Mystery Piece?

[old digger]

I found this item and I am unsure what it could have been used for. I believe it is hematite, and the hematite that is found in the immediate area is normally in crystaline form. I have never found any type of hematite that has been polished in this manner. It has been suggested that it may have fallen out of a Medicine bag or Shaman's bag. Thanks for you thoughts.

 

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[NCPeaches]

That is really cool! Not that it is one because I have no idea but with the indention it reminds me of a worry stone. Hope you find out for sure what it might have been, it's curious.

 

[Tnmountains]

I could see it being that if found in an area of other artifacts. Everyone liked something natural and pretty.

 

[GatorBoy]

Context will mean a lot here but if I found that with other artifacts on a site .. I might think about it being a burnishing stone

 

[unclemac]

i thought that too but it seems pretty small to use with effect.

 

[chase2]

Context would be great to understand the association to artifacts. But it could be nothing more than being polished by glacial movement.

 

[old digger]

Context would be great to understand the association to artifacts. But it could be nothing more than being polished by glacial movement.

Thank you for your input, There was no glacial movement this far south where this item was found. The glacial movement impacted northward near and along where the Missouri River. The item was found among limestone and sandstone outcrops. Just a note to those that do not live in this area. Most if not all Amerinds that frequented this area of the west did not stay in one area for an extended long time. They were nomadic and followed their food source and did not stay in one spot and plant a food source. In the immediate area I found several tepee rings and quite an assortment of chipping materials.

It may very well be a burnishing stone, but I am still leaning towards a type of game stone or shaman's stone. Any feedback from those close by?

 

[tamrock]

A fairly pure specimen of hematite is very often magnetic.. Could be it was transferred by hand from the great lakes region?

 

[Bow Only]

A pretty stone like that could be a "look what I have stone" to Native Americans. Something that unusual and rare for the area would covet a lot of attention. It's different and would make great adornment. May even elevate ones status.....

 

[Charl]

By definition, manuports consist of items transported to sites as raw materials, but which were not themselves altered for use as tools. Our New England artifact guide lists, among such objects, "magic stones", which are unmodified, and include quartz crystals and other crystals, gastroliths or gizzard stones, or other oddly shaped or colored stones that might be rarely encountered on a site. Fossils are another example of a manuport when found on sites.


Technically, you can really only be sure such objects were transported to a site by humans if found during excavation and in direct association with known artifacts.


However, if a collector knows his/her site really well, like the back of their proverbial hand, so to speak, they may more easily recognized such an object as being very much out of place, based on their considerable experience with the site where found.


Although it cannot be proven with surface found manuports, such colorful stones and similar objects are often interpreted as "magic stones", and when that is the case, they are often interpreted as objects that were part of a shaman's medicine kit. This is entirely a reasonable suggestion, even if always essentially unprovable. I have one site, hardly any rocks present, which is a rare situation for a New England field, where I have found both fossils and highly polished, colorful pebbles. I easily recognized their out of place nature on a site I know like the back of my hand after walking it for 25 years. I am very comfortable seeing them as coming from a shaman's medicine kit. These are calls experienced collectors may make regarding such surface finds. When you know a site well enough, you can make such calls with some degree of confidence. IMHO.....