Stone tool with fossils/quartz?

iliveinahole

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Could once again use some help weeding out the true artifacts from the truly just rocks. Out of the four I'm posting, only one I am fairly confident, in my limited knowledge, of being genuine is the smallest one. The one with lines thru it, I was going to post elsewhere but does have one end that looks "used", so thought I'd run it by you all first.
Thanks in advance
 

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Upvote 1

dognose

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I don't think those are native American relics.

The stone with the curly inclusions looks like an igneous rock. Which may have had the crystalline formations occur during cooling.

The other photos with multiple rocks look like water worn rocks to me.
 

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iliveinahole

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I don't think those are native American relics.

The stone with the curly inclusions looks like an igneous rock. Which may have had the crystalline formations occur during cooling.

The other photos with multiple rocks look like water worn rocks to me.
I appreciate the feedback!
 

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iliveinahole

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I don't think those are native American relics.

The stone with the curly inclusions looks like an igneous rock. Which may have had the crystalline formations occur during cooling.

The other photos with multiple rocks look like water worn rocks to me.
Much appreciated!
 

Treasure_Hunter

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Sorry, have to agree with the others, do not look like NA artifacts, look like quartz inclusions on natural stones.
 

Tesorodeoro

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I’m no expert by far, but this one looks like it may have been used as a hammer stone (or repeatably struck with farming implements). The cortex of the stone looks smashed away on this end. Hard telling from pictures. Context of the find is important. In other words was your gramps walking creekbeds looking for artifacts or was he sifting through an encampment and found things insitu. Stone artifacts were used as tools. Use wear is one of the things you look for. In the case of a hammer stone, you will be looking for cortex removal caused by repeatably striking the hammer stone against another object.


1A9162A1-2568-435C-80DF-A0054533CE68.jpeg
 

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Tesorodeoro

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974BD76E-6DDB-4CA8-B791-470E3A1A46CB.jpeg
I’m no expert by far, but this one looks like it may have been used as a hammer stone (or repeatably struck with farming implements). The cortex of the stone looks smashed away on this end. Hard telling from pictures. Context of the find is important. In other words was your gramps walking creekbeds looking for artifacts or was he sifting through an encampment and found things insitu. View attachment 1999483

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortex_(archaeology)
To demonstrate what cortex is..look at this picture of a supposed hammer stone that I grabbed off the internet. You can clearly see the cortex in reddish brown.
 

Tesorodeoro

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It appears you can see the edge of the cortex in this photo as well. Nothing beats having someone looking at your collection in person. It’s easy for minor wear to not be conveyed properly through photos alone. Again it’s just my amateur opinion (and guess) for what it’s worth. I’d like to hear from others. Maybe take a couple more pictures in different lighting of this one?
52374991-9D72-418F-98A8-49295C0D7CF8.jpeg
 

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Kray Gelder

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The lines and inclusions in that stone are fossil shells. All natural, all of them, IMO.
 

crj1968

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I think the white round one with the red "stitching" pattern may, in fact, be man made. ;)
 

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iliveinahole

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I’m no expert by far, but this one looks like it may have been used as a hammer stone (or repeatably struck with farming implements). The cortex of the stone looks smashed away on this end. Hard telling from pictures. Context of the find is important. In other words was your gramps walking creekbeds looking for artifacts or was he sifting through an encampment and found things insitu. Stone artifacts were used as tools. Use wear is one of the things you look for. In the case of a hammer stone, you will be looking for cortex removal caused by repeatably striking the hammer stone against another object.


View attachment 1999483
Appreciate your info and insight. I agree on the others not being anything, but I'm having difficulty discounting this one. The pictures are from my phone that definitely doesn't take high quality shots. The color of the stone makes it harder to see the area in the pictures compared to darker colored ones. Seeing and feeling it obviously makes it more apparent.
So to answer your question on how these were found, my grandpa had thousands of acres that were used mostly for sheep. He also had areas he used for alfalfa crops. A creek runs thru a majority of his land and he found a majority within close proximity of it. He found some while plowing. He picked up anything that he found odd or interesting.
 

