Stone Ground Artifacts

[Older The Better]

I think I remember, I checked the keep me signed in button because my internet would briefly cut out and I suspect when the page refreshed I was no longer signed in and my post would more or less fail.

 

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[Fat]

I think I remember, I checked the keep me signed in button because my internet would briefly cut out and I suspect when the page refreshed I was no longer signed in and my post would more or less fail.

This was my problem too. I never log out now. All my pics are on phone but it’s so small and broken I have to look at stuff with a pad? I think it’s called..

 

[DrJay73]

I've gotten midway thru two posts in the last couple hours and a glitch and its gone. The first one was on my android phone. Five photos individually inserted into a post. The images didn't render in the post. Just a text string referencing the image. The phones 15% low battery alarm went off so I plugged it in. Boom. Post gone. Got back in here a little later to respond to what operating system I'm using. Now on tablet and was well into describing my windows 10 laptop, chrome browser. Clicked on insert emoticon. Selected one and hit the backup button on the tablet. Boom. Back to the main page. Post gone. Wow!

I have toggled the wysiwyg button. No difference regarding previewing the images. I figured I could load them blind but it's not right. I've read thru the sticky about attaching images. Unfortunately, the second post in the sticky says the process was outdated. Further on another poster says he had major problems but now has a mobile version and it works great on that. Another posted regarding multiple uploads. Just what I was looking for! In the advanced tab there is the option of selecting and uploading multiple files. Unfortunately for me the option is there but it doesn't really allow it. On android it will not let you add more than one image. Select add and it overwrites the first one. On the laptop I can add additional images but it wouldn't upload them. Your description is the process I used. No preview. But I could attach additional photos.

I suspect a permissions setting can be set to disable this feature globally or individually. I imagine it is difficult to balance the need for hires images to enable identification against overwhelming the server with terabytes of data. I looked for recommendations of image size. The only reference I saw was your mention of no one needs to send images larger than 10MB. My images are closer to 2MB so I don't think that is the issue.
Perhaps I could have eased into the forum a bit smoother. LOL Ground stone tools and plain old stones can look very similar. I was a bit dismayed to have my incomplete post result in the object rapidly moving into the 'just a rock category'.

Trying hard not to be the new guy posting plain old rocks and getting upset when others aren't buying it.

 

[unclemac]

Thanks for the welcome.
I don't find much in the way of flint. I'm finding ground stone type.
I look for flaked edges. Usage patterns. What seem to be fine stone grinders don't make for the most compelling pictures. The wear patterns where an item would be held can be subtle in an image yet be very obvious in one's hand.
I will be contacting the Burke Museum about my finds. I submitted photos of an item a couple years ago. They said it was a very interesting piece. It was not a tool though. They thought it had signs of being worked but it was more like an incidental tool.
Pareidolia is alive and well but I try to be on the lookout for it.
I am sitting on glacial till in north Seattle. I recently found some agatized mussel fossils. About 20 inches down we are already at the Younger Dryas event. Long before the age of arrowheads.

The Burke will date your bi-valves at 20-30 million years old.

 

[unclemac]

The single picture was not my intent but it seems one picture at a time is the default.
I'll try to upload a few more. Hard to tell anything from that but I appreciate the response.
The finger and thumb indentations and wear marks is what makes me think it may be an artifact. The Clovis points stick out which are not common in the NW. The grinding and pecking stones are what I seem to encounter.

don't get hung up on finger and thumb indentations, those are coincidental and would represent too much effort for no practical reason.

 

[unclemac]

I am not too sure about many things.


Points being different than arrowheads. I haven't found any sources suggesting arrowheads before before younger/dryas

they are all "projectile points"

 

[DrJay73]

No expert here but I would disagree with your statement regarding no practical reason. People have always been interested in a better mouse trap. A tool that becomes more comfortable in the hand is a better tool. Someone who grinds stone for a living would easily be able to customize a piece with indentations and shallow spots for comfort.

 

[unclemac]

No expert here but I would disagree with your statement regarding no practical reason. People have always been interested in a better mouse trap. A tool that becomes more comfortable in the hand is a better tool. Someone who grinds stone for a living would easily be able to customize a piece with indentations and shallow spots for comfort.

no, just no

 

[DrJay73]

It is interesting to find items from totally disparate time frames. I imagine that glaciers grinding through an area stirs everything up and leaves them in a jumble in the morraines.

 

[DrJay73]

Really? Were native americans so busy they wouldn't take time to make minor improvements on simple tools? Some cultures would spend an incredible amount of time to polish an entire celt yet minor abrading is inconceivable?

 

[unclemac]

try it yourself. Your post is a perfect example on nope. What you posted was a tiny rock whos shape could be found by the hundreds in any stream, used tossed aside and another found in an instant. Ture native folk may have had plenty of time but they were not morons who put inordinate amounts of time into insignificant modifications.

 

[MAMucker]

They were not idle, and their life-span was short. Of course they would knock off a burr if it made the hand uncomfortable. (Anyone would).
But I have to agree with unclemac. Too many stones, too little time.
BTW; If your evidence is more about the indent being thumb-sized, than it is about the wear of a working end (or lack there of) on the stone, then there is too little there to draw a conclusion from.
Unless I missed something.

 

[southfork]

no, just no

Unclemac I have small hammer stones with pecking and grinding to make finger holds and hand holds might make a good topic sometime .

 

[unclemac]

Unclemac I have small hammer stones with pecking and grinding to make finger holds . And hand holds might make a good topic sometime .

good idea, set it up

 

[DrJay73]

A lot of rocks feel comfortable in the hand. Plenty have good spots to rest your fingers. Probably the cause of many misidentifications. So a reliable method of identification? No. A piece of the puzzle. Yes.

I visited a gravel bar on a river yesterday in an attempt to calibrate my rock/artifact guage. Still functioning erratically.

 

[Mine Shaft]

A lot of rocks feel comfortable in the hand. Plenty have good spots to rest your fingers. Probably the cause of many misidentifications. So a reliable method of identification? No. A piece of the puzzle. Yes.

I visited a gravel bar on a river yesterday in an attempt to calibrate my rock/artifact guage. Still functioning erratically.

Hi Dr Jay73, 20 years ago i was in your same shoes lol, i collected hundred's and hundred's of stones that i dug up in my back yard. I knew for sure i was on to something that no body else had discovered. I don't know what it was that grabbed my interest and would not let go but it consumed a lot of my time. I could go on and on and on about this lol I took my rocks to a local museum where the curator of Native American Artifacts said they were just rocks nothing fashioned by Native American's. Good luck and let it go.