Miniature Adz

Charl · Jan 21, 2014

Friend found this cool little hardstone adz yesterday. Only about 2". Good timing, no snow cover left at all yesterday, and 6-12" today/tonight. Rare find.

quito · Jan 21, 2014

Cool find! Looks like some nice use wear going on too.

rock · Jan 21, 2014

Looks natural, I will have to take your word for it.

SCrocks · Jan 21, 2014

Cool find! We don't see much like that around here.

NC field hunter · Jan 21, 2014

rock said:
Looks natural, I will have to take your word for it.

Your kidding, right? Look at the arc in that bit. It's a quick made piece I do believe, but I can see work and wear on it plainly. I understand why you see a natural stone. The geofact is tossed at us so frequently that we tend to stray away from pieces that aren't flaked or polished. Some times you must forget conclusions drawn by ones view of a picture and trust your own observations. This is not the most outstanding artifact. It's not polished and beautiful, which makes it an easy piece to look over while out in the field. In my catalogue these are the finds that separate the men from the boys. It took a good eye to notice what this piece is while it was in a field or stream unwashed. Great find!! I'm going to contradict an earlier statement, for I was speaking for the vast majority at that time. These are the finds that are outstanding to me!!

Charl · Jan 21, 2014

NC field hunter said:
Your kidding, right? Look at the arc in that bit. It's a quick made piece I do believe, but I can see work and wear on it plainly. I understand why you see a natural stone. The geofact is tossed at us so frequently that we tend to stray away from pieces that aren't flaked or polished. Some times you must forget conclusions drawn by ones view of a picture and trust your own observations. This is not the most outstanding artifact. It's not polished and beautiful, which makes it an easy piece to look over while out in the field. In my catalogue these are the finds that separate the men from the boys. It took a good eye to notice what this piece is while it was in a field or stream unwashed. Great find!! I'm going to contradict an earlier statement, for I was speaking for the vast majority at that time. These are the finds that are outstanding to me!!

Yeah, actually my friend said he almost walked by but the squared off poll end made him pick it up. Yeah, it's very obvious what it is. Just small for small jobs I guess. We had a thread on here demonstrating adz/gouge/celt bits awhile back. This is an adz configuration as seen head on in the 3rd photo. Plus an obvious fashioned hafting area. Which is a bit unusual actually. Ground stone tools like this are mostly a Northeastern tool form, but usually an adz will be grooved for hafting. This one is unique in my personal experience. Also, rock, notice all the pitted look in the first two photos? That's pecking!! Need to key on that and recognize it. Completely pecked into shape, it's displaying the opposite of a natural surface. That's letting you see it's pecked into shape. The expanded bit area is ground past pecking, and lots of usage wear on the concave or beveled face. I'm envious too! Ground hardstone tools don't come along often. You're right. It's not beautiful as these things go, but it's all there and it's my idea of a great find as well. I've only found one ground stone gouge in decades of surface hunting. I would take this adz in a heartbeat and be real happy at that....

rock · Jan 21, 2014

NC field hunter said:
Your kidding, right? Look at the arc in that bit. It's a quick made piece I do believe, but I can see work and wear on it plainly. I understand why you see a natural stone. The geofact is tossed at us so frequently that we tend to stray away from pieces that aren't flaked or polished. Some times you must forget conclusions drawn by ones view of a picture and trust your own observations. This is not the most outstanding artifact. It's not polished and beautiful, which makes it an easy piece to look over while out in the field. In my catalogue these are the finds that separate the men from the boys. It took a good eye to notice what this piece is while it was in a field or stream unwashed. Great find!! I'm going to contradict an earlier statement, for I was speaking for the vast majority at that time. These are the finds that are outstanding to me!!

I just have to ask........Who is this? The words are very well written.

GatorBoy · Jan 21, 2014

Neat little piece.
I'm not sure of the material but looking at it... if it were white it would remind me alot of the adze bits made from conch shell down this way... I know its not shell but the use wear shows up the same.

NC field hunter · Jan 21, 2014

rock said:
I just have to ask........Who is this? The words are very well written.

It was this guy typing. His name is Me! Rusty G. Wooten! I just got finished with work. I had time to actually think about what I wanted to say and how I wanted to say it. I didn't mean to upset you if I did Rock. You have asked me in the past "who is this typing".

Tnmountains · Jan 21, 2014

Very nice I see those wear marks on pieces of greenstone also that is a little softer.

rock · Jan 21, 2014

NC field hunter said:
It was this guy typing. His name is Me! Rusty G. Wooten! I just got finished with work. I had time to actually think about what I wanted to say and how I wanted to say it. I didn't mean to upset you if I did Rock. You have asked me in the past "who is this typing".

Didnt sound like you is why I asked, lol

Charl · Jan 21, 2014

He sent me 2 of these photos from the field. It helps if you've seen a lot of ground stone tools. He hasn't and wasn't quite sure what he had found. And very well used, to exhaustion I guess.