INDIAN FINDS ON THE BEACH

[deepsix47]

The last couple of days I've been putting my canoe in the water and paddling out to a little island that sits a couple of hundred yards from shore out in the Gulf. It's a popular place for weekend boaters to anchor and for shell collectors. There is an old shell mound on the island (Midden) by the looks of it and one end is slowly being eroded away by the tide and surf. There are a number of signs warning people to stay off of the mound and it seems to be collecting a lot of newer trash that people don't want to haul off with them.

I worked mostly in the water and did find some clad, a couple of silver rings and an anchor. Not a lot but interesting none the less despite the ton or so of trash I dug too (yes, I tossed it in the boat and brought it out....lol). I was going to call it a day and started back to my canoe along the beach. These are what I picked up along the way.

The top three I'm pretty sure are Gorgets. The holes show the distinct concave edges where the holes were started and the one at the top right shows a drill ridge inside of it. The bottom one is a bit suspect (maybe because of wear) and may just be a worm hole. That's not to say it wasn't used as a gorget but the hole may not have been manmade.

In the center row (from left to right) is a almost perfectly round clay ball about the size of a marble. The center piece is more flat then it is round and is also clay. The last and largest piece again is clay. Each is different but all have one thing in common, they are all extremely heavy for their size. My thoughts right now are that they are gaming stones.

The area has a rich history in Spanish treasure lore so I'm going to talk a dentist I know into x-raying them for me. The Spaniards were great smugglers and one of the tricks they used was to roll emeralds and small pieces of gold into clay balls. These could be used as marbles and carried without any suspicion.

Hey, you have to be an optimist to be a TH'er, right??
Deepsix

 

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[River Rat]

Deep,

Great finds on those gorgets...yet to find my 1st.

Looking good, keep your eyes on the ground.

RR

 

[Cannonman17]

Are all the gorget type pieces made of stone? they almost look like clay to... interesting.

 

[deepsix47]

Are all the gorget type pieces made of stone? they almost look like clay to... interesting.

Yes, all of the gorgets appear to be well worn stone. It's a fairly soft stone and pretty common in certain areas.
Deepsix

 

[Cannonman17]

Hmm... you have me stumped my friend. The reason why I asked about clay vs. stone is because they kind of resemble some pot shards that I have found/seen where holes were drilled either to suspend a pot or repair one. I really didn't think that could be an explanation because it would be pretty unusual to find so many in one area without finding some regular shards to... since they are stone though... the only thing I can think of as far as the Natives go would be net weights.. what do you think?

That and I have to wonder how much the sandy beach may have erroded these things..

Hey Deepsix, the more I think about this one the more likely the net sinker explanation seems to fit, specially given the location they were found. I've seen fancier ones with grooves around them but why not a hole in a flat stone, would most certainly have been easier than pecking a groove all the way around a stone. (I made a small axe one time using the peck and grind method) I wonder if the clay balls aren't just discarded/played with clay? Kind of like the fort ancient ones- it was you that posted those right? Yikes, I don't remember now..

 

[Neanderthal]

I'm not quite sure about all of them, but the top two end pieces do appear to be pendants or beads. How large are these pieces?

Matt

 

[deepsix47]

Hmm... you have me stumped my friend. The reason why I asked about clay vs. stone is because they kind of resemble some pot shards that I have found/seen where holes were drilled either to suspend a pot or repair one. I really didn't think that could be an explanation because it would be pretty unusual to find so many in one area without finding some regular shards to... since they are stone though... the only thing I can think of as far as the Natives go would be net weights.. what do you think?

That and I have to wonder how much the sandy beach may have erroded these things..

Hey Deepsix, the more I think about this one the more likely the net sinker explanation seems to fit, specially given the location they were found. I've seen fancier ones with grooves around them but why not a hole in a flat stone, would most certainly have been easier than pecking a groove all the way around a stone. (I made a small axe one time using the peck and grind method) I wonder if the clay balls aren't just discarded/played with clay? Kind of like the fort ancient ones- it was you that posted those right? Yikes, I don't remember now..

Hmmmmmm, good thought. I hadn't considered net weights. They are made of worm rock which is fairly common under certain circumstances down here. It tends to be soft and easily worked. As you say, from the location where I found them, that does make a lot of sense. Thanx for the input.
Deepsix