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  1. #1
    Thailand Expat misskit's Avatar
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    Ancient tool for skinning?

    COVID19 boredom really setting in.


    My father (rest his soul) told me several years ago about a rock pile at the back of this property which looked as though people had been making stone tools. He hadn’t found anything actually looking like a tool, just the castings of quartz that looked man made.

    While out hoeing my vegetable garden, I ran across a lone stone just a few yards away from this rock pile.

    Here it is.

    Ancient tool for skinning?-be737e15-9755-41e3-849b-419d34d94a01-jpg

    Ancient tool for skinning?-b54e44d0-28de-455c-9c84-4c86459139ad-jpg

    The amazing thing about it is how well it fits a hand.

    Ancient tool for skinning?-00e0777b-2ca7-40db-953f-1cba446f0663-jpg

    The area I live in was occupied by Clovis people as well as later mound builders.



    So, have I got something besides a wild imagination? Does anyone know how to further identify this rock thing?
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Ancient tool for skinning?-593959ab-8317-4a0d-84ac-275269ddcdbc-jpg   Ancient tool for skinning?-be737e15-9755-41e3-849b-419d34d94a01-jpg   Ancient tool for skinning?-b54e44d0-28de-455c-9c84-4c86459139ad-jpg   Ancient tool for skinning?-00e0777b-2ca7-40db-953f-1cba446f0663-jpg  

  2. #2
    กงเกวียนกำเกวียน HuangLao's Avatar
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    Interesting, Kitty.
    The extended study of ancient North American mound builders [and their respective civilisations] still remains perplexing for archaeology/historic researchers.

  3. #3
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    Looks ideal for bashing against another rock to light tinder.

    (Not the app, obviously).

  4. #4
    Thailand Expat jabir's Avatar
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    Lots of serious US museums to choose from; you never know this could be a landmark find or some missing link in which case you'll be inundated by media and archaeologists, and by next week you're kicked off a world heritage site.

  5. #5
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    Mendip's Avatar
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    As a geologist... and by the way there is no such thing as a stone (they are things that boys throw through windows), your small piece of rock looks metamorphic, so will be hard. At first I thought it looked like granite but there is what looks like previous sedimentary structure showing.

    Check if it matches the local geology, you may find it has been transported many miles from it's origin, and if that can't be explained by natural processes (rivers etc), could well indicate human interaction.

  6. #6
    Thailand Expat misskit's Avatar
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    I don’t know a dang thing about the geology of this area or how to find out about it.

    This rock when wet is translucent on the “blade” end for about 1/2 inch. This is why I thought maybe quartz.

  7. #7
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    Isn't it a "flint" we had learned in school about that the Stone Age people used as a tool?



    Flint
    Sedimentary rock
    A sample of Miorcani flint

    A sample of Miorcani flint from the Cenomanian chalky marl layer of the Moldavian Plateau (ca. 7.5 cm wide)
    Flint is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz,[1][2] categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and start fires.
    ---
    Flint was used in the manufacture of tools during the Stone Age as it splits into thin, sharp splinters called flakes or blades (depending on the shape) when struck by another hard object (such as a hammerstone made of another material). This process is referred to as knapping.

    Flint - Wikipedia

  8. #8
    Thailand Expat misskit's Avatar
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    I know about flint. It is easy to find and the arrowheads found in this area are usually made from it. Strangely enough, this isn’t flint.

  9. #9
    fcuked off SKkin's Avatar
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    Did the Clovis and the mound builders move south from the Great Lakes region into Georgia or was the movement from south to north?

    One of the best examples of mound building is in my home state of Ohio. If the movement was was from north to south your specimen could have been transported in as Mendip suggested.

  10. #10
    fcuked off SKkin's Avatar
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    Could it be crystalline limestone? Or some other form of limestone...

  11. #11
    Thailand Expat misskit's Avatar
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    ^ I’ve no answer for either question, SK. So far, all I’ve come across is that it is called a hand ax. They’ve been made since the Paleolithic and have the same shape as others from all over the world.

  12. #12
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    I'd say it was sandstone. The earth's most common rock.


    Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized mineral particles or rock fragments. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar because they are the most resistant minerals to weathering processes at the Earth's surface,

  13. #13
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    Mendip's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by SKkin View Post
    Could it be crystalline limestone? Or some other form of limestone...
    A crystalline (metamorphosed) limestone would be a marble. It doesn't look like that to me... it looks to have a large quartz and feldspar content. I think more likely a gneiss of some sort. Gneiss is a high grade metamorphic rock that shows linear structure due to the alignment of minerals under high temperature and pressure. It is also very hard and maybe suitable as a tool.

