Great artifact find!

[tjm]

So before ~1800 then?

[BilletHead]

34 minutes ago, tjm said:

So before ~1800 then?

          Most Definitely.  Could be older than 2700 years before the present date. 

[bfishn]

20 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.

I used to be proficient in Missouri rocks. Without holding it in my hand, I'd call it chert, possibly Mozarkite. One pic shows a semi-gloss you don't see on granite. If Mozarkite, it's "local".

[BilletHead]

26 minutes ago, bfishn said:

I used to be proficient in Missouri rocks. Without holding it in my hand, I'd call it chert, possibly Mozarkite. One pic shows a semi-gloss you don't see on granite. If Mozarkite, it's "local".

            Nope got to disagree.  His celt is grainy but polished. Mozarkite is a chert like you said, never seen one ground. It would be too hard. The celt has been polished by work on a grindstone by hand. You can polish granite by working through grits. It like Tjm said not be granite but IMO it's not a chert.

   Fyi there are chert Celt like pieces, but they were worked by a billet or hammerstone and could be made flatter and sharper but more fragile on impact.

[bfishn]

2 minutes ago, BilletHead said:

            Nope got to disagree.  His celt is grainy but polished. Mozarkite is a chert like you said, never seen one ground. It would be too hard. The celt has been polished by work on a grindstone by hand. You can polish granite by working through grits. It like Tjm said not be granite but IMO it's not a chert.

   Fyi there are chert Celt like pieces, but they were worked by a billet or hammerstone and could be made flatter and sharper but more fragile on impact.

I'll go with that. Hadn't considered the effects of working it.

[BilletHead]

11 minutes ago, bfishn said:

I'll go with that. Hadn't considered the effects of working it.

             You had me thinking and looking harder at the celt pictures. But look at granite headstones. They can get those polished like a mirror. My old-line Forman passed a couple weeks ago. Went to his graveside service. Walking to his resting site passed some newly placed stones. Shiny like glass. 

[MoCarp]

The Gault Texas site and the big Eddy site are worthy of research for those who can google….

[tjm]

1 hour ago, bfishn said:

I used to be proficient in Missouri rocks. Without holding it in my hand, I'd call it chert, possibly Mozarkite. One pic shows a semi-gloss you don't see on granite. If Mozarkite, it's "local".

Definitely  neither Mozarkite nor chert nor flint, I guess it could be a limestone, some of those are hard, but, I don't recall it having any sparkle like the hard limestone here, or variation of grain like usual granite. Definitely shaped by grinding/rubbing, then polished and perhaps tempered. In the  first pic on the right side you can see a "flat" running most of the length and as I recall 1/2-3/4" wide, a reflection marks the corner of it.  In the 3rd pic the flat running along the top edge is pretty obvious. The tan area near the "cutting edge" surrounded by the "bloodstain" is the way the rock looks without the darker  ''polish". Almost the texture of something cast or molded from clay. I may have to dig it out of storage and revisit the University ID  thing, may be new and better answers there now, geology or archeology.

[BilletHead]

1 hour ago, MoCarp said:

The Gault Texas site and the big Eddy site are worthy of research for those who can google….

            I have spent some time at the big Eddy site :). 

[Deadstream]

Chert is usually easy to identify. Just put the tip of your tongue on it. If it sticks for a smidge, its chert.