Stone tool fake or real?

Badfish

Full Member
Joined
Aug 5, 2018
Messages
106
Location
NW Mich
A fellow at work knows I’m into metal detecting. He inquired on Friday if I knew what this stone tool was. I looked at him and told him I metal detect I don’t hunt stone artifacts lol. I mentioned the good people on this forum may be able to help him. He said he found it on a river bank here in Michigan.


Any help is appreciated













 
Well..the overall shape is right, but its got a pretty chunky profile..Its huge too, and rudimentary, like a guy quickly banged it out and might use it as an axe kind of humanoid killing weapon moreso than an large ungulent procuring spearpoint...

But then a guy thinks.."Hell, a guy could kill a guy with just a heavy stick, no need to knapp out a crude point such as this...No way a guy would try to take this dull and crude point out after a Moose or a Bear either"....Not even a Mastodon! Its just too crude and dull!

So I'd say its a fake or a naturally occurring strangeness....

Give him a dollar for it and toss it in your junk drawer..you have to keep folks motivated!
 
Tough to say..it's so crude some bored fisherman may have hacked it out..or it could be genuine..unfinished perhaps..the material looks poor for knapping.. doesn't look like it fractures into a nice cone..good flint or chert will make a cone like when a BB hits glass..
 
Not sure at all but I would see if any youth camps are nearby. I remember someone in the BSA around here made something like that to put on a plaque for Order of the Arrow. Just something to look into. Neat either way.
 
It has definitely been worked into that shape. Not naturally occurring. It does resemble the crude arrowheads/spearheads they bang out and sell at tourist location stores. Those are fake, so this looks fake by comparison. The other thought, is to agree with Joe Dert, that this rock just doesn't knapp well, so as crude as it is, that's a good weapon point for that type of stone. Also keep in mind, it was likely much sharper when it was in use. Or, like JD also mentioned; it could be unfinished. My first impression was: "preform", but just not sure. Good size! Way bigger than an arrowhead. Maybe for a mastodon slayer atlatl? Seems big for that too. Ceremonial or trade piece perhaps.


You're a metal detector guy. You should know this stuff. :laughing:
 
I have to say that the shape is what bothers me the most, considering the size of the thing. I believe that the narrow neck where it would join the spear shaft would be too weak for this thing to actually be functional. It looks to be a crude reproduction of a spear blade in the rudimentary "arrowhead" shape we all recognize, a mash up of actual artifact patterns. By no means am I an expert, this is just my two cents.
 
Im sure kids or even adult indians would have to practice or would have a few duds while making them. Maybe it was made by indians but wasn't good enough for use.
Im sure there are a ton of half finished arrow heads out there.

I REALLY know nothing on the subject but I was just thinking about how people find these perfect arrow heads. And got thinking about what a skill it really is to make them. Just wonder if anyone has found the arrow head "workshop" with all the duds And practice pieces.
 
Im sure kids or even adult indians would have to practice or would have a few duds while making them. Maybe it was made by indians but wasn't good enough for use.
Im sure there are a ton of half finished arrow heads out there.

I REALLY know nothing on the subject but I was just thinking about how people find these perfect arrow heads. And got thinking about what a skill it really is to make them. Just wonder if anyone has found the arrow head "workshop" with all the duds And practice pieces.

Some of the pieces are so finely worked it had to take years to master .. amazing when you find a complete arrowhead that's thousands of years old intact..it's really like a piece of functional art.. I haven't found the dudpile..but I have found buckets of chips and scrap...and yes..the material..like flint or chert..or obsidian.. whatever.. wasn't perfect..some parts of a flint nodule for example might knapp excellently but the rest might not...poor material...little blobs of impurities..or cracks...etc.. I suggest you not start arrowhead hunting...lol..it's addicting
 
It has definitely been worked into that shape. Not naturally occurring. It does resemble the crude arrowheads/spearheads they bang out and sell at tourist location stores. Those are fake, so this looks fake by comparison. The other thought, is to agree with Joe Dert, that this rock just doesn't knapp well, so as crude as it is, that's a good weapon point for that type of stone. Also keep in mind, it was likely much sharper when it was in use. Or, like JD also mentioned; it could be unfinished. My first impression was: "preform", but just not sure. Good size! Way bigger than an arrowhead. Maybe for a mastodon slayer atlatl? Seems big for that too. Ceremonial or trade piece perhaps.


You're a metal detector guy. You should know this stuff. :laughing:

I had that thought flash by too.. Giant preform
 
It's probably a reject. Most arrowheads, and other stone tool, are found where they were making them and usually it's the rejects that are found. If you find one keep looking for more.
 
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