Native American paint pot

[rsilva02667]

My fiancé showed me one of these last summer when she found it on the beach and her sister just pulled this one out of her beach glass collection from a few years ago. They wash up on the shore and I was told that they are Native American paint pots. I assume they are made from a carved out rock? Does anyone know anything about them? How old it might be or what kind of material it's made from?

 

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[rsilva02667]

This one even has a red tint on the inside that looks like paint..

 

[Rege-PA]

Your stone is a natural iron concretion and was not carved out, however some were used as you surmise but the hole would be round in shape and show evidence of grinding of the pigment on the inside and some times the outer lip was also shaped by grinding, leaving small scratch marks. The red color comes from the make up of the rock itself. It is always good to pick up any holed stone but the grind marks are key to being it altered by man.

 

[Tnmountains]

I am sure if they found a natural made geofact type item it would be easier to use than making one. Good post Rege-Pa. I always keep them to look at later and study.
In past generations every cupped stone was a paint pot just as a hafted scraper was called a blunt or stunner. Often times this information is still passed down.
I have kept many things that were nothing and regrettably have thrown away many things that were something.

 

[yakker]

I agree w/ both of you guys. I used to find the most amazing rocks on the shore (one in particular)-- Norther Delmarva. Some pieces looked like slag, some looked like irony lava- and many looked like little pots. It took a lot of time reading and looking things up to understand what was going on with all the various rocks I was finding (and sometimes lugging to the car 2 miles away)- as I don't know a geologist. Rocks are made of all sorts of things, and I'm not going to get technical- but consider that some rocks are 'molded' in a way- around other things. The 'other thing' erodes away leaving the surrounding rock formation. Sometimes this happens through great heat, sometimes it happens over long periods of time, pressure (or both). If anyone has an interest in rocks in general- and the various forms they can take, I have a favorite blog-spot done by a gal who'd both very smart- and really good with a camera. There's a good section on 'rocks with holes' (or 'pebbles w/ holes in them' I can't remember). it's here: Jessica's Nature Blog | natureinfocus.WordPress.com weblog

I have a loooong way to go understanding rocks- and why they look and behave as they do. And I hauled a lot of rocks home- where they're decorating my garden. I don't regret bringing them home as I learned a lot from the process. It taught me not to jump to conclusions either way. More importantly, just to consider the possibilities and ... do more homework. (sigh) Here's something too-- If I see it's for sale, especially E-bay, I dismiss it. I know that's a broad sweeping generalization, but there are too many con artists selling rocks to fools, and I'd rather not waste my time trying to figure out who's who and what's what. If you want to see the real deal (for whatever artifact) go to a collector's site- or a museum site.

okay... I'm done ranting now.
Happy Hunting!
Yakker

 

[rsilva02667]

Thanks for the information everyone! I learned a lot! I knew this would be a great spot to ask! Happy hunting everyone