Possibly a blade or scraper/effigy piece?

[PaleoAries]

I found this in a field near a river here in Southeast Kansas. It appears to be a blade..perhaps a scraper (uniface) with multiple out of the ordinary images on it. Anybody have any idea what influence this might be?

[painshill]

Welcome to the forum. That appears to be limestone, which would generally be an unsuitable material for blades or scrapers. I believe the shape is just a coincidental result of breakage. The surface pattern is what is geologically known as 'botryoidal' which is a common natural habit for many minerals and often seen in calcite-rich limestone... particularly if it was formed in a wet cave environment. This is botryoidal calcite:


[Picture by Patrick Donohue]

Keep looking and keep posting though. We're here to help and enjoy seeing all kinds of finds.

[PaleoAries]

Thank you for your response sir. I was wondering about the possibility of the images being fossils. But it had me second guessing my thoughts due to the clarity of the images and how it had the look of a blade of some sort. I'm not familiar at all with caves or what happens to rocks inside them over time. The material my piece is made of doesn't appear to me to be limestone. It's rather hard...and brittle. Does that explanation help you at all?

[painshill]

There's only so much that can be said about what the lithic is from a picture. It looks like limestone but there are many possibilities. Nevertheless, it still looks like natural breakage and calcite is not the only cementing mineral for rocks that commonly creates botryoidal patterns.

[PaleoAries]

Thank you sir. I appreciate the help and your being so gracious about it. That's why I'm here is to learn!