Artifact? FOSSIL? Or just a rock

[Sniffy]

Hello. My friend in Hocking county Ohio found this 25 years ago. IN This particular area there has been a great number of flint points and tools found in the creek banks and surrounding fields. It is known by local historians that the Adena lived in this area and I was curious if anyone knew what this piece was. ANY help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Cry Of The Eagle: History And Legends Of The Cherokee Indians And Their Buried Treasure - Grab it through Amazon!

[Red-Coat]

Nice curiosity. You can see from the web-like relief patterning (particularly in pictures 1 and 3) that this is a concretionary form. That kind of patterning is akin to what we call ‘septarian’ and although we aren’t sure how it happens, it’s generally held to be the result of compression or dehydration of sediments while the concretion is forming.

These curious shapes ae not uncommon in sedimentary rocks (all of Ohio's surface geology is sedimentary) and usually they have formed by mineral precipitation around mudstone or siltstone infilling cavities in the surrounding rock matrix. The cavities are usually marine in nature and arise from clumps of decayed organic matter (notably things like algae and sponges) or from burrowing activity by mud-dwelling animals.

So, the overall shape is natural in areas where you can see that web-like pattern standing proud of the surface, which seems to be pretty much all of it. If you examine more closely, it may just be possible that it has been modified in places to refine its shape… the pointed end for example. in which case it might be an artefact in the sense that someone picked it up because it caught their eye (as it caught yours) and tweaked it into something that you might loosely call an effigy or charmstone, but it’s not a tool. Alternatively it could conceivably have been picked up and ‘curated’ as a charmstone without any modification because of its intriguing shape. I’m doubtful in both cases.

Although such items certainly exist, we would usually want strong evidence for modification from microscopic examination and/or some context for the find such as: found as part of a cache, as grave goods, in a medicine bundle, or whatever. Not just ‘found in area where there was Indian settlement’.

 

[Sniffy]

Nice curiosity. You can see from the web-like relief patterning (particularly in pictures 1 and 3) that this is a concretionary form. That kind of patterning is akin to what we call ‘septarian’ and although we aren’t sure how it happens, it’s generally held to be the result of compression or dehydration of sediments while the concretion is forming.

These curious shapes ae not uncommon in sedimentary rocks (all of Ohio's surface geology is sedimentary) and usually they have formed by mineral precipitation around mudstone or siltstone infilling cavities in the surrounding rock matrix. The cavities are usually marine in nature and arise from clumps of decayed organic matter (notably things like algae and sponges) or from burrowing activity by mud-dwelling animals.

So, the overall shape is natural in areas where you can see that web-like pattern standing proud of the surface, which seems to be pretty much all of it. If you examine more closely, it may just be possible that it has been modified in places to refine its shape… the pointed end for example. in which case it might be an artefact in the sense that someone picked it up because it caught their eye (as it caught yours) and tweaked it into something that you might loosely call an effigy or charmstone, but it’s not a tool. Alternatively it could conceivably have been picked up and ‘curated’ as a charmstone without any modification because of its intriguing shape. I’m doubtful in both cases.

Although such items certainly exist, we would usually want strong evidence for modification from microscopic examination and/or some context for the find such as: found as part of a cache, as grave goods, in a medicine bundle, or whatever. Not just ‘found in area where there was Indian settlement’.

It seems that you are "well rounded" in these types of things. I really wish I had a large display of similar items to help you use the process of elimination. But this item was indeed picked up by a boy that thought it was interesting. I can say that there were generations of indians that dwelled and held meetings at ash cave...where this piece was found..aprox a mile away....and...the great Karshner mound is very close...it is merely a shot in the dark.....but you are exactly the type of person I wanted to examine this oddly shaped stone.