What was this used for???

[badger51]

This was found on west coast of Canada. Has a teardrop shaped flat area on top and fits very nicely in your right had. Any ideas guys?

[OnewiththewilD]

Hard to tell much from the pics, I do see a nice groove on one side though. More pics?

[gregszybala]

I'm intrigued! Better and more pictures in outside light will help

[Glacial Pebble]

The broken end looks granite like, but the polish makes it looks like it would be a soapstone like material.. interesting

[redrocks]

Cool piece

[flintguy]

That might be a modern incense holder. I think you put the sticks on the side and they burn down.

[badger51]

more photos

[flintguy]

Not an exact match but something like this. I could be wrong, but looks modern, or at least within the past 100 years. It is an interesting piece however.

[flintguy]

Just saw the new set of pics. Less sure of my suggestion, but looks too well cut and polished to ancient. I'll be interested to see what other opinions come up.

[Olden]

Maybe another example of sawcut production..

https://forums.arrowheads.com/forum/general-discussion-gc5/artifact-questions-answers-gc9/334491-grooves-on-celt

or, were way ahead of their time

[Tam]

Your link back is great . Your pic is funny

[Olden]

Thanks Tam. problem is, I now want a nephrite mouse : /

[SurfaceHunter]

I was hoping it might be something but looks like flint and the ends look broken. Probably natural but if it was a tool with the damage it would be just a guess on my part

[clovisoid]

That is part of an amazing nephrite adze. Probably born in the Fraser river area.

That groove is where it was "sawn" and then snapped off. You can't really break off useable pieces from a jade boulder, you have to cut off wedges and get it thin enough to break off.

I'll post up a couple of links for you and a couple pictures of mine from that area.

[badger51]

Thanks clovisoud

[clovisoid]

This link will take you to a PDF with a great article about this type of celt/adze, with lots more information about them.

[Olden]

I couldn't find the PDF: guess it was moved..

[clovisoid]

Olden let me take another stab at that.

[Ron Kelley]

Badger is showing an ancient artifact made of Nephrite Jade (often called greenstone.) Not all nephrite is green. ResearchGate has some good info: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/...fig1_311824398
The only ancient nephrite I have is 40 biconically drilled beads. I have 30 pounds of raw nephrite and plan to grind some celts and adzes.

[SurfaceHunter]

I’ve never heard of them before. Time to learn something new