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Perhaps My Most Peculiar Arrowhead. Just Found Today - Ancient Chipping??

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  • Perhaps My Most Peculiar Arrowhead. Just Found Today - Ancient Chipping??

    Hey guys, good to come back at you with something - Is this thing old or what?! I've been pretty good lately w/ "in situ" pics, but I thought this thing was so banged up from the plow it wasn't worth it. However, upon closer inspection - and I've provided plenty of pics so you yinz can see what I see - nothing looks to be a recent break, right? I mean, look at that spot along the edge where it looks obvious from the one side a chunk is missing - what's that on the other side where you should see the clear break, evidence of knapping and patina instead??
    Missing tang on one side? Well heck, doesn't appear that way once it's washed up and, again, you see no evidence of a recent chip so much as ancient knapping, right? Or am I wrong? Does this mean this point had been broken in ancient times, it had strangely been meant to be that way or unfinished, or what??
    I'd like to think some Indian war had taken it's toll on it ;P
    Please, those knowledgeable - school me on what you think!

  • #2
    ^ P.S. - Mercer County, PA find

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    • #3
      Hey cool find! Right on. Those are old breaks and not deliberately made that way. Heck they coulda even happened a 1000 yrs. after it was lost, who knows? It’s a nice artifact though! Find more! And Good luck!
      call me Jay, i live in R.I.

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      • #4
        Btw, I’m gonna say it was a knife blade, definitly not an arrowhead ,and looks a bit too big for an atlatl dart point, most likely a knife.
        call me Jay, i live in R.I.

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        • #5
          Thanks Jay, you're the man! Would you put this one on display in your collection, or is it more one of the ones left with the broken ones in the cigar box? I'm on the fence with putting it in the frame with some of my better ones, or... to the Crown Royal bag it goes with all of the other broken pieces :/

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          • #6
            I put them all in my collection man,lol. Everyone has its story to tell. My rule to myself is if it’s too destroyed to tell what it is then it goes in drawer. But as far as broken things go 3/4 of my collection is broken artifacts! Put it in your frame and be proud you found it, I would.
            call me Jay, i live in R.I.

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            • #7
              I really do think this one has a story to tell. What was messing with me... and you could prob relate if you look at that last pic I posted (though I doubt it did it justice)... is it really did look like knapping throughout that chip I couldn't even differentiate from the rest of the knapping along all the other edges, including that uneven tang (supposing I'm on to your lingo). So of course I questioned the break, if you follow that logic.
              I actually found this in a field I never made it a priority to hit as it never really had any sign like flakes or chips or anything else... just a field my uncle plows near a trailer park, not particularly close to water or anything. I think all the rain we've been getting really helped, as I found it in one of the lower damper edges laying there like a no-brainer, when I don't think I had seen a sign of life anywhere else in the field!

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              • #8
                My guess is it probably took a direct whack from something.And it looks like knapping just because the way it got hit produced a conchoidal fracture, which is how that stone flakes,hence why they used it to make a blade with.And the patina may have formed after the breaks occurred. Btw not every lithic forms a patina either. I find stuff certain types of stone here in the bay that still looks like it could have been knapped yesterday yet has been in the sun salt and sand for thousands of years. You better check that field more often! That’s a cool material too, right on.
                call me Jay, i live in R.I.

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                • #9
                  Cool find ! Y'all may be correct that it is a "whack" or a impact fracture of sorts. I think there is a chance we could also be seeing a repurposed spokeshave type tool. I can't make out the flaking enough to tell for certain but the edge would have a series of flakes removed opposed to one big flake popped off as you would expect with an impact. The more I look a the profile of the edge the more it looks manipulated to be that way. Photos in indirect natural lighting would help show any flaking in that area. Improvised spokeshaves are a cool tool form, I think we've had threads in the past regarding them

                  I think the material is Mercer or Coshocton. Cool knife, Thanks for sharing!

                  Josh (Ky/Tn collector)

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                  • Pointdexter
                    Pointdexter commented
                    Editing a comment
                    Thanks for the additional insight, Josh - Please see the post below!

                • #10
                  That’s very true too Josh. Or it picked up a few more dings along its way. But I can also totally see a hafted knife that’s on its way out being used as a spoke shave while still in a haft.
                  call me Jay, i live in R.I.

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                  • #11
                    I haven't any sunlight at 2:00 in the morn, but I think I made an adjustment to my phone's camera to take a couple better pics of the particular chip in question. While I'm not particularly familiar with... ok, I'm not really at all, except I've had such suspicion... "improvised spokeshaves, I reckon that might be the case...

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                    • OnewiththewilD
                      OnewiththewilD commented
                      Editing a comment
                      Ah! Better pics! Yeah now I can see some slight work along that upper edge, perhaps the tip got driven off and retouched up? I don’t think spokeshave though, there’d be more of a half moon shape to that spot IMO.

                  • #12
                    And aye Jay, this a beaut from the other day, from a previously mentioned honey hole! Missing a tang so I never made a big deal about it, but I figured you'd appreciate it.

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                    • OnewiththewilD
                      OnewiththewilD commented
                      Editing a comment
                      That’s a great little point!

                    • Pointdexter
                      Pointdexter commented
                      Editing a comment
                      Thanks Jay. Few more things I could show you, but I have a tendency to blur a thread's topic by the time I get to the end of it, lol. Guess what else, though?! My brother had taken my 6 yr old niece Sunday, and she found her 1st arrowhead! With that story, which he loves to no end and I think is great, he and my Dad had seen one without touching it and were trying to lead her to it. Lo and behold, she picked one up all on her own on the way to that spot exclaiming "This must be where the chief lived!" Oh, he says he about fell over, and she did find the one they expected her to, too. And then, a couple days after, I had got to accompany them instead of my Dad, and if I found that story hard to believe, I witnessed her, all on her own, plucking a nearly perfect caramel-colored arrowhead, saying "How about this" when she said later she figured it had been one. Well, I hope, because it was a no-brainer, and my brother and I were amazed! She seems hooked now, and would like a blue display case from her uncle.

                    • OnewiththewilD
                      OnewiththewilD commented
                      Editing a comment
                      Lol, great story. Kids just seem to have the knack I guess, maybe cause their closer to the ground and already like cool rocks,lol

                  • #13
                    I would put that in a case . Just from the nice pressure flaking on the edges . The second one is nice to .. love the base .
                    just from the excitement of your story says it all about having it in a show case to relive this . I don’t know those lithics up there . Look at my last post on the interesting tool ( show and tell ) . I like the mini flaking on the edge it’s going in the case .
                    Like it better then some of my points . It’s the hunt right

                    Comment


                    • Pointdexter
                      Pointdexter commented
                      Editing a comment
                      Ok, seen it, and that one you commented on from Warpath, was it, was awesome, too! Sure, it's the hunt, but you know how there's something special about successful hunts!
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