Is this an obsidian artifact?

[ljn90]

I'm in southern Oregon. Today while panning/ looking for gold I dug up a 3"x5" piece of obsidian out of a hole approximately 3 feet deep not far from the waters edge. I don't know much about native artifacts or obsidian. It appears to be worked, and we do not have obsidian in our area. The closest would be 100+ miles away and wouldn't be in our drainage, so it couldn't have washed down. If anyone can take a look at the pics I'd love an opinion. Thanks.

 

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[vpnavy]

Wikipedia: Obsidian - "...Obsidian is a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed when lava extruded from a volcano cools rapidly with minimal crystal growth. It is an igneous rock. Obsidian is produced from felsic lava, rich in the lighter elements such as..."

 

[dognose]

It looks to have edge knapping on both sides. I would say it's a handheld scraper.
Large percussion flaking with pressure flaked edge retouching.

 

[Gulf Coast Pirate]

Nice!

 

[Geradot]

Definitely an obsidian scraper

 

[Digger RJ]

I'm in southern Oregon. Today while panning/ looking for gold I dug up a 3"x5" piece of obsidian out of a hole approximately 3 feet deep not far from the waters edge. I don't know much about native artifacts or obsidian. It appears to be worked, and we do not have obsidian in our area. The closest would be 100+ miles away and wouldn't be in our drainage, so it couldn't have washed down. If anyone can take a look at the pics I'd love an opinion. Thanks. View attachment 2076652 View attachment 2076653 View attachment 2076654

Nice Congrats!!! Looks like a scraper. The napping isn’t the best, but an Indian may have been in a hurry🤷🏼‍♂️ Love finding points made out of Obsidian!! Used to pick it up as a kid in the Sawtooth Mountains in Southern Idaho😁

 

[oldmxrat]

There are huge obsidian deposits along the Ca/Or and Nv/Or border.
It looks more like a blank, or preform (a piece that's been reduced to make a projectile point). They would go to the sources and use percussion flaking to quickly make preforms that could easily be transported in quantity back to where they lived.

 

[CRUSADER]

If I found that in the UK, I would keep it, but its knapping is not that great & I would be wondering if its either a waster (piece left over from making tools), unfinished, or just very crude scrapper.

 

[E-Trac-Ohio]

Very cool !

 

[river roamer]

Interesting find