Never seen one like this before?

[sscindercoop]

Does anyone have any info on this piece ? Found it today in the same area as the other 2 artifacts. Thanks

 

[GatorBoy]

is it stone.. at first glance it looks like plating or some sort of scale.

 

[Harry Pristis]

Does anyone have any info on this piece ? Found it today in the same area as the other 2 artifacts. Thanks

It appears to be one of the opercular bones -perhaps an interopercular- part of the gill cover of fish. I am uncertain as to species of fish, but maybe in the Percidae Family.

The preservation seems extraordinary . . . Is it totally silicified -glass-like- or is that a trick of the camera? The completeness of the bone argues for a recent age, but the preservation is the question.

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[sscindercoop]

is it stone.. at first glance it looks like plating or some sort of scale.

Nope not stone, Some type of bone I thought fish gill when I first seen it.

 

[sscindercoop]

I agree gill bone and yes its got a glaze that looks like glass it also is smooth like glass

It appears to be one of the opercular bones -perhaps an interopercular- part of the gill cover of fish. I am uncertain as to species of fish, but maybe in the Percidae Family.

The preservation seems extraordinary . . . Is it totally silicified -glass-like- or is that a trick of the camera? The completeness of the bone argues for a recent age, but the preservation is the question.

View attachment 642742​

I agree gill bone cover it is smooth as glass and does have a gloss to it. Im wondering how it was preserved and why. Thanks coop

 

[Harry Pristis]

I agree gill bone and yes its got a glaze that looks like glass it also is smooth like glass
I agree gill bone cover it is smooth as glass and does have a gloss to it. Im wondering how it was preserved and why. Thanks coop

It might be useful to know where geographically your opercular bone was found and what were the circumstances in which it was preserved.

 

[sscindercoop]

It might be useful to know where geographically your opercular bone was found and what were the circumstances in which it was preserved.

Found in central NY in a corn field were a large stream meets the river. The bone was at the bottom of a hill in an area were I have found several points and lots of chips.

 

[Harry Pristis]

Fish remains seem to fit that riverine setting. Still, we don't know anything about the nature of the preservation. Have you found other glassy bits of bone at the site? Remarkable preservation.

In Florida (and elsewhere, I'm sure), you can find silicified bone (bone impregnated with silica) in many situations. The only requirement is that the bone must have been submerged in silica-rich groundwater.

 

[SOHIO]

cool find, once again great input harry

 

[MinerGirl]

sscindercoop,

Native Americans used Alligator Gar scales as arrowheads. Its a large fish found mostly in Alabama and Louisiana but is found throughout the south and as far north as the Mississippi River States.

Their scales are said to be as hard as rock and have the same "sheen" as your picture shows. A friend of mine's Dad found one of these Arrowheads stuck in a Turtle Shell in Alabama. Here is the only picture I could find of a smallish "scale arrowhead"...

primitivearcher.com

MinerGirl