PA Gorget Resized

[Hutch in PA]

Sorry, my resize effort didn't work on last post. Trying again.

They plowed a field not far from my house last weekend (putting in winter wheat). I’ve found some points/artifacts there before. Spent about an hour and found a few flakes. Was walking out and found this. It’s about 5 inches wide. You can see they started to drill it to the left of the left hole and for some reason moved it. It’s only the third drilled piece I’ve ever found. I can’t imagine how long it would take to drill through a half inch rock with another rock.

 

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[Felinepeachy]

Very cool!! That's a great find.

 

[joshuaream]

It looks like a piece of a steatite bowl. What does the material feel like?

Often they would drill on either side of a crack and repair it with sinew wrap

 

[Twitch]

Joshua - I was thinking the exact same thing. Material looks right, shape looks right, hole placement looks right.

Hutch - Really cool find. Is the material steatite (soapstone) or is it something else, a hardstone? If it's steatite it will feel somewhat soapy (slick) to the touch.

 

[Hutch in PA]

I believe it is soapstone...meant to add that to my submission. Though, it is the first piece of soapstone I've ever held (if that is what it is). When you hold it at an angle to light, there are 'bright inclusions' like small bits of quartz. Would that be right? Also, interesting idea on a bowl. The 'inside' has been sanded smooth. I had assumed that was to make it smooth against skin. It definitely has a rounded shape, though if it was a bowl, it would be huge. My guess is that to continue in a circle, it would have to be close to 18" or more....

 

[bsit1361]

I live right next to soapstone quarry. It looks like thats what you have. Still wondering why there would be 2 holes so close together on a big bowl. Cool find.

 

[centfladigger]

could either be repair holes or suspension holes for that, nice piece