Odd Shapes - what are they?

scepter1 · Nov 14, 2014

These are all Washington saltwater beach finds where I also find points and scrapers, but they are not obvious to me what they are.

Jasper rectrangle box:

Agatized Petrified Wood Cube (game piece?):

Agate Cube

Casket shape:

Jasper:

The Grim Reaper · Nov 14, 2014

They all look like natural eroded pieces to me. Being pounded by the surf will do that.

scepter1 · Nov 14, 2014

No pounding "Surf" anywhere around here, protected waters.

Because of the 13,000 years of constantly rising seas here, there are very few artifact sites. I've walked these beaches for 60 years, and only have found these where other artifacts are found. Basalt makes up about 80% of the artifacts that are found, with other materials like obsidian, agatized and opalized wood, agates specific to other areas like Oregon, the Columbia River, etc all brought in.

BTW, none these of materials naturally have a square breakage pattern. nor break with flat surfaces. And "surf' mostly rounds objects, not squares them - the surrounding natural beach rocks are rounded, pea-sized pebbles.

Charl · Nov 14, 2014

I'm in agreement with Grim. Those appear to all be natural rocks. I wish I could tell you otherwise, but they do not look like anything but natural pebbles.....

unclemac · Nov 14, 2014

...well, i'll tell ya....I walk some of those same beaches and find a lot of really nice stones in some great colors. When I look at your rocks I can't help but notice that the edges and corners are not sharp but rounded and smooth, I assume from beach wear. I do find those same shapes in a lot of different stone types, but not the agate or jasper, they round out not square up.

scepter1 · Nov 14, 2014

Exactly unclemac, Exactly.

They are agates and jaspers that have been squared. They have been on a beach for a thousand years, and they show the water worn effects of being abraded by sand and pebbles. Anyone ever hear of a rock tumbler to polish agate and jasper type material? Same exact thing. I've been tumbling agates, both agatized and opalized (petrified) wood, and jaspers, almost constantly for 40+ years. Agates and jaspers and anything else always come out rounded and smoothed. NEVER do they become squared !

So what are they / what were they used for?

Charl · Nov 15, 2014

They are clearly water worn natural rocks. They were not used for anything. The water produced some wear/erosion, but it was a natural square cobble/pebble beforehand, before any water erosion took place in other words. None of those rocks were ever artifacts. It's not accurate to say jasper cobbles/ pebbles can never weather into a shape other then round. That is simply not true at all. The rocks had a history of millions of years BEFORE they ever ended up being in a tidal zone. You can't ignore that fundamental fact.
All of those rocks were once part of geological formations thousands of feet thick. They had a long history of millions of years to end up as a cobble on the beach when it was originally part of a massive thick formation of rock. Would you expect a granite mountain, when eroded, to end up as pebbles only of a certain shape, and only a certain shape? Those are rocks, not artifacts. Nobody shaped them. Every pebble/cobble has millions of years of history shaping it, not just what the tides may have done in it's most recent history.

Here is a glacial cobble of jasper. Originating from an outcrop several miles north of the shore of the bay where it was found. Dropped out of the glacier as it melted north. Nobody shaped it, it has wear from being on an active shore in the tidal zone, but it did not end up round.......

scepter1 · Nov 15, 2014

Better throw it out into the surf, cause it sure hasn't been pounded into a cube.... LOL.

reuellis · Nov 15, 2014

scepter1 said:
Better throw it out into the surf, cause it sure hasn't been pounded into a cube.... LOL.

that's funny!

GatorBoy · Nov 16, 2014

I can't figure out if this is a serious post or not but really all that happened is those were much more jagged at one time and they are now a lot more round than they used to be

unclemac · Nov 16, 2014

scepter1 said:
Better throw it out into the surf, cause it sure hasn't been pounded into a cube.... LOL.

you made me laugh right there.

Charl · Nov 17, 2014

scepter1 said:
Better throw it out into the surf, cause it sure hasn't been pounded into a cube.... LOL.

I want to laugh, but I must be extra dense today, cause I actually don't get it :icon_scratch:

Charl · Nov 17, 2014

When I arrived at this beach, I realized every cobble there was actually a water worn artifact. Jackpot!! I'm going to need help, going to take awhile to get them all :tongue3:

unclemac · Nov 17, 2014

I know a beach on the WA coast that produces egg sized and egg shaped stones with nearly every step you take...and a lot of them are white too.

scepter1 · Nov 17, 2014

Charl said:
When I arrived at this beach, I realized every cobble there was actually a water worn artifact. Jackpot!! I'm going to need help, going to take awhile to get them all

Charl, I totally agree with that part of your statement about needing help - not being able to discern shapes is a sign of dyslexia. In order to help you, point out any agate or jasper rock of your choice in your photo that you think resembles a cube shape & we'll discuss.

If you are having problems figuring out what a water worn agate or jasper cube looks like, refer to the example below:

You obviously need help in identifying beach agates and jaspers, and lack knowledge about their cleavage, hardness, or breakage patterns.

scepter1 · Nov 17, 2014

unclemac said:
I know a beach on the WA coast that produces egg sized and egg shaped stones with nearly every step you take...and a lot of them are white too.

unclemac, I've also come across a couple of beaches with "eggs" everywhere. Hard to tell though, if the agates and jaspers among them were morphing into square shapes from the pounding surf, or just turning into rounded rocks...

unclemac · Nov 17, 2014

rocks with corners do seem to get knocked into round shapes that much is pretty true....but here you go...jasper cubes!

https://www.google.com/search?q=cub...loGIDA&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ#tbm=isch&q=jasper+cube

unclemac · Nov 17, 2014

lookie what i just found...

Ellensburg Blue Agate | crystals and gems | Pinterest

scepter1 · Nov 17, 2014

unclemac said:
rocks with corners do seem to get knocked into round shapes that much is pretty true....but here you go...jasper cubes!

https://www.google.com/search?q=cub...loGIDA&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ#tbm=isch&q=jasper+cube

Yep, man made the easy way ! I have had a 10" Lortone rock saw since the 1970's. Cut many thousands of agates and jaspers in 40 years, but I like making slabs the best - cubes and anything else square shaped are a pain in the butt.

scepter1 · Nov 17, 2014

"Originally Posted by unclemac

lookie what i just found...

Ellensburg Blue Agate | crystals and gems | Pinterest"

Crap. I'm going to have to start watermarking my photos I guess. Last week an internet friend emailed me a link with some sunset photos, asking me if I lived anywhere near where the photos were taken. And 3 of 4 photos were mine!