I'm pretty sure this is a Celt, but what kind of stone is this?

[Jethro355]

I found this 12 years ago, and last month I took a buddy back to the same site and he found one identical to it, except approximately 1/3 the size, about 30 feet from where I found mine. Same type stone, finish, everything.

I know lots of you guys really know your stone(from reading all the comments in other threads) and have been asked by everyone who has seen it what type of stone it is. I have no clue. It has a greenish hue to it and almost a granular structure like commercial countertop granite.????
any ideas?

[Havenhunter]

Where did you find it? State? Many hardstone celts have that rich green color & can resemble granite countertops.

[Jethro355]

Sorry for that, I always assume everybody knows where I am because I'm probably paranoid.
i found it in eastern Arkansas, about 1.5 miles from the bank of the Mississippi River, north of the confluence with the St. Francis.

[sailorjoe]

I can't help you as to the type of lithic it is. But it is a dandy celt for sure. I'm glad you posted your find. Celts of that form were made for a long time from early/middle Woodland thru Mississippian/Historic times, more or less. Yes, a fine celt it is.

[searchinghawk]

i find celts here in new england and they show up on middle and early archaic site as well

[sailorjoe]

For searchinghawk. I've never seen polished stone celts from sites that are purely early Archaic. I've found them on multi component sites where the plough has mixed up artifacts into a soup representing 10,000 years.. I have found chipped stone celts on middle to late Archaic sites. I don't dispute what you find in your area but that was not my experience. I am no authority on polished stone tools and haven't studied on them so I don't really know what cultural period they first came into general use. But I've never heard of them being found in controlled excavations from early Archaic strata. I don't want to pirate this thread so if we want to carry this discussion any further then we should start a different thread. After all Jethro only was asking about the kind of lithic.

[Ron Kelley]

That sure is a beautiful celt. If you would like help to ID the material I would suggest taking pictures in natural light.

[Jethro355]

Thanks guys. I'm proud of it. It's the nicest stone artifact I've ever found I think.
I will take some better pics. I will also do a side-by-side with the one my buddy found. I have a DSLR somewhere that takes pretty good pics. I took those with the camera on my ancient iPad. I have a small-ish piece of the same stone that's unworked, but it's clearly the same material. It's not native to that part of the state, at least in my 40+ years of kicking dirt! I've never seen anything like it. I've seen something similar near the diamond mine in SW Arkansas, but it wasn't as hard.

[Kyflintguy]

Nice celt!

[Havenhunter]

Keep in mind there was trading & commerce that took place over long distances. Remember the Jamestown triangles I recently posted. Although most were made from locally available materials, some came from great distances. Could be the case with your beautiful Celt.

[gregszybala]

Great introduction.

[BabaORiley]

That is a beautiful celt and in good shape...the material resembles many that I have seen from my area in Illinois. Like Ron said take some pics in outdoor light and the lithic ID will be easier...

[pkfrey]

The lithic on the celt resembles diorite. A hardstone similar to granite, but with less quartz inclusions and crystals, and composed of several different varieties of feldspar, which also makes it softer than granite. Diorite was often used for hardstone artifacts, and is often confused with granite. It's hard to see the greenish hue in the photos. But a photo in natural light would surely shed some light on it, and we could identify the stone much easier. With a greenish hue to it, it could also be serpentinite. Need better photos.

[CMD]

That does look like diorite. And, as others have pointed out, it's a killer celt!

[SDhunter]

Beautiful celt!

[Jethro355]

Ok, I finally got some good photos. This isn't the same Celt, but it is the same stone type. I found it about 20 yards from the other one.its also about 8.5" long and weighs about 8 pounds. Maybe one of you rock guys can tell me a for-sure on the rock type?

[2ndoldman]

Jethro, your pictures did not upload with this last post of yours.