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Tesorodeoro

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Appreciate your info and insight. I agree on the others not being anything, but I'm having difficulty discounting this one. The pictures are from my phone that definitely doesn't take high quality shots. The color of the stone makes it harder to see the area in the pictures compared to darker colored ones. Seeing and feeling it obviously makes it more apparent.
So to answer your question on how these were found, my grandpa had thousands of acres that were used mostly for sheep. He also had areas he used for alfalfa crops. A creek runs thru a majority of his land and he found a majority within close proximity of it. He found some while plowing. He picked up anything that he found odd or interesting.
Well it certainly isn’t a grooved axe or pedestal (both somewhat rare finds these days) but what you have shown thus far are mostly quality artifacts. He knew what to look for. If it was found amongst other artifacts, I’d say it likely was a cobble used as hammer stone. The end is clearly battered, which is likely why gramps picked it up. Just my unapologetic opinion. Your grandpa must have spent some time studying the rocks he found in the fields occupied thousands of years earlier. A less than amateur sorting through his collection, trying to sort out ordinary rocks based on the internet feed back seems a bit assuming. No insult intended. I do hope to see more. It wasn’t altered into a tool, it was a natural stone used to bash other stones into useable utensils.
 

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iliveinahole

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Well it certainly isn’t a grooved axe or pedestal (both somewhat rare finds these days) but what you have shown thus far are mostly quality artifacts. He knew what to look for. If it was found amongst other artifacts, I’d say it likely was a cobble used as hammer stone. The end is clearly battered, which is likely why gramps picked it up. Just my unapologetic opinion. Your grandpa must have spent some time studying the rocks he found in the fields occupied thousands of years earlier. A less than amateur sorting through his collection, trying to sort out ordinary rocks based on the internet feed back seems a bit assuming. No insult intended. I do hope to see more. It wasn’t altered into a tool, it was a natural stone used to bash other stones into useable utensils.
Lol...you're right about me being an amateur at best. I can say I've spent A LOT of time researching and comparing, but realize that's a drop in the bucket compared to others. A majority of what I've shown in different posts are ones that I just wasn't sure if they were anything, while some I had more faith in. I have others that I haven't posted because they appear so authentic that didn't want to waste anyone's time looking, but would like to show that some of what my grandpa found were the real deal.
I do know I can't imagine him carrying rocks across large fields unless they really caught his attention. I'm sure he knew that some were just strange looking rocks and nothing but that and also sure he's up above shaking his head at some of what I've posted and getting a kick out of me doing this.
 

Tesorodeoro

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Lol...you're right about me being an amateur at best. I can say I've spent A LOT of time researching and comparing, but realize that's a drop in the bucket compared to others. A majority of what I've shown in different posts are ones that I just wasn't sure if they were anything, while some I had more faith in. I have others that I haven't posted because they appear so authentic that didn't want to waste anyone's time looking, but would like to show that some of what my grandpa found were the real deal.
I do know I can't imagine him carrying rocks across large fields unless they really caught his attention. I'm sure he knew that some were just strange looking rocks and nothing but that and also sure he's up above shaking his head at some of what I've posted and getting a kick out of me doing this.
Your not wasting anybodies time for sure. Please do post some more pictures of your grandpas collection, you will likely learn something each time (as will I). I don’t want to discount anyone’s opinion here because they have more knowledge than I on this subject. I just know these were not random rocks that’s were picked up. They were likely found around a camp or village area along the creek amongst other obvious artifacts.
 

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joshuaream

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The rock with the lines is a fossil, depending on the geology there are people who collect and prepare the fossils.

Here is a video of a fossil hunter who finds crab fossils in round cobbles. Again, he knows the geology but to the untrained eye he's basically finding a rock with a little fossil edge showing like yours.

 

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iliveinahole

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The rock with the lines is a fossil, depending on the geology there are people who collect and prepare the fossils.

Here is a video of a fossil hunter who finds crab fossils in round cobbles. Again, he knows the geology but to the untrained eye he's basically finding a rock with a little fossil edge showing like yours.


That's really cool! Thanks for the link and confirmation of it being fossils of some kind.
 

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