Interesting Rock
- Thread starter bobpbx
- Start date
It looks pecked.Can you post a few more pics from different angles.I think you might have a native American tool.Possible a grinder or Mortar of sorts?
That thought crossed my mind, but since I have no background on that subject, I decided to not suggest it. Another possibility I thought of is that it was jutting out into a stream curve, and constantly scoured by sand. But, one thing leans toward your thought Al; it's mostly uniform in material makeup, hence seemingly chosen for a task.
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You know what I:m thinking? It looks like a sanding block.They could hold the upper knob and the flat longer part below would be the sanding surface?It looks to me like some type of non native sandstone,What do you think? It doesn't appear to be quartz does it?
Bob,
You may be looking at a wind-faceted stone called a ventifact. Saltating quartz grains were bounced about by strong katabatic winds under cold desertlike conditions during the Pleistocene. Pebbles and cobbles that impeded their way got sandblasted into various aerodynamic shapes. If the rock surface is fine-grained, ventifacts can be easily identified by their exquisitely sculpted face. Below is a hoof-footed ventifact that was plucked from a spung floor at Vanamans Thick ’N Hole along the Manumuskin River’s west branch. Spungs are sites of intense deflation.
If the rock surface is coarse grained—as in your case—the wind sculpting was less distinct. Such surfaces were more prone to surface-grain weathering that further hid evidence of prior ice-age wind sculpting. I’d have to play with your rock to make a better guess its true nature. Ventifacts are commonplace throughout the Pines, and can be easily mistaken for precontact tools.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/378151365_Soggy_Ground_A_Geography_of_Pine_Barrens_Wetlands
S-M
You may be looking at a wind-faceted stone called a ventifact. Saltating quartz grains were bounced about by strong katabatic winds under cold desertlike conditions during the Pleistocene. Pebbles and cobbles that impeded their way got sandblasted into various aerodynamic shapes. If the rock surface is fine-grained, ventifacts can be easily identified by their exquisitely sculpted face. Below is a hoof-footed ventifact that was plucked from a spung floor at Vanamans Thick ’N Hole along the Manumuskin River’s west branch. Spungs are sites of intense deflation.
If the rock surface is coarse grained—as in your case—the wind sculpting was less distinct. Such surfaces were more prone to surface-grain weathering that further hid evidence of prior ice-age wind sculpting. I’d have to play with your rock to make a better guess its true nature. Ventifacts are commonplace throughout the Pines, and can be easily mistaken for precontact tools.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/378151365_Soggy_Ground_A_Geography_of_Pine_Barrens_Wetlands
S-M
Al, I'm going to lean towards Mark's suggestion, though yours is also good (and I wish it were an indian artifact). If you show it to anybody with good knowledge and they say "yes, an indian tool", let us know. Here is a ventifact from Greenwood Forest near Blacks Bridge. This one is a genuine ventifact. Look where the sand and ice? blasted the top and just beneath the top the erosion.
Bob, that is a beautiful ventifact with an unusual planar upper surface. Its form suggests the gravel block was mostly buried as part of a desert pavement. The abradent was mostly sand, although ice crystals under very cold condition are hard enough to scour stones—especially if those crystals are embedded with dust. Some disagree. As suggested in the book Soggy Ground, the the black (manganese) and red (iron) rock coatings rimming the ventifact are wind-burnished onto the rock surface by contact with dusty ice crystals.
Looks like a Metate to me.I would think something thats been bounced along at high speed by fast water would look pecked but would tend to be more rounded and not have one surface dish shaped like this or any odd protrusions sticking off of it like your first picture..Artifact or Ventrifact, that is the question?
Check out this one Al.
Native American Indian Stone Hand Tool Artifact Oval Honing & Grinding | eBay
<p>Native American Indian Stone Hand Tool Artifact Oval Shaped Honing & Grinding. Please see pictures. Thanks for visiting !!</p>
www.ebay.com