Newbie finds herself in honey hole- seeking your help and expertise please!!

[Wandermore91]

Hello, I am a new to this forum and also to artifact hunting. I recently stumbled upon my first artifact on accident and it has sparked something inside of me, now I am quite obsessed with the hunt. Having some Native American lineage in the family (Blackfoot and Iroquois) has only fueled my growing fascination.

I am lucky enough to have access to remote coastal property where it is well known that Native American activity and populations once thrived. I have compiled a large assortment of stones of various shapes and sizes, some I am 100% positive are artifacts, others I’m less certain of but they just kind of gave me that feeling.... If something is a strange shape or certain texture and feels right in the hand when I pick it up, I’ll usually hang onto it.

I would love to have someone with more knowledge than me take a second look at the rocks I’ve picked up. It would be amazing to get confirmation on what is merely strong speculation at this point. I’ve had locals tell me that things I have are not “perfect” or “textbook” enough to be tools, or that if they are tools they are incomplete. I am not looking for the perfect artifact! I’m looking for ANYTHING that may have been altered or used by the natives. I find it mind blowing just to know that anything I’ve got might’ve once been in their hands. To me an inconspicuous hammer tool with damage and wear would still hold the same meaning as a totally obvious, perfectly knapped and preserved arrowhead. And I’d be just as happy to have it. So please consider this for me when looking at my finds and try to have an open mind as some of these stones display very small subtleties.

Since discovering my new hobby I have done lots of research and studied pictures but I know there is still much knowledge to gain so please bear with me if I sound like an amateur. I look forward to hearing your opinions and showing these finds to new eyes. I am intrigued by the amount of expertise on these forums and I hope to have a chance to interact with people who really know their stuff, as that would make my day whether I’ve actually got anything or not.

*Please, do not ask me any specifics regarding the location of these finds as I will not disclose that information. I do not own the property therefore I am not putting it out there and I have much respect for the people who do.*

The fishing weights I know are definite artifacts, proving that I can be certain of this location, but I have many questionable/unidentifiable finds. Unfortunately I cannot post individual photos of everything like I wanted to, due to forum limits, so I’ve only posted some. These items were all found on the shoreline- and have been exposed to salt and tide for many years- with the exception of the (possible) hide scraper. If there are any questions I can try my best to provide better pictures of individual items. Please let me know what you think, and if you can identify anything for me! Thank you!!





Fishing weights. The bottom right was my first find out of everything and ironically my best.



Suspected bell pestles?



Don’t know much about these except they look like boots, presumably some kind of grinding stone with a handle? My best guess


Wear marks left on surface of this tool




Possibly some kind of axe head? Possibly nothing..


2 tiny scrapers I believe, one quartz one green slate



Some type of blade/scraper tool?


Knapping marks on left side?


Tool with thumb imprint in center






Other artifact found on website, similar to this. Some kind of hand maul perhaps?



No clue what this is but appears unnatural



Grooves look man made, not sure if it’s a type of grinder, but palm rest is worn perfectly on back



Looong shot but maybe a sickle tool? Reference found on google.




This one I found in the woods. Is it a natural break or is it a worked hide scraper?



Large stone that fits in lap, with dip in right side and possible grinding marks. Some form of grinding surface\mortar?


Another indented rock



Knapped or natural? And if so what is it



Granite hammer stone?
















Tags: Artifacts, Identification, Stone tools, Comfirmation, Expertise

 

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[GopherDaGold]

I see a lot of interesting rocks that I probably would have picked up myself and I see several that could possibly be an artifact but I will let the experts weigh in.

 

[nmtreasure]

Some looked worked, others look natural. Interested to see what other folks think.

 

[captain redbeard]

Looks like you do have some artifacts in there, possibly some pestles looking at the bottom pic. I'm still fairly new and learning myself so don't chime in much on identifying and whatnot, but you seem to be on the right track to finding them. Notice these are mostly bigger hard stones, When I first started I focused a lot of bigger stones, but once I started training my eyes on the smaller stuff it got a lot easier and the big hard stone tools still stick out.
Curious to see what else you pull out of there, good luck

 

[RustyGold]

Welcome to the forum. Some very nice finds there.

 

[The Grim Reaper]

I see a few artifacts but for the most part those are natural stones.

 

[Charl]

A bit overwhelming when so many rocks are posted to one thread. I've been hunting in southern New England for roughly 60 years, and I can help you narrow down what is artifactual among your finds.

In your very first photo, the bottom two rocks are known as full groove weights. The Handbook of Native American Artifacts from Southern New England, published by the Massachusetts Archaeological Society(MAS) dates these as Early Archaic through Late Woodland, so they enjoyed usage for a very long time. The rock in the upper left of that photo does appear to be a basic Notched Weight, dated Early through Late Woodland. They are often just barely notched, and I'm judging that's what you have there. The rock in upper right appears natural to my eyes:



Next are two bifacially worked pieces. Because one is argillite, actually argelaceous slate, I am guessing you are hunting in southern New England. Those two lithics, quartz and argillite, are the two most common lithics in southern New England. They look damaged, though the argillite piece may be just what you think it is. Hard to know for certain without examining in hand, but they are clearly artifactual:



Lastly, this may be a quartzite or rhyolite, and there may be a worked edge on the bottom. I can't tell from the photo, and this is only a maybe. It is significantly broken if an artifact, or it could be a large flake with a worked knife edge. Would need to examine:



All the remaining rocks appear natural to my eyes. I might change my mind if I examined some of them, but right now I only see natural. Your best finds are the two grooved weights. They are not common finds.

 

[Yak1366]

Incredible 1st post.

 

[Simon1]

Welcome to the site ! Looks like a very interesting spot you found. Good luck with it.

 

[Wandermore91]

A bit overwhelming when so many rocks are posted to one thread. I've been hunting in southern New England for roughly 60 years, and I can help you narrow down what is artifactual among your finds.

In your very first photo, the bottom two rocks are known as full groove weights. The Handbook of Native American Artifacts from Southern New England, published by the Massachusetts Archaeological Society(MAS) dates these as Early Archaic through Late Woodland, so they enjoyed usage for a very long time. The rock in the upper left of that photo does appear to be a basic Notched Weight, dated Early through Late Woodland. They are often just barely notched, and I'm judging that's what you have there. The rock in upper right appears natural to my eyes:

View attachment 1553283

Next are two bifacially worked pieces. Because one is argillite, actually argelaceous slate, I am guessing you are hunting in southern New England. Those two lithics, quartz and argillite, are the two most common lithics in southern New England. They look damaged, though the argillite piece may be just what you think it is. Hard to know for certain without examining in hand, but they are clearly artifactual:

View attachment 1553284

Lastly, this may be a quartzite or rhyolite, and there may be a worked edge on the bottom. I can't tell from the photo, and this is only a maybe. It is significantly broken if an artifact, or it could be a large flake with a worked knife edge. Would need to examine:

View attachment 1553287

All the remaining rocks appear natural to my eyes. I might change my mind if I examined some of them, but right now I only see natural. Your best finds are the two grooved weights. They are not common finds.

It is my fault, allow me to show you the top right weight in better light and see if you will not reconsider. Of all of the weights I’ve got that one is the most inconspicuous but Ive got to stand in my belief that it is a weight.. it was also found close by the others.












Are you suuuuure these are not notched weights as well? [emoji51]