Large stone bead from Arkansas

[John G. Scoggins]

This is one of my all time favorite finds.Pulled this out of a creek in Miller Co.,AR.Looks like granite.Bet this thing took a ton of work to make.Whoever lost this was probably sick for days.

 

[Tnmountains]

Lots of blisters went into that hole. Nice bead
TnMtns

 

[abarnard]

That's a huge bead. Were they really that big I feel sorry for the guy/woman that had to drill it and wear it... You think it's possible that it could be some kind of weight?? Cool find... Dont know much about the jewelry aspect on artifact finds BTW..

 

[theviking]

Great piece! Cant imagine the time it must have taken to create.

 

[SoIll]

Nice piece.
Kinda looks like a discoidal.

 

[joshuaream]

If you tied that around your neck and went for a jog, you'd knock your teeth out. Killer bead!

 

[extractor]

If you tied that around your neck and went for a jog, you'd knock your teeth out. Killer bead!

lol

 

[Th3rty7]

Nice piece, do you think it could be a net weight or drilled plummet?

 

[John G. Scoggins]

I don't really know what it is.Just assumed it was some type of bead or pendant.Figure it had a special use.The material is not native to my area.If it was going to be a net weight, I would think they would have just used a local stone.The creek I found it in has produced 4 plummets that I know of.

 

[uniface]

It seems likely to have been a weight used in spinning fibres into yarn or thread. There are still people doing the same thing today in third-world countries.

 

[pickaway]

Great bead, congrats...

 

[Atlantis0077]

Afternoon,

Yep Uniface, it could be a spindle whorl.....I have seen several, but many were flatter and had a larger hole...most I have seen were made of pottery, but many different materials were used. They were used on pump drills and such to help with both drilling of holes and making rope by adding counterweight to the spin. Neat little artifacts really .....some from china are made of jade and quite elaborate.

By the way, love your San Pats.....cut my teeth on those points...always been my favorite. I personally think the San Patrice culture overlapped with Dalton...actually I think the same folks probably made them both depending on area.

Happy Hunting,

Atlantis

 

[Neanderthal]

It's possible that is a large forelock bead. They aren't common, but are found with some frequency on Caddoan sites in the area. Although most of them I have seen weren't out of that material. The vast majority seem to be made of ground & polished black phosphate. They were found at Spiro, Norman, Harlan and I know of a few very nice ones found around here. There were also very large beads found on graduated necklaces at Spiro though.

 

[John G. Scoggins]

I haven't thought of that.That would make sense.There's not very much Caddo stuff in this creek or on the surrounding hills.For some reason they didn't like it.But I have found enough stuff they made to know they occasionally traveled through there.Probably just small hunting parties or family groups.