Plummets

The Grim Reaper · Dec 10, 2012

(I was asked to show some of my older pieces so I'm going to bump up a few of my posts so they can see them rather than post them again)

Adam Agusti and I were discussing Plummets on Facebook and I took some new pictures of mine to show him so I thought I might as well post them here as well. All of these are personal finds except for two of them.

In the 2nd picture the one laying sideways in the top row and the one to the far right in the middle row are not personal finds. The top one I got in a collection I bought when I was 17 and it was first time I had ever seen a Plummet and had no clue what it was. The other was a gift from my sister in law for helping her get her fathers collection in order after he passed away. All others are personal finds.

larson1951 · Dec 15, 2012

hey reap
i always think when i see these plummets that
even though they are found all over, we in ND have never found one
the closest thing as far as looks go would be a sandstone fishing sinker....which is clearly not a plummet
i wonder why it's like that?

WhiteCountyPaleo · Dec 15, 2012

Here is a personal find from white county Indiana. It is 3 3/4 inches long. I do remember a neighbor of my grand parents finding one on the their property also (not as nice). It's the only other one I know of that was found from that county and it wasn't found that far from mine, about a half of a mile.

GatorBoy · Dec 15, 2012

That sure is well made. What do you think the flat spot you photographed is from?

theviking · Dec 15, 2012

Very nice. Great collection of personal finds. Thanks for the show.

WhiteCountyPaleo · Dec 16, 2012

GatorBoy said:
That sure is well made. What do you think the flat spot you photographed is from?

It has been hit multiple times at the same spot at the very bottom. I would image maybe a type of weighing devise?Like back in the old days when they would weigh gold coins. Makes me wonder what the natives would weigh in order to have the same amount every time? Ochre or herb?

GatorBoy · Dec 16, 2012

Ahhhh... very interesting.

larson1951 · Dec 16, 2012

WhiteCountyPaleo said:
It has been hit multiple times at the same spot at the very bottom. I would image maybe a type of weighing devise?Like back in the old days when they would weigh gold coins. Makes me wonder what the natives would weigh in order to have the same amount every time? Ochre or herb?

yup or
maybe IT hit something or was used to grind up some medicine or something?

i sure don't know

Trez · Dec 16, 2012

Grim Reaper,

What a great collection, I would find it hard to ever want to go to work for a living if I kept finding artifacts as such. You live in an amazing part of the Country and the history that lies buried within her soils would keep me from ever going to work. Congrats and thanks for sharing. By the way wife says OH !!!

Where I live on the coast of Florida produces plummets...the example of shell plummet shown is of the highest quality and condition to be found along the treasure coast with the right lighting it casts a pinkish hue. The paleontologists who have seen this and held it...have offered me whatever I want in trade for it numerous times. I will not part of it...it is part of the area I live and will stay here.

Thanks for sharing.
Trez

GatorBoy · Dec 16, 2012

That is an amazing piece.Looks like Jega work... super find!

larson1951 · Dec 16, 2012

wow that is absolutely of such intense quality
in my very limited knowledge of a plummet is way over the top of anything i can imagine

it is so nice it reminds me ivory in a way
thanks for posting

larson1951 · Dec 16, 2012

Trez said:
Grim Reaper,

What a great collection, I would find it hard to ever want to go to work for a living if I kept finding artifacts as such. You live in an amazing part of the Country and the history that lies buried within her soils would keep me from ever going to work. Congrats and thanks for sharing. By the way wife says OH !!!

Where I live on the coast of Florida produces plummets...the example of shell plummet shown is of the highest quality and condition to be found along the treasure coast with the right lighting it casts a pinkish hue. The paleontologists who have seen this and held it...have offered me whatever I want in trade for it numerous times. I will not part of it...it is part of the area I live and will stay here.

Thanks for sharing.
Trez

View attachment 713392 View attachment 713395

i just gotta say

so shiny and i know it is not ivory but that is a special piece Trez

all those plummets seem very cool since it is a mystery as to their use or purpose

rock · Dec 16, 2012

That is the nicest shell artifact I have ever seen.

mainejman · Dec 16, 2012

When viewing these varieties of plummets you can see that some were definetly way more ornamental than need be for a fish weight.Some of them in my opinion were amulets. All my plummets like all my gouges and basically all my artifacts were found no farther than ten yards from water.most closer than that.

old digger · Dec 16, 2012

I think I have mentioned this before, but I still think that they were hung from a pole or branch. If there was water on it, it was raining. :dontknow:

If it was swinging back and forth, it was windy. :dontknow:

If it was dry, it was a nice day out. :dontknow:

larson1951 · Dec 17, 2012

old digger said:
I think I have mentioned this before, but I still think that they were hung from a pole or branch. If there was water on it, it was raining. If it was swinging back and forth, it was windy. If it was dry, it was a nice day out.

you have solved the mystery
i knew you could do it!

CrazySlasher · Dec 17, 2012

I found this before I found my first arrowhead while metal detecting.

WhiteCountyPaleo · Dec 17, 2012

larson1951 said:
yup or
maybe IT hit something or was used to grind up some medicine or something?

i sure don't know

These are not the standard pecks you normally see. They are more like fine "tinks" over an expanded length of time. It is not a very deep flat spot either.