For Tom Clark or anyone that know shell artifacts.

[chase]

Since this is way out of the realm of artifacts that I know about. I am looking to get educated on what makes a shell artifact. I have spent time in NC and Florida and at the time I had no clue there was such an artifact. I found this in Panama City Florida about seven years back and I am not calling it an artifact but want information on what I would look for. When I first found it my immediate reaction was birds pecked through the shell to get to the meat. But seeing the ones you have posted made me curious, any help would be appreciated.

[Jeffery Howle]

I am curious also...I found this one here in Ky(know its not from here) but looks like it was cut or broke straight for some reason.

[Bone2stone]

Well guys, to be honest neither of these appear to be artifact related.
Chase, yours although a very old "lightning welk" I think is worn by natural processes.
These are very common, in this condition, in the coastal areas all the way from Fla to Mexico. These partially buried may be worn that way from wave action and object to object abrasion. Also the fact that other water dwelling creatures sometimes use these as a home. Such as the hermit crab. They are moved about to different situations and exposure to shell loss is emminent.
The fragile nature of these shells, once nature has taken it's toll, makes them vunerable to many forms of distruction.
When alive these creatures had very few predators that feasted on them. Certain Starfish will eat them but not many.
It takes a very special process to make these an artifact.
Tom may be able to elaborate a little more, on the subject, as to how to distinguish them from a natural process,
but I thought I would throw my two cents in on the one you have collected.
Now Jeffery, the one you have is a modern tourist item polished to reveal the pearlesant beauty.
It is common in Mexico to harvest these polish them down and use them as part of a "wind chime weight" or display.
They were originally green on the outside.
It is a shame that there are few regulations or controls on the harvesting of these shells outside of the USA.
If there are no controls these,they will eventually be lost to over harvesting.
But ain't it purdy?......
Jessy B.
BTW: Chase, "FYI" The Lightning Welk is the only shell found in the Gulf Of Mexico, or the entire Atlantic for that matter, that is "whorled " in the opposing direction from all other sea shells.

[Jeffery Howle]

Thanks Jessy
I didn't think it was an artifact I just thought it was kinda cool. Do love the pearl look to it.

[chase]

Thank You Jessy! Yeah I was sure it was not an artifact, but this is an area that has not been explored. I want to bring to light what makes a shell artifact. This is an area that is way out of my realm of understanding. This is like when I see pointed rocks, an explanation as to why it is not an artifact, and what I or anybody needs to look for can be beneficial. Yes from the few shell artifacts that I have seen, this has a few of those traits, all thou natural or predator made, can be confusing. I Just want to educate me as well as the members, on a subject that has gotten little exposure.

[Bone2stone]

Well guys I am far from being an expert on the subject but I have found the "Lightning Welk" all my life from going to Port Aransas practically every Labor day weekend as a youngster with my  family.
The inner coastal canal was at one time practically lined with them in every conceivable condition.
And Jeff the shell you found they sell them at the State Fair to this day. I love that rainbow coloration of these things.
The Murex is one of my favorite finds while I'm collecting down on the coast. Don't find them like we used to though.
Jessy B.

[tomclark]

On shell artifacts and specifically Busycon tools, first look at what a live or recently dead animal's shell looks like.  Second, was it found on a site??  A shell midden?  Village site??  Look for work on shell, it's different than lithics but the recognition is the same to identify a tool or refuse. 
Something to look for on Busycon would be thickening of the thin outer rim by purposeful taking if down, usually by pecking/hammerstone first, then smoothed with an abrader.  Look for shortening of the siphonal canal, the thin end of the shell, which they did by carefully breaking off the end to a thicker, useable tool size/exposing more columnella.  Usually/often look for a hole in the side that would line up with the edge of the thickened rim (a stick would go in past the rim and out through the hole.  Does the hole and the rim line up?  If that hole is broken it looks like yours....  Rarely they are used without a notch ground and pecked into the rim opposite the hole.  Usually there is a notch there, often damaged.   The notch can be square or rounded.   On the crown of a Busycon tool there is often another hafting hole and it is usually in a rather small variance of degrees (pic below).   They did not often break into the crown to extract the animal it is usually taken out with a crude bashed hole in the side but not where a stick would go through....
Is the shell a rather heavy individual compared to others of "his" species?  They almost always picked the most robust, sometimes freaky robust shells for use as tools.
The projections/nodules/spines around the spire are usually knocked off, sometimes ground off.  Some of that is also due to using it as a hammer, using the spire end instead of the tip.....  Busycon tools at the end of their "life" often get used as bashers and the shoulders will show areas of wear, too.
Lastly the business end.....  I have seen Busycon tools with rather smooth ends like yours, with and without bevels.  If it's been rolled around in the surf, even a perfect tool can look like regular eaten debitage.  If it has a vestige of a small bevel it could have been used as a delicate adze tool,  if blunt ended with marks of bashing/pecking it oould have been a hammer used basically to peck nice holes to make other tools or to just make holes in shells to get the meat out.  If the end is snapped off you never know unless all the other attributes and situation are there.   Lots of times just the bevels and/or hammer ends are found, without the rest of the tool.  They were respharpend or reblunted and reused until beyond fixing, with hafting holes blown out and rim/notch broke out and the columnella now too short to make any decent use out of.....then they made a plummet out of the columnella!  boom.
When the hafting holes break away the make a figure eight oval with a bigger hole in the middle..... I'd have to draw it...
Yours seems to have a top hafting hole/damaged, a side hafting hole/damaged, a thickened lip and shortened columnella.....
Yours does not seem to be particularly robust.... and does look rolled around since there is no patina on it and it's somewhat porous from being in water a while.....
I don't know, LOL.  I'd still have to have the particulars and hold it in my hand I guess.  Worked shell is abraded, ground, pecked, notched, holed, beveled.  All these modifications can be seen in specimens that are perfect or where in great shape, just broken badly enough once.  Once you see and feel this work on shell, kinda like finding out what grinding looks and feels like on a point's base, you will not forget it.  Remember you usually find broken shell tools, not perfect pieces, like points!  But shell is much more fragile in it's own way cause it's softer and has "planes" within it and also degrades in acid soil and water
 
   
 

[chase]

Tom, Thank You! that was perfect! it has shed some light on an artifact that I had no knowledge of. I have learned a lot on this site, which tells me, I do not know very much. But my horizon of knowledge seems to be broaden every day.