at least see what they look like. Ive seen highly polished effigies and others not at all.

 

[unclemac]

wouldnt a candle holder show some sort of ...wax or something.....into the grains of the rock? it was surely made to hold something...something not too tall or heavy either.