Strange rock found in S. AZ

azdave

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Hello all..... I found this rock in the mountains of southern AZ.
It appears to be a very 'purpose built' tool for something...... just can't imagine what. Anyone come across something similar?

It is just under 2 1/2" long, 1 3/8" wide and 5/8" thick. The groove that goes across the one side, is very uniform and highly polished. All corners/edges are beveled on the thing.
Sorry for the crappy pics...... and thanks in advance for any thoughts/info!
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plehbah2

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I cannot zoom in on your pictures, but that seems much too modified to be a simple shaft abrader. The symmetry and prepared edges and corners make me guess that it is an atlatl weight. I am not familiar with that particular style, if that's what it is, but it's just too involved for an abrader in my opinion.
 

antmike915

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I also think it could be a atlatl weight. I've never found one but my grandfather did many years ago and it was fairly similar to that.
 

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azdave

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Thanks to everyone! It was sure an odd find for an area I've spent decades in sniffing out territorial era (1860's to 1910's) evidence of people living there..... but never found any NA artifacts. This was a region that the Chiricahua Apache held onto as long as they could, but gold/silver/copper won out.
 

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Treasure_Hunter

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Arrow shaft straightener.
 

RGINN

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I was going to say shaft abrader/straightener. There should be another piece just like it somewhere too, if so. Atl-atl weight idea sounds pretty good though. 'Plehbah2, huh!??'
 

old digger

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That sure looks like an arrow shaft abrader. I would suggest that you research the area for the opposite half. The two together were used to smooth out the arrow shaft for a more uniform and straight flight of an arrow. Super nice find, and you don't find those that often.
 

MAMucker

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It's an arrow shaft straightener. You are lucky to find a complete one as many are found in fragments, fire cracked from usage. Soapstone is a common material for them.
As always, you all bring good info in your comments.
I’ve seen a good number of examples of “arrow shaft straightener”. There are many good examples out there.
I’ve always wondered how they were identified as such. I follow a few primitive hunters who make there own repro traditional AtlAtl and bow assembly weapons, and none of them utilize a grooved stone tool to straighten arrows. Abrader? There’s a couple replies noting a second half?

Putting that aside a second. The OP mentions 1860 to 1910 as a range of occupation. I’m assuming, the bow and arrow was replaced with modern weapons by 1860? Does that range/context support this type of artifact? Is soap stone found in Arizona?

Not questioning the legitimacy of the artifact. I’d love to find one. Just asking logical questions.
 

MAMucker

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Hello all..... I found this rock in the mountains of southern AZ.
It appears to be a very 'purpose built' tool for something...... just can't imagine what. Anyone come across something similar?

It is just under 2 1/2" long, 1 3/8" wide and 5/8" thick. The groove that goes across the one side, is very uniform and highly polished. All corners/edges are beveled on the thing.
Sorry for the crappy pics...... and thanks in advance for any thoughts/info!
View attachment 2086997 View attachment 2086998 View attachment 2086999 View attachment 2087000 View attachment 2087001
Nice find. I’ve tagged onto Tdog’s reply with thoughts and questions for the OP and anyone with knowledge regarding this specific type of artifact.
 

Tdog

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Not an abrader, nothing else missing except a crooked arrow shaft and a fire. My understanding is from an explanation from Dr. Thomas R. Hester, Professor Emeritus, from The University of Texas at Austin. He wrote an explanation of how these were used on the now defunct Arrowheadology forum years ago. My paraphrased version from memory...

Many arrow shafts were prepared to be straightened, a fire was built and the straightener was heated. A shaft was then slowly drawn across the groove, back-and-forth, on the excurvate side of a bend. This was done until the fibers at that place in the shaft were shrunken enough to take out the bend. The process was repeated until all the bends were straight. Obviously, the straightener had to be re-heated during the straightening sessions. The shafts were then bundled, tied and cooled to maintain their straightness until they were ready to be hafted.

I don't know how long these were made and used but later than 1860 I'd bet. I can't imagine them only being in use for 50 years. A lot of the men that died at the battle of the Little Bighorn that occurred in 1876 were shot with arrows. I also understand that soapstone is quite abundant up and down the west coast and at least as far inland as is Arizona.
 

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azdave

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I want to thank everyone for the wealth of information.
I returned to the spot on Saturday and found nothing else.

And to answer these questions from MAMucker:
"The OP mentions 1860 to 1910 as a range of occupation. I’m assuming, the bow and arrow was replaced with modern weapons by 1860? Does that range/context support this type of artifact? Is soap stone found in Arizona?"

I want to clarify what I said earlier, which was:
"I've spent decades in sniffing out territorial era (1860's to 1910's) evidence of people living there..... but never found any NA artifacts. This was a region that the Chiricahua Apache held onto as long as they could, but gold/silver/copper won out."

That means that I've hit this area for along time, looking for remnants of the territiorial era(when easterners started rolling into AZ)... which was also an era of great mining interests, bringing in a huge influx of people through these canyons during that era.
I have never found evidence of NA presence before this in that region, but of course they were there... and what I do know is that this region was a favorite area for the Chiricahua Apache until they were pushed out. This artifact is quite obviously from before the territorial era , whether Apache or if it predates their arrival to the area, who knows?
So..... This tool has nothing to do with the 'territorial era" in AZ, I mentioned that time frame to reference the types of relics I look for and find. Also, I know nothing about the prevalence of soapstone in AZ.

Thanks again for such great info!!
 

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unclemac

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good lord the date range is ridiculous. There is thousands of years of on and off occupation all over the SW.
 

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