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Post by radio on Mar 30, 2016 16:28:30 GMT -5
I had no idea what it was when a gentleman showed it to me today. He found it on his farm in the NE corner of Missouri many years ago and held on to it. He was told by someone it was Hematite, but I touched a file to it and could see a shine like steel and it appears to have a rusty coating. I'm thinking iron ore, but not certain About 3 1/2 inches long and pretty heavy. How in the devil did Indians make these with only primitive tools?!?!?! What was their purpose?
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Post by RickB on Mar 30, 2016 16:49:13 GMT -5
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Post by radio on Mar 30, 2016 17:15:30 GMT -5
Thanks rickb.
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Fossilman
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Member since January 2009
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Post by Fossilman on Mar 30, 2016 17:41:40 GMT -5
WOW1 That's pretty impressive!!!
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Sabre52
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Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
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Post by Sabre52 on Apr 17, 2016 21:13:49 GMT -5
Used to find broken examples of pretty fancy ones in the cotton fields around Alpaugh, CA. Buddy of mine who farmed there had quite a collection of intact examples. All seemed to be of fancier imported softer stones like steatite. Locals used the "charm stone" name for them. Area used to be marsh and part of the ancient Lake Tulare and associated points we found were definitely for darts and spears, not arrowheads. I always figured either they were straight ceremonial or used in some way as fishing weights, bird net weights or some such. At the south end of Clear Lake in CA, there were huge numbers of ball shaped ones that were probably used in waterfowl hunting, maybe as sling projectiles or net weights. Might have actually been concretions shaped by nature and used by Amerinds. In California all seemed to have direct correlation with lakes and marshes. Man, if we could only go back and see what some of these mystery objects were for....Mel
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Apr 19, 2016 8:23:11 GMT -5
Found crude ones made of fired clay along Etowah River. Ohio culture.
Nothing of that quality.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 25, 2016 8:08:18 GMT -5
Wow They don't even know actual use. Looks like a fishing weight. radio hematite is an iron ore and may look red if filed as you described. Those are cool. Are they boppers for knapping?
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Sabre52
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Post by Sabre52 on Apr 25, 2016 8:54:01 GMT -5
Scott: Can't speak for the ones from other regions, but all the California plummets I've seen are of softer stones which would make them useless as knapping tools. The Alpaugh ones actually taper to a fairly long point on one end in some cases. If they were flat on one side, I'd say atlatl weights with the extension being he spur for the dart nock but they are rounded all the way around. Pretty big and heavy for a pendant but I'm kind of thinking that's what some might be because of the huge amount of work required to fashion the fancier ones....Mel
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Post by radio on Apr 25, 2016 15:09:13 GMT -5
Wow They don't even know actual use. Looks like a fishing weight. radio hematite is an iron ore and may look red if filed as you described. Those are cool. Are they boppers for knapping? The outside appears rusty with reddish splotches. The coloration in the pic is pretty accurate. I barely touched a file to it on the bottom end and it was quite shiny like steel. I didn't want to damage it and just made a tiny scratch. I understand the Indians used Hematite to obtain Red ochre.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 25, 2016 15:56:08 GMT -5
Scott: Can't speak for the ones from other regions, but all the California plummets I've seen are of softer stones which would make them useless as knapping tools. The Alpaugh ones actually taper to a fairly long point on one end in some cases. If they were flat on one side, I'd say atlatl weights with the extension being he spur for the dart nock but they are rounded all the way around. Pretty big and heavy for a pendant but I'm kind of thinking that's what some might be because of the huge amount of work required to fashion the fancier ones....Mel I know next nothing about knapping. Thanks. Not even sure how those soft copper tools are used.
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