Great artifact find!

[Foghorn]

We used to find some points and a couple axes from the fresh plowed fields on my great grandparent's farm out in Belleview Valley years ago. Only have the 2 axes now as I think my brother helped himself to a couple really nice points I had.

[tjm]

I know where  two fields used to have small mounds that have since been dozed off flat. and sowed in fesque. Back then ('60s) I had no idea that those humps of dirt were full of artifacts, nor even what they were. But, every artifact found in this area seems to get dated 6-12000BP, and that makes me wonder what happened that the primitives abandoned an area where they must have lived a long time to have built mounds like that. And why no other people moved in.

I'd like to know what kind of rock that thing I posted is and how it came to be here, it's like no other rock I've seen here.

[BilletHead]

8 hours ago, tjm said:

I'd like to know what kind of rock that thing I posted is and how it came to be here, it's like no other rock I've seen here.

 Migration and trade routes. 

[tjm]

8 hours ago, BilletHead said:

 Migration and trade routes. 

Do you know what rock it is, where it came from? It looks as though it has been ground to shape, I had wondered once if it was soft when fashioned and then fire hardened, but I know nothing about stone working.  The UA guy back in '65 said it's Celt, which I'd never heard of-we called it an axe and over 6000 years old, but I don't know how he determined that.

[BilletHead]

16 minutes ago, tjm said:

Do you know what rock it is, where it came from? It looks as though it has been ground to shape, I had wondered once if it was soft when fashioned and then fire hardened, but I know nothing about stone working.  The UA guy back in '65 said it's Celt, which I'd never heard of-we called it an axe and over 6000 years old, but I don't know how he determined that.

             It is what is called a celt.    I personally don't think it is as old as you think or was told. Mississippian or woodland cultures.  Looks like granite to me, which is found here in Missouri, but I have seen Celts in collections made of hematite also found in our state. 

    I have seen one being used just like this at primitive skills gathering / knap in before,

 

Celts (peachstatearchaeologicalsociety.org)

Ground Stone Artifacts | The Office of the State Archaeologist (uiowa.edu)

Indian Use of Hematite | Access Genealogy

 

[BilletHead]

              @tjm,

  More celt pictures from Missouri. Some hematite in these also. 

Penbrandt Prehistoric Artifacts - Archives - Stone Celts

 

[oneshot]

18 hours ago, tjm said:

I know where  two fields used to have small mounds that have since been dozed off flat. and sowed in fesque. Back then ('60s) I had no idea that those humps of dirt were full of artifacts, nor even what they were. But, every artifact found in this area seems to get dated 6-12000BP, and that makes me wonder what happened that the primitives abandoned an area where they must have lived a long time to have built mounds like that. And why no other people moved in.

I'd like to know what kind of rock that thing I posted is and how it came to be here, it's like no other rock I've seen here.

We used to find them East of Boonville. When I was young I met and Indian that remember moving with his family. I was around 10 and he was around 100.

oneshot

[BilletHead]

           A bit more,

Archaeology in Missouri - The Missouri Archaeological Society

   Book on this page is where points I posted are.

  Timeline for cultures. We have to remember that artifacts that are found in places undisturbed with material that can be dated by carbon analysis. So, we work our way through until the written word which is the historic time when the first Europeans Landed and began to explore. Historic time did not hit everywhere at once just when the various tribes were encountered.  

[tjm]

21 minutes ago, BilletHead said:

Looks like granite to me,

Could be but it looks more like sandstone to me. I haven't seen it for a while but as I recall has kinda a cast iron texture. Pretty heavy and larger than those that were for sale. Maybe the professor was wrong and it was only 100yo early settler  tool. I never figured out the use of it, a lot of labor went into a rather blunt edge and it doesn't fit well in my hand nor have any indication of hafting. The rounded end shows (last image) shows lots of "hammer" use, tiny pitting.

I've never seen the hematite, I can't tell much from the pictures of it.

[BilletHead]

8 minutes ago, tjm said:

Could be but it looks more like sandstone to me. I haven't seen it for a while but as I recall has kinda a cast iron texture. Pretty heavy and larger than those that were for sale. Maybe the professor was wrong and it was only 100yo early settler  tool. I never figured out the use of it, a lot of labor went into a rather blunt edge and it doesn't fit well in my hand nor have any indication of hafting. The rounded end shows (last image) shows lots of "hammer" use, tiny pitting.

I've never seen the hematite, I can't tell much from the pictures of it.

               Definitely a prehistoric tool IMO. A nice item and thanks for sharing.