    Quote Originally Posted by Dillinger View Post
    I'd say it was sandstone. The earth's most common rock.
    That's why you aren't a geologist!

  14. #14
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    ^ So Mr. Geologist, is it mica-K-feldspar-sillimanite gneiss or biotite gneiss?

  15. #15
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    ^ Long words!

    The pink colour would indicate K (potassium) feldspar.

  16. #16
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    While gneiss is hard, the more desirable rocks for toolmaking were obsidian, flint or chert. These rocks will all break off in sharp-edged chips (conchoidal fracture) like glass when they are struck by a skilled toolmaker. This is a process called knapping.

    A very hard rock like gneiss would be very difficult to knap or grind into a useful shape and would only be used if there were no better rocks available. Good toolmaking rocks would sometimes be traded across hundreds of miles and it's not unusual to find flint or obsidian flakes far from their origin.

  17. #17
    fcuked off SKkin's Avatar
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    Hmmm...interesting, thanks mendip and qwerty. So it's very possible misskit's specimen is not native to her location, right?

    btw I was earlier referring to the Great Serpent Mound in Ohio.


  18. #18
    กงเกวียนกำเกวียน HuangLao's Avatar
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    Google: Ancient North American Mound Builder Civilisations.
    Adding to a deeper research than a simple search provides.


    Stretching from Southern Illinois to Georgia - and regions in between.

  19. #19
    Thailand Expat VocalNeal's Avatar
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    From he on whom I spent a bit on his edumacation!

    Umm, thanks but no thanks. If you want some internet points here you go: The crystal/grain size of the stone seems a little coarse to be a tool. Sharp egdes can only come from fine crystal/acrystal rocks like obsidian or flint (which is an ambiguous term for many forms of chemically produced fine crystal silica-based, sedimentary originated rocks). Chalcedony is an example of something that would fall into this.

    And that said, archaeologist are the worst geologists. So much so that they cannot really talk to each other without samples in hand. Basically, Archaeological geology diverted from Geology about 60 years ago and the mutations have been severe.Try to pin anyone down on the definition of dacite (with an example)and you might as well be talking about the war again.

  20. #20
    Thailand Expat tomcat's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by misskit View Post

    The amazing thing about it is how well it fits a hand.



    The area I live in was occupied by Clovis people as well as later mound builders.
    ...beware: Clovis rocks are believed to cause digital gigantism...

  21. #21
    Thailand Expat misskit's Avatar
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    ^^ Thanks for that. Is he the geologist or the archeologist?

    For the second rock has turned up right next to the first. It’s an entirely different material but same shape. This stone is very black inside with shiny flakes.

    BTW. This is not a rocky area and these were the only rocks I’ve come across. This is a red dirt area where rocks don’t usually turn up often. The exception is the pile of chips at the back.





    I do realize that tools are usually made of flint. Perhaps this was done of necessity because the right material was lacking? It’s also hard to see from the pictures, but it seems these rocks have been shaped to fit perfectly with places for the palm and thumb to fit.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Ancient tool for skinning?-7c9c2024-75e5-4fef-bf44-7ac3f2a72296-jpg   Ancient tool for skinning?-3cd0f98b-c670-4dd6-a060-621db5dfe3a7-jpeg  
    Last edited by misskit; 05-04-2020 at 07:28 PM.

  22. #22
    fcuked off SKkin's Avatar
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  23. #23
    Thailand Expat misskit's Avatar
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    There are mounds a few miles from here, too. No doubt they are connected.


    17,000 Years of Continuous Human Habitation

    Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park. This park is a prehistoric American Indian site. American Indians first came here during the Paleo-Indian period hunting Ice Age mammals. Many different American Indian cultures occupied this land for thousands of years. Around 900 CE, the Mississippian Period began. They constructed mounds for their elite, which remain today.

    Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service)

  24. #24
    fcuked off SKkin's Avatar
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    ^So roughly about 200 miles separate those two mound sites?

  25. #25
    Thailand Expat misskit's Avatar
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    This is over in the next county. Rock Eagle is supposed to be more than 2000 years old.

    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Ancient tool for skinning?-183ff298-a039-4c8a-9ae9-943f9e5c9baa-jpeg  

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