✅ SOLVED Please help identify this obsidian artifact!

[lucas1889]

My uncle found this conically shaped obsidian core while gardening in his backyard in Rancho Palos Verdes California. (L.A. county) near the coast. He had no idea what it was. the area where he unearthed it was at the bottom of a steep slope. He said that he has found other flakes of obsidian in the soil.

I think it is a core that was used for knapping straight, uniform flakes. It fits the description because it has a well defined flat base - a perfect platform for flaking long blades.

From my knowledge (which is limited) obsidian isn't naturally occurring in California. Which narrows it down to two possibilities. either it was left over by a flintknapping hobbyist, or it is an artifact that was brought in from far away in ancient times.

If there are any flintknapping experts out there, I would be grateful to hear your ideas!!!

 

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[Treasure_Hunter]

NICE! It looks like a core that knock flakes off of to work, I have several but NONE are obsidian. I am moving this thread to our Indian Artifact forum for more expert opinions.

Welcome to TreasureNet too!

 

[quito]

Very nice example!!!

 

[Plug N Play]

There are lots of places in California where obsidian occurs. This has the look of silver sheen obsidian that could have come from California or even from Mexico.
Not around L.A. area, however.

This is a blade core, and has all the appearances of being modern made.
The thing to look for would be to examine the other types of flakes and knapping discards being found.
My guess is that you will notice a variety of rock that doesn't occur in the area and has been transported in from a variety of sources for the use of modern knapping.

 

[A2coins]

very obsidious cool find

 

[ToddsPoint]

Why would a modern knapper produce a bunch of core struck blades? No reason I can think of, other than to make a neat polyhedral core. Since he didn't take the core, I vote Indian core. Gary

 

[quito]

Why would a modern knapper produce a bunch of core struck blades? No reason I can think of, other than to make a neat polyhedral core. Since he didn't take the core, I vote Indian core. Gary

Amen!

 

[lucas1889]

thanks ToddsPoint. I agree. another sign is the fact that the core is very short, and probably over - worked to the height it is now to utilize as much of the stone as possible. (may be a sign of depletion of knappable rock) you would think that a modern knapper would have better access to knappable rock, and would have moved on to a new core when his got shorter

 

[lucas1889]

There are lots of places in California where obsidian occurs. This has the look of silver sheen obsidian that could have come from California or even from Mexico.
Not around L.A. area, however.

This is a blade core, and has all the appearances of being modern made.
The thing to look for would be to examine the other types of flakes and knapping discards being found.
My guess is that you will notice a variety of rock that doesn't occur in the area and has been transported in from a variety of sources for the use of modern knapping.

Thanks for the input "Plug N Play"!
Yeah.. I think I recall my uncle saying that he found flakes, but don't know what he did with them. I do have doubts that it is ancient, but we are hoping that it is in-fact an artifact. Because that would be awesome.

 

[unclemac]

why do you doubt? that would be helpful

 

[mn9000]

Super cool display/conversation piece. Have you tried to shine a flashlight through it? I'd be curious to know if it's translucent at that thickness.

 

[joshuaream]

Cool core, I have found dozens and dozens like yours over the years.

In your pictures you can see an “onion skin” patina that is absolutely correct for old obsidian. It can be faked, but not likely to be faked. It’s similar to the haze that old glass bottles get.

Is it from LA County originally? It’s not typical of the cores I’ve seen in California (biface cores more than conical), but it could be. That style was much more common in Mexico and Central America. The big site of Teotihuacan in Central Mexico was so powerful because they controlled the obsidian mines and bladelet production by mass producing and trading bladelets off cores like that.

Here are a few of mine.

 

[lucas1889]

wow thats quite a collection!

Interesting.. it didn't occur to me to think of the patina. would be a good indicator of age.

And yes, it is from LA county originally. It was unearthed accidentally in my uncles backyard.

If this is more common in Mexico and central america, is it possible that the entire core was shipped via trade from a foreign obsidian mine?

 

[Mine Shaft]

There are massive amounts of high grade obsidian from California Google it.

 

[T.C.]

There are massive amounts of high grade obsidian from California Google it.

Glass Mountain, just south of the Lava Beds Park has an abundance of obsidian.

 

[southfork]

wow thats quite a collection!

Interesting.. it didn't occur to me to think of the patina. would be a good indicator of age.

And yes, it is from LA county originally. It was unearthed accidentally in my uncles backyard.

If this is more common in Mexico and central america, is it possible that the entire core was shipped via trade from a foreign obsidian mine?

More than possible it was traded all over the west .The Coso obsidian site is out in the Mojave I think and there's one south of you near present day Mexico .

 

[lucas1889]

Great thanks to all who contributed! I now know a lot of valuable information!

 

[T.C.]

Great thanks to all who contributed! I now know a lot of valuable information!