effigy stone

[gregszybala]

Tom, what did it take you, all of five minutes to dig that hole? Way to much coffee? :woohoo:

[tomclark]

Holy Cow that's a trip (the guy with the beard)
Artifact? Dunno.
If I found that on a known site, not a driveway or place where there are lots of similar material/sized stones, and it was purposefully ground all over, not desert varnished or applied patina or rolled around in a gravel bar, I'd call it an artifact.   I have seen many of the crudest and Worst of the Worst artifacts that have made me think just "WHY?!?"
I'd like to see real closeups of the edges, not the Man.
  Is Golden Japer common there, ever find points made of it in the same area?
If you collect on one village site for a long time you will find that they picked up all kinds of odd or effigy looking stones, just like we do.  Sometimes they are modified, sometimes not or just barely.  I've found similar looking ground rocks (sans effigies!)in with other tools and debitage.  I like rocks.
Here is my Thumb Effigy

Here is my "Rumi" effigy :unsure:  :S


Note "False Hardpan"
Sorry for the HiJack. Boom.

[greywolf22]

That looks like a rock to me, but it is good looking rock. I do mean to pick at you, but what you are showing us is not an artifact.
If you do not trust us send it to one of the big name authenticators out there and see what they will say. I think you be wasting your money but at least you will know.
This is a picture of what is called a Count Stone. Its a called a Count Stone because of the notches in the side, without the notches its just a interesting rock.
We are not even sure it was used as a Count Stone because we have no ideal what it was used for because the ones who used it are long dead, we just surmise it was used for that purpose.   
Jack

[gregszybala]

What a waste

[Wildhorse]

Please don't take me wrong here. I just don't think that our american Indians made anything so crude. When they carved something it is very nicely done. Clean and clear as to what they wanted. Never in all my years of artifacts have I ever seen something that you have to look at for a while and try to figure out. Clean and clear carvings. Our Indians were just not into making something that they could not show off and be proud of their work. Even the very old carvings I have seen were clear and we had no problem knowing just what the artist was trying to say. If you had lived back then would you be happy making something that others could not be sure just what it was? Keep looking and with luck you may come up with something beautiful.  Good luck and have a super day.

[wanderingrock]

The image on the right has been doctored very slightly.  The one on the left is untouched.

[wanderingrock]

This one is made from a golden jasper.  It's almost 5 cm tall, and is 2 cm thick.  The picture doesn't show the varnish as well as I would hope, but it is glossed all around.  It is squared with several right angles.  In fact when held right it has a 2cm square flat head.  It also has a sharp rasp like concave area that would carve a dowel a little smaller than a pencil.  (Sorry it's on the back side.)  This pic was taken to show the image on it rather than show the tooling on it.  The guy with the beard is easy to see, but what I'd like to note is what looks like an older guy with his hand on his shoulder. I am looking for opinions on what this might be, besides a rock, that much is obvious.  Even if you don't buy the effigy, your opinion is important to me, there are some very knowledgeable people here.  Questions and hypothetical theories, would be more constructive.