spent core used

[cgode]

Just having a little fun Doug, don't take it personally....it wasn't meant to be. Like Matt said, hope you reconsider.

[turkeytail]

I try to think outside the box too but that is not an artifact.

[painshill]

Well, this is an unfortunate state of affairs, isn’t it?
Doug, I’m encouraged to see that you haven’t deleted your profile… as has happened in some other cases when folks are getting opinions that conflict with their beliefs.
I’m open-minded here. I have an opinion on whether or not that is an artefact with hafting features, and from what I can see… I would also say that it is not. But I also accept that a picture doesn’t always do justice to an item and also that I don’t have the benefit of visiting your site in person, or of closely examining other items you have found.
With all due respect to the folks at the University of Texas, I also believe that the ‘experts’ don’t always get it right. I think they would accept that too. I would also say that the guys on the forum here sometimes underestimate their own expertise. I would think that, collectively, the ‘seniors’ here have probably handled more genuine artefacts (and dismissed more pseudo-artefacts) than many museum experts see in a lifetime.
I recall some years ago here in the UK that a museum had a rare Roman coin on display, one side of which had a large ‘R’ as part of the design. A young schoolboy visitor proudly showed them an identical example that he had obtained as part of a promotion by a soft drinks company called Robinson’s. They had produced these replicas as ‘giveaways’ and put the large ‘R’ into the design to prevent any confusion with genuine coins!
Personally, I would be very interested to hear more about what Tom Guderjan and Mark Walters had to say and some detailed observations on the items you have found if there is anything resembling a ‘site report’ that they would be happy for you to share with us. It would be important for them to understand that no-one is ‘on trial’ here for their reputation, but it seems that they are seeing something that we are not… and I, for one, would be quite keen to know the derivation for their opinions.
I may not change my mind… but I don’t feel justified in dismissing an expert opinion out of hand. I wouldn’t even dismiss a non-expert out of hand.
Best wishes
Roger

[greywolf22]

I think your UT friends are wrong on this one. Have them write something up on this one and then post for us to read. I would like to hear why they think the way they do. I got a lot of rocks that look like what you are showing and they sure are not saying artifact to me.
Jack

[CliffJ]