Karankawa Tool?

[Blackbeered]

While looking for various fossils on Matagorda Beach in TX, I found the following. I am not sure if it is a true artifact at all but very interesting and unnatural. Karankawa's were known to frequent this area and many artifacts have been found by others in the past.

The item itself is a piece of old or fossilized bone with the shape being almost perfectly cuboid. On the top there is a deep scratch with four smaller intersecting scratches (imagine football laces).

Is this indeed an Indian artifact and if so, what was the purpose... sharpening?

Thanks guys!

 

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[NCPeaches]

It has an interesting look to it and I would have brought it home too. I don't know if it's an artifact but someone will come along who knows and fill you in. Have you found anything else in this spot like projectile points or pottery?

 

[Blackbeered]

It has an interesting look to it and I would have brought it home too. I don't know if it's an artifact but someone will come along who knows and fill you in. Have you found anything else in this spot like projectile points or pottery?

Personally I have not... that was the first time in 15 years I have been to this island.

 

[unclemac]

notice how the crack goes through the rock on the sides....this highly suggests that it is a natural piece....at least in part

 

[Mark Todd]

That's certainly an interesting rock, you took pretty good pictures but I still can't tell for sure the nature of the marks on stone. There's a heavy patina on much of the stone but not on the "markings" which leads me to think that the markings are a fossil or an lnclusion of different geological material in the stone, especially if the hair line streak on the front of picture #4 is in continuity with the markings on top and which, I think "unclemac" is referring to also. If the markings are an inclusion of denser geological material they probably wouldn't accrue the patina of the host rock.

 

[Simon1]

I agree with the rest that it really is a nice oddity. Because of the size and shape, could it have possibly been some type of an early form of a child's game ? ( Heads you win, tails you loose ? ) Yeh, I know, it's a stretch but you never know what kind of game a bored child could make up.

 

[el padron]

I agree with the rest that it really is a nice oddity. Because of the size and shape, could it have possibly been some type of an early form of a child's game ? ( Heads you win, tails you loose ? ) Yeh, I know, it's a stretch but you never know what kind of game a bored child could make up.

Variations of dice are as old as man, Its a die........"heads or tails" variety. The hair line streak formed as a consequence of repeated usage along the tangent of the man made face. Nice.....

 

[Blackbeered]

Variations of dice are as old as man, Its a die........"heads or tails" variety. The hair line streak formed as a consequence of repeated usage along the tangent of the man made face. Nice.....

Very interesting. I was actually thinking about the same possibility. Are you pretty confident in that determination? Any guess on age?

 

[Blackbeered]

The hair line streak formed as a consequence of repeated usage along the tangent of the man made face. Nice.....

And maybe I'm just not seeing it... what are you referring to as the 'man made face'? LOL

 

[el padron]

Very interesting. I was actually thinking about the same possibility. Are you pretty confident in that determination? Any guess on age?

I'm confident. I've participated in discussions pertaining to similiar objects.
Bone would not have lasted 170 years exposed to the sand, wind and sea.

My understanding is that the last of the native Karankawa were completely adapted into Western culture by about 1850.
Its more then likely a native artifact, that is comprised of stone perhaps a variation of pumice.

 

[el padron]

And maybe I'm just not seeing it... what are you referring to as the 'man made face'? LOL

The inscribed man made face of the die.

 

[joshuaream]

I'm not seeing an artifact or a man made face. My guess would be an Archimedes fossil (or some other bryzoan or Crinoid fossil) that has been polished and eroded on the beach. They are normally spiral, but when you have a cross cut, or only see the edges of one you get some pretty interesting line patterns. There is also the chance it could be some lattice like mineral vein that is partially eroded, but I'd be $1 on it being a fossil.

Here is a picture I lifted from Google Images, but I'm sure if you posted it in the fossil forum you'd get a good answer.



It's worth mentioning that there have been a huge number of paleo artifacts and fossils that have washed up on beaches along that stretch of coast. Mcfaddin is the hot spot, but all of those beaches have great old sites sitting out in 20-40 feet of water off the coast. Lots of great fossils and artifacts to be found if you happen to in the right spot at the right time.

 

[el padron]

I'm not seeing an artifact or a man made face. My guess would be an Archimedes fossil (or some other bryzoan or Crinoid fossil) that has been polished and eroded on the beach. They are normally spiral, but when you have a cross cut, or only see the edges of one you get some pretty interesting line patterns. There is also the chance it could be some lattice like mineral vein that is partially eroded, but I'd be $1 on it being a fossil.

Here is a picture I lifted from Google Images, but I'm sure if you posted it in the fossil forum you'd get a good answer.

View attachment 1217038

It's worth mentioning that there have been a huge number of paleo artifacts and fossils that have washed up on beaches along that stretch of coast. Mcfaddin is the hot spot, but all of those beaches have great old sites sitting out in 20-40 feet of water off the coast. Lots of great fossils and artifacts to be found if you happen to in the right spot at the right time.

Possibly, but I think if it was a fossil it would have been round by now. It's been worked and was once even more cuboidal then it is now. Its very similar to another one that I've seen before. I'm not an expert.