Interesting Quartz Stone

[thehunter123]

Hey y’all! Found this interesting piece of quartz today at an archaic site in Iredell Co, NC. I’m not sure if this is even an artifact but it sure is peculiar. It appears to have been worked down evenly on both sides, forming an edge all the way around the middle of the stone. I’ve never seen quartz weather in such a manner—seems far too round to be any kind of scraper. On top of that, the stone was found on top of a hill, several hundred feet above any water source so it most certainly hasn’t been water worn. Any ideas? Thanks!

[SGT.Digger]

Quartz game stone who knows. It could have been found in a wash or a creek and brought to the site by NA. Someone thought it was interesting and may have worked on it

[Olden]

I think it's an expended something: core stone, scraper?

[Sugaree]

Sure looks worked to me. I've found a few similar looking items.

[utilized flake]

Me too! I have some NC examples that have an edge similar to that. Cool tool!

[SurfaceHunter]

KP said the ones I sent him were cores looked a lot like yours but I like yours better nice form on it

[Emaner377]

Looks like a fat scraper..nice find

[tomf]

Great find.

It looks too shaped to be a core.

Another mysterious quartz discoid, of a sort, I think.

[gregszybala]

Natural

[thehunter123]

Would you please expound upon your opinion here, seeing how 7 others have responded otherwise on this thread? I have never seen a piece of quartz that has been naturally weathered into such a shape, leaving an edge around the entire stone.

[CMD]

It could be natural, but....

If there is no skin anywhere, from the original outside surface of a quartz pebble, assuming this was once a quartz pebble with smooth, weathered skin, then I think it would be tough to bang a pebble around until all the skin was gone, and that round shape obtained. It has a small surface area, and I think that result would be tough to obtain naturally. If it were all smooth skin, then of course it would simply be an unworked pebble. I do suspect it's shaped by humans. 90% of artifacts we find are quartz, so I'm speaking from lots of experience examining quartz. That said, of course I absolutely could be mistaken, and of course skin on a quartz pebble can be smashed off naturally. Seldom ever see that, however. On beaches strewn with cobbles and pebbles, the skin on those cobbles and pebbles, all types of rocks, tends to still be smooth and weathered. In our case, those cobbles and pebbles are glacially transported. If found in the interior, and not on a shore, a rock like this would lead me to conclude it was not natural more readily. But on a beach, it would raise my suspicion as well. My best guess and JMHO....

[Olden]

IMO, it's probably a core stone that started out as a creek cobble. That edge is absolutely powdered from trying to get the last useful flake from it. You'll find edges on quartz/quartzite tools like that when they had a stack that they just couldn't drive off. Quartz doesn't show every individual flake scar well like some other lithics. The piece does show some slight (final) plains that may be where sizeable enough flakes (1/2 to 3/4" long) would have been enough for some woodland arrowhead types. To me, it looks like a classic case of a NA just using the materials that he had on hand, and was really into it.

Neat artifact!