From our facebook page

[Hoss]

One of our friend on arrowheads.com fan page name Richard STorm Crow Phillips sent this note with these pictures. Anyone ever seen anything like this? His note "Im trying to find out what these are found in trenton ky in 2000"




I have never seen Indian artifacts like this he said they came from a site where he found artifacts. They are on display at the Todd Co KY welcome center. It is a puzzle for sure any help would be appreciated.

[painshill]

Matt, I can't see any way those could have been produced except by sawing with a modern blade. Someone practicing with a new rock-saw perhaps? Closer examination might reveal the tell-tale marks of the saw.

[gregszybala]

Have got to agree with Roger on that. No way that is anciently crafted by man.

[Jeremy Lee]

Has an odd artistic quality too it. I cut holes in boats all day for a living with various saws and drills and grinders. That looks like a grinding saw did that. Rough edges and smooth inside.
Too clarify, when you start to cut something with a saw usually it will chip the first little bit you go in. Especially if you don't start slow then speed up. You can see chipping on the surface before it goes further into the stone.

[Ron Kelley]

I agree with Roger and Greg... Unless that's clay.  :dunno:

[Hoss]

That is what I told this guy yesterday he says they are not sawn though. I asked him for better pictures of side views and such with good lighting and macro. Not sure if he can do it but will see.

[Hoss]

the reason I asked for better pictures is they could be simply natural. I have never seen anything like that though.

[Hoss]

I asked him for closeup so we could see the flat spots and see if these have grinder markings. That hanging piece is like and end of a piece of wood when you cut it That is why when I first looked I assumed it was sawn as well now I am not so sure due to those lines through the stone.

[painshill]

Since the cobble has a cortex which is absent on the "cut" surfaces we can be sure that those features are not geological flaws or some other oddity of the way the rock formed. From what I can see, all of the "cuts" are straight as a die and flat as a pancake. That's what you would expect from a rigid metal saw blade. The "cut" that goes all the way across the cobble ends in an uneven hinge or step fracture which is a common problem when cutting larger sections of rock with a saw... you get almost all the way through with a nice clean cut and the section breaks away enevenly as you approach the trailing edge.
It's inconceivable that mother nature made the fractures from frost-shattering, mechanical damage or whatever and even more inconceivable that "primitive" knapping of any kind could have been excercised with enough control to produce the wedge-shaped "orange-segments" (for want of a better way of describing them).
I don't see how anyone could say they are not modern saw cuts without knowing what kind of saw might have been used and the kinds of marks that would result from such a saw. A professional continuous-rim lapidary blade would leave very different marks than an ordinary notched-rim or diamond-plated slabbing saw for example and a high-speed quality blade might not leave any marks at all that you could see with the naked eye.
It's possible that those marks you have outlined in yellow could be guide-marks scratched into the rock for where the next cuts were intended to be made, but what we don't know is if someone wanted the pieces that were being removed, as opposed to they were shaping what was left for some artistic reason. Or simply practicing their sawing skills.

[Hoss]

Thanks Roger I told the guy from the start my opinion was they were cut. Native AMericans had no way to cut stone like this they Chipped, they pecked, they drilled and the polished and rubbed but they did not have a means to make such a flat cut in stone.  The Hinge is what caught my eye too it is something that hapens when cutting and you do not properly support the weight of the piece and slow you cut towrds then end. The same happens with wood. its own weight will cause the hinge when it drops off prior to getting cut all the way through.

[minerat]

Looks like plow marks to me