Son(39)s first find, scraper with whiskers.

[rixdafix]

My son went hunting with me today at my favorite spot.  He finds a big flake and says "this looks like a scraper". It was kind of dirty but I took a quick look and he was right so he sticks it in his pocket. We get home and a little while later I ask to see it.
I get it under a light with a loupe and start seeing all the work done and some of the wear from use. I'm following the edge with the loop checking out the grinding and flaking, thinking what a sweet little scraper and right at the last corner, I see some kind of fiber.
I thought it was pocket fuzz. It ain't pocket fuzz. Whatever it is, is embedded in the scraper, strand by strand. Looks like animal hair. Whatever it is uhhh I guess is as old as the flint itself?:blink:
Help me out on this one folks and also, anyone know what kind of flint/material that is? I find all kinds of it, just not normally with what looks like hair.
Here's a few pics, sorry for the focus
Top right corner of this pic, see the little mohawk?

Flip side

Had to experiment with a magnifying glass

Sharp side, flaked, knife?


More of a chisel edge, might have been ground a little, scraper?

Both sides of the end by the embedded fibers are completely ground and polished smooth, real nice rounded edge.
Maybe intentional for a comfortable hold I'm guessing, or just from use?


A close up of "Whiskers"

[frog]

that is interesting. the only hairy rocks i found once had zebra muscles attached to them.

[JR]

Maybe a form of algae, was it found in or near water?

[rixdafix]

JR wrote:

Maybe a form of algae, was it found in or near water?

  Right at the waters edge actually but, I'm 99% sure it's hair. I'm going to take it to the museum at Mastodon Park today and see if they can clue us in.

[rmartin]

I don't think this is hair Rick. I dont think it could survive that long. I found a piece a couple weeks ago with  similar stuff but washed it off. Let us know what they say.

[rixdafix]

Yeah I have a bad habit of jumping to conclusions. Think I'll modify that title a little, does sound rather silly.

[painshill]

Interesting. There is no fossilisation process whereby hair or fur or even plant fibres could be preserved in ancient rocks in a form that left them flexible rather than brittle and fragile. I have some nice clumps of Pleistocene mammoth hair which are simply the original preserved hair without any mineralisation apart from iron-staining that are still flexible. But those came out of Siberian permafrost… ie they were preserved by freezing. Once exposed, those rot away in a matter of months or years if not quickly dried and treated with a preservative.
There is a possibility that the fibres are something modern which is embedded in a thick layer of subsequent mineralisation on the surface of the rock. But I have to agree that they really do look like they are truly embedded. In fact there are some dark marks that suggest more of it is lurking below the surface.
I think it’s an “asbestiform” mineral deposit. There are several minerals in the asbestos family which occur in fibrous form - or bundles of fibres - which are flexible and can even be strong enough to be spun into thread and woven into cloth. The fibres can be up to 10cm long.
Typical minerals with this habit might be Chrysotile, also known as white asbestos (although it’s usually grey or greenish), Tremolite (a similar colour, but normally darker), and Crocidolite, also known as blue asbestos (although it’s normally black through dark blue to yellow-green).
I’m not sure what the base rock is, but if it is chert and the type of chert known as Mozarkite (which is the State rock for Missouri) then certainly there are deposits of Crocidolite within the exposures. Tremolite normally occurs in calcium and magnesium-rich siliceous sedimentary rocks as a result of contact metamorphosism. That’s fairly widely reported in Missouri (Shannon Co., St. Francois Co. and Washington Co.) Chrysotile occurs widely and is the most common of the abestiform mineral group but forms in rocks of the serpentine group which are not common in Missouri (and not normally that colour).
If it is a mineral deposit, my money would be on Tremolite.
Note that all of these minerals are associated with serious health issues if inhaled in “dust” form (even in tiny amounts) and that Crocidolite is the most dangerous of the group.