Opinions needed

[Bbmbr]

Found in California, central valley.
I'm not the original finder.
Just thought it could be native American stone artifact of some kind.

 

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[Relicgrubber]

Need more "Un-Blurry" Pictures to see how it was manufactured. Could be a game ball though.

 

[ARC]

Stone cannonball... gristmill ball... or ?

Exact measurement and weight would help in the ID.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

More pictures including side views would help. Both pictures provided are blurry when blown up.

 

[Bbmbr]

Need more "Un-Blurry" Pictures to see how it was manufactured. Could be a game ball though.

I added a few more pics

 

[Bbmbr]

More pictures including side views would help. Both pictures provided are blurry when blown up.

I added a few pics. I guess my camera is shitty. Lol

 

[Relicgrubber]

It looks like red granite that was "Pecked" into a sphere, but stone cannon balls are also pecked. Would need a diameter measurement to determine whether it is a cannon ball or gameball.

still a nice find imo...

 

[Riverbum]

Being it was found in California i'm led to beleive its a sphere used as a tool by Native Americans, NICE!

 

[unclemac]

or could be natural... That is a shape that granite can knock itself into, I have seen it many times in creeks and beaches.

 

[Quartzite Keith]

Well, I think its natural. I'm on the other side of the country in Richmond Virginia. Richmond sits on "the falls" of the James River, a five mile stretch where the river is a jumbled mess of granite boulder rapids before dropping down onto the coastal plain. Granite balls like that are found with some frequency here, anything from golf ball to cannonball sized. What happens is, every once in a while under just the right conditions, chunks of rock get caught up in the boulders and just roll around and around like in a washing machine until they end up round balls like that. During low water it is also possible to go out into the river bed and find the bowl shaped depressions in the granite bedrock where these events happened.

That said they are a cool curiosity and just as people today pick them to take home, I expect people long ago did too. Maybe to use for something, maybe for the kids to play, or maybe just to look at.

 

[unclemac]

that is a really good observation, these stones get rolled around in bowl shaped depressions.

 

[crashbandicoot]

Well, I think its natural. I'm on the other side of the country in Richmond Virginia. Richmond sits on "the falls" of the James River, a five mile stretch where the river is a jumbled mess of granite boulder rapids before dropping down onto the coastal plain. Granite balls like that are found with some frequency here, anything from golf ball to cannonball sized. What happens is, every once in a while under just the right conditions, chunks of rock get caught up in the boulders and just roll around and around like in a washing machine until they end up round balls like that. During low water it is also possible to go out into the river bed and find the bowl shaped depressions in the granite bedrock where these events happened.

That said they are a cool curiosity and just as people today pick them to take home, I expect people long ago did too. Maybe to use for something, maybe for the kids to play, or maybe just to look at.

Maybe a head knocker!? Nice whatever it is and most likely a good conversation starter when displayed in a prominent room of the house.

 

[crashbandicoot]

It looks like red granite that was "Pecked" into a sphere, but stone cannon balls are also pecked. Would need a diameter measurement to determine whether it is a cannon ball or gameball.

still a nice find imo...

Looks to be 1 7/8 to 2 inch diameter. Your opinion is correct!

 

[ARC]

Seeing it after your new pics and size... not a cannonball... But... I guess it could have been used in a Blunderbuss... or swivel sized.

More probable... its either above mentioned natural formation.. or a gristmill ball... or some other item... perhaps Native American even... Basically... the size is throwing me.

 

[ARC]

Perhaps some others will shed some light on it.

 

[littlewindmill829]

Whatever it is, it's super cool and worth keeping! Excited to see what else others have to say.

 

[Tnmountains]

It could actually be an artifact if found in context with artifacts meaning it was carried to a site and probably used because of its shape. These are always hard ones to solve without distinct man made distinctions.

 

[Crumb]

All I can tell u is it’s cool and I’d definitely take it home too. I have found game stones like that here made of granite very similar to yours. Only thing with my location is I’m many many miles from a source of granite

 

[Rege-PA]

Found in California, central valley.
I'm not the original finder.
Just thought it could be native American stone artifact of some kind.View attachment 2030037View attachment 2030091View attachment 2030192

This February an archaeologist in Ariz has located one of Coronado's camps/out posts and found a beautiful 3ft brass Wall Gun. Small round stones like yours were fired from them when lead was scarce or too heavy to carry along.

 

[RGINN]

Could be a natural random find, but a lot depends on the history of the area where it was found. One usage I do know of for those is people used them in making rattles. They would wrap wet rawhide around the stones, let the rawhide shrink and dry, remove the stone, and they could make a rattle from that form. There's a place in SWOK where these occur naturally. Zotigh specifically told me the stones themselves were used in peyote ceremonies, but I can't vouch for that. Sometimes I would drive by and see somebody, usually elderly, looking for those stones off the side of the highway. Probably hardly anybody does these days. It's a cool find and I would have brought it home.