Indian Artifact...what did I find?

[Guest gohunt]

I was looking for arrowheads today, and found two small ones. This is in a field on a farm where I get to deer/turkey hunt and they currently have a 20 acre or so field plowed and disked. As I was almost done looking, I kicked out this suspicious looking edge of a rock and found this piece. I'm not sure if it is a small axe head, or, some kind of hand tool. The edge is pollished off pretty nicely and the back end would be kinda nice for whacken' something if it was tied on a stick. The part that is not pollished is rough, consistently rough. Overall length is about 3 3/4". It's pretty cool, whatever it is. Notice the dirt line on the first pic to see just how much of it was burried!

Edited April 10, 2011 by gohunt

[Jasongar8]

Probably used as a hammer/hatchet type of tool. But that is nothing more than a guess.

[memphismason]

Pretty neat find.

[Guest BEARMAN]

Looks like a scraper, or maybe a fleshing tool for hides, by the way it's polished down on the end.

[bajabuc]

Good possibility it's for grinding grain (seeds). An archaeologist might be able to tell you more. I'm not qualified for local artifacts. If we were in Montana....maybe.

[Lumber_Jack]

Looks like a scraper, or maybe a fleshing tool for hides, by the way it's polished down on the end.

This is what is looks like to me, most eastern native Americans were hunter gatherers, so I don't know how much milling they did. But they definitely worked a lot of hides. But I'm no expert for sure

[leroy]

....Looks like a scraper, or maybe a fleshing tool for hides, by the way it's polished down on the end. ...

Go:_______________

I agree with Bearman. When i wuz a boy, i had a dear friend whose grandpaw owned a riverbottom farm. This friend and i spent bunches of time hunting (...and finding...) indain stuff. He would have called that a hide scraper of some sort that the women used to clean hides with.

For what it's worth

leroy

[Guest m&pc9]

Defiantly a rock.

Like others said a scraper tool.

[Will Carry]

What if it's just an interesting shaped rock? I made a museum curator mad one time asking questions. He had two ax heads. One was smooth and well made, the other was rough and hued. He said "The rough ax head is over 5000 years older than the smooth one. Their technology took that long to advance from a roughly made ax head to a smooth ax head." So I said "What if they were made at the same time? What if the smooth ax head was made by a guy who knew what he was doing and the rough ax head was made by a man who was in a hurry and didn't have time to smooth it out?" Well this got turned red and said "Because I said SO! Because I"VE BEEN DOING THIS FOR 30 YEARS! If I say one ax head is 5000 years older than the other BELIEVE IT!"

I don't know much about archeology....but I do know bull .

[china coaster]

I would guess a scraper to. It doesn't appear to be churt ast most cutting tools are. UT Knoxville has a great archeology dept. Fax or email your photos to them and see what they say.

[Guest Lester Weevils]

...He had two ax heads. One was smooth and well made, the other was rough and hued. He said "The rough ax head is over 5000 years older than the smooth one. Their technology took that long to advance from a roughly made ax head to a smooth ax head." So I said "What if they were made at the same time? What if the smooth ax head was made by a guy who knew what he was doing and the rough ax head was made by a man who was in a hurry and didn't have time to smooth it out?"

Or maybe one tool got used more, which polished it up over time?

It seems amazing our ancient forebears could use the things at all. It is quite a bit of work cutting even a small tree with a steel hatchet head firmly affixed to a strong handle. It would have to be so much more work to do the job with a stone tool head tied onto a stick.

I'm so wimpy I'll take the time to sharpen a steel hatchet or axe before cutting on a small tree or limb. They seem to get dull pretty quick. But even a dull steel hatchet would have to be a whole lot easier than a typical stone hatchet?

Flints or obsidian can be chipped off to pretty sharp edges for cutting "soft" stuff, but wood or leather ain't all that easy to cut.

Read an article by an archaeologist who spent some years learning to chip stone tools. He said it takes a lot of skill and practice to make a good stone tool. Wonder if the majority of stone tools got made by "specialists" in the tribe who happened to be better/quicker at it than the average tribesman?

[Oh Shoot]

...Flints or obsidian can be chipped off to pretty sharp ...

Obsidian can have a finer edge than any steel made. There are specialty scalpels still made from it.

Disadvantage is brittleness, so the blade can't be very long if strength as well as sharpness is needed.

- OS

[vontar]

Defiantly a rock.

I second that.

[gregintenn]

Looks like you've found a hatchet. Unfortunately, the handle's rotted out of it.

[Guest TargetShooter84]

Just a rock.

[SithL0rd]

I imagine in 5000 years when they are digging up all of our trash they will have beer bottles and coke cans and Styrofoam cups on display in some museum as 'Religious Artifacts' used in ceremonial and ritual situations.