Core or waste flake?

[Adriel]

This piece is flat on one side and not the other, kind of like a scraper. Maybe core or a waste flake? Maybe a broken scraper or something? Any opinions? :cheer:

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[tomclark]

Debitage/Flake.  At the bottom of the second pic it looks like spot, the platform, that was struck off a the core or preform.  It may have been used as a graver, would need a better look at the work on that sharp little tip.  Weird material doesn't look like it fractures concoidally like most materials used by ancients.  Most, not all.
Maybe it's nothing, LOL.
Did you find it with other chips of material at a site or in the driveway?

[Adriel]

tomclark wrote:

Debitage/Flake.  At the bottom of the second pic it looks like spot, the platform, that was struck off a the core or preform.  It may have been used as a graver, would need a better look at the work on that sharp little tip.  Weird material doesn't look like it fractures concoidally like most materials used by ancients.  Most, not all.
Maybe it's nothing, LOL.
Did you find it with other chips of material at a site or in the driveway?

  Didn't find this one in the driveway    In a field.  Didn't see any other pieces, but I just may not have noticed. 

[Wildhorse]

You guys would go nuts up here. Before they closed all of the Columbia you could gather litterly tons of chips like that. I had two garbage pails full of that kind of chips and gave them to the local rock shop. He makes things out of them. Really the river was covered with chips thousands and thousands of them. Lots showed the hand of man and most were just chips. One thing to think about is where ever you find chips there will be artifacts somewhere near. We used to rake the chips with a regular garden rake to find the arrowpoints. I can remember one night when there was a eastern blowing up the river I found over 60 complete points in the chips on the beach. Thanks for the chance to share a story on a snowing cold day.  See you.

[wmwallace]

I am not certain whether it is a waste flake or a tool. But the one thing that sticks out to me is in the 2nd pic from the top if you look at the top of the relic and see the little spur sticking up on the left side that is typical of graver's here in Ohio. In some cases there are two graver spurs. So in the future when you see this on worked flint you will know what to look for Adriel. I am hoping to post some pics of gravers I have found on the campsites on the farm. I have waste flakes by the tons in those areas in the fields here, only it is the high ground from the creek that goes through the farm.

[Adriel]

Wildhorse: Lucky. :laugh:
Tom: I have tried to get pictures of the tip - this material is tough to photograph. :cheer: Remember (probably already know this), you can click on the picture to get an enlarged view.
Bill: Thanks for the info as always! Nothing like learning.
Everyone: Is the consensus here that this is a worked piece? I am more interested in the fact that it was handled more than it being complete.
Hopefully I can get out again before the snow fall tomorrow and try to find some more!

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[CliffJ]

Hi Adriel,
   As Tom says, the material appears to be a poor knapping lithic. It looks like a sedimentary rock with the layers in it. While it is possible that man brought it there to your site to attempt knapping, if there is better material then they would use that instead. If they attempted any knapping on this, I can't see it.
   HOWEVER- I am a hunter and taxidermist, so I have a lot of good sharp steel knives. But I have to laugh at myself when I sometimes open boxes with whatever rock or shell piece happens to be at hand- a "pickup tool". Man has used unaltered rocks for quick pickup and discard tools for as long as there has been man. This type of tool may only show use wear under high magnification- such as perhaps traces of adhesive from the tape I cut, or aligned striations from cutting cardboard. It can be VERY difficult with unaltered rocks to tell genuine use wear from millions of years of natural forces (and 100 or so years of rolling in the plow zone).
  I hope this makes some sense.....

[Adriel]

Cliff,
That makes perfect sense.  I am sure in a few hundred years my Jeep keys will be found and put into a case and called tape cutters instead of keys.  :laugh:
Hope the rain lets up before it snows.  :woohoo: