Is this obsidian??

[Crumb]

I wanted to get the opinions of this piece of what y’all think it is. Background,an old friend of mine gave me this cause he knew I collected points and stuff . He said he found it in his watermelon patch in his garden on the banks of the Kentucky river. Its translucent,I can make out a couple tiny bubbles inside the piece. My concerns is I’ve been collecting arrowheads and tools from this region for 25 years and have never seen another piece of worked glass or obsidian and it’s dull not sharp enough to cut, or is that normal for being in the ground for thousands of years moving around with the thaw freeze action of the ground.If it is obsidian how in the world did it get in south eastern ky.

 

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[cavedude]

California knapper. Yep Sure looks like it. If you found it in the wild it was probably traded in from the west? Unusual?

 

[Crumb]

I never found it myself one of my buddies found it and gave it to me. Any artifact that I don’t pick up from the earth myself goes in another box.lol cause I know what I dig up and find are genuine I guess.thanks for your reply man

 

[dirstscratcher]

The Hopewell made a few large ceremonial blades out of black obsidian. It's not common to find utility blades from obsidian, but they probably didn't let smaller waste flakes go to waste.

 

[Jim in Idaho]

We have lots of obsidian around here. Also lots of obsidian tools...scraper, arrowheads, and other worked tools. I think the local tribes traded them to others, also.
Jim

 

[Crumb]

Is it normal for the point and edges to be dull to the touch if they’ve been in the ground for god knows how long? Like I’ve said I’ve found hundreds and hundreds of native artifacts but never this material. Thanks for all comments just trying to learn all I can about the material

 

[Tdog]

I can't tell you what it is, but it may not be obsidian. It looks more dense and thick for lack of a better term. I think it could be chert.

 

[joshuaream]

Interesting piece. It certainly looks like obsidian, but it's not typical of what the very rare obsidian relics from the Midwest look like. Hopewellian Obsidian is really limited to a couple of mound groups, including the waste flakes. Most of the points are well knapped, and I don't know of any that shows as much wear as your piece does. There are some later pieces that came down the Missouri/Mississippi rivers from Montana, but they tend to be small side notch points.

It would be pretty easy to have the obsidian sourced. Some of the variation in colors come from bubbles, but the bubbles are often microscopic. How big are the tiny bubbles you mention? Grain of rice?

Any chance your friend has traveled out west and just got confused about where he found it?

 

[Crumb]

The bubbles are tiny, smaller than grains of rice ,when u hold it up to light u can see right thru it. It appears to me the base has been snapped off .It is some kind of glass I just ain't never seen any volcanic glass around here and it's always been a mystery to me lol. And my buddy is an older gentleman I'd say 30 years older than me ,I doubt he has ever been out of out of Ky.The point is not thick and appears to me broke right where the base started but it ain't chert lol

 

[Crumb]

Here’s a couple more pics maybe someone can tell more

 

[Crumb]

and thanks again for taking a look

 

[SnowDigger]

Wow, sure looks like obsidian. The ones I have seen kept a really sharp edge, but the climate was different than in KY. Nice point!

 

[GB Paleo]

Quote from Joshua...
"It would be pretty easy to have the obsidian sourced. Some of the variation in colors come from bubbles, but the bubbles are often microscopic. How big are the tiny bubbles you mention? Grain of rice?"



Here's a look at differences in Obsidian where one source that has lots of bubbles makes the material look milky and another source a containing minimal if any bubbles a dark glossy black.

 

[Crumb]

The shape and size of your black piece is really similar but mine is missing the base but thank u for posting that I believe it is the same material,it’s rare in my region and u never see the stuff,it always had me wondering how it got here,ancient people were more advanced then people give them credit for

 

[gilmerman]

You are a credit to our hobby. The only point you can trust is one you have found or you know and trust the finder. I trust my son who occasionally finds one on our farm while tending our cattle. I have hunted for 67 years and like you I never display gifts. I always suggest that the giver should start collecting themselves. After that suggestion fails accept graciously and keep it in one of my drawers.