Virginia stone carving

[Art T. Fact]

I'm a newcomer to American Indian artifact hunting and I found this stone carving recently in southwestern Virginia but I have no idea what it is. Three of the drilled holes go all the way through as you can see in the back view of the carving and three others in the front don't. Does any one have any idea what this carving represents or possibly what tribe or time period it may have come from?

[Kyflintguy]

Welcome from east Tn!

Im sorry but in my opinion thats a natural stone, not an artifact. A very interesting natural stone, those oblong holes are wierd but i dont think that was made by ancient man. Those types of artifacts (pecked and ground sandstone effiges or carvings) show clear signs of human manipulation and form. Plus Native American art looks like art, you wouldnt have to scatch your head and wonder "what the heck is this?" They didnt waste that amount of time and effort on drilling random holes and working unrecognizeable shapes...
Keep up the search, im from right across the stateline in Ky (Letcher co,)and ive seen nice artifacts out of southwest Va (Wise,Norton etc), so they are there.

[Hoss]

I agree it looks natural to me too. It looks like a sand stone material which is sedimentary. No telling what could have been in the voids possibly roots prior to it turning to stone. Unfortunately Painshill is away right now. Her would probably know what this is or maybe have something to share similar. Welcome to arrowheads.com and thanks for sharing the picture

[Claycald]

I agree....a neat natural formation.

[CoachG]

Agree with the others. Welcome from Tennessee.

[Art T. Fact]

Thanks for the replies and it's quite possible it could be a natural stone formation, but on closer inspection it appears there was a notch cut in the top part of the stone to form a head and a tail appears to be deliberately carved at the back. As a matter of fact, looking at the second image(the back side) of the rock, it roughly resembles a bison. and one other interesting thing, all the holes appear symmetrical with completely smooth edges and the three that go all the way through are cut at an angle as is the cut at the bottom which could be interpreted as an attempt to carve back feet. All in all, an interesting rock and I welcome and appreciate all opinions and replies.

[OBION]

Great handle name! You admit you are new to this; some that have replied have devoted a lifetime to studying and collecting artifacts. It is as they say, a really cool sand stone rock with eroded soft spots. Keep looking, real artifacts are out there!

[rmartin]

Interesting rock but I agree with the others. I can see no man made modification. Native American artisans were more sophisticated than most people realize.

[Reflector]

Any "drilled holes" would be conical in shape. And round.
Roots can do wild things to sandstone. Still an interesting rock.

[clovisoid]

It's a neat rock.

Obviously not all ancient people were skilled artisans, but the first picture is arguably one of the older pieces of artwork in the Americas, the Vero Mammoth engraving. The second is the famous Big Boy pipe from Spiro. Ancient people could make great artwork when they wanted to, they didn't need to make crude effigies.

[Art T. Fact]

Thanks for all the views and comments...seems everyone is agreed that it was carved by mother nature and not by Native Americans but I intend to keep looking.

[SDhunter]

Thanks for sharing and keep looking.