Bone Tool Find. Is it bone? No matter what its old!

[rufus3898]

Bone Tool Find. Is it bone? No matter what it's old!

I found this along a river that has been seeing some heavy erosion lately. The point is super sharp and the condition is amazing. It measures about 4" long by approx 3/4" wide.
I don't know much about this type of thing so heres some pics for the veterans to review. Whatever the material it is made from it seems to be silky smooth and not very porous. Any help would be great! Thanks all.

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Agony and Death on a Gold Rush Steamer: The Disastrous Sinking of the Side-Wheeler Yankee Blade - Grab it through Amazon!

[larson1951]

Re: Bone Tool Find. Is it bone? No matter what it's old!

it's a bone awl or perforating tool made from a split rib bone
it is a good one in exc fine cond.
there could be more around the area and also maybe other stone artifacts
lars

 

[Harry Pristis]

Re: Bone Tool Find. Is it bone? No matter what it's old!

You don't say where you collected this item. If the stream cuts Late Cretaceous strata, consider the possibility that the object is a fish tooth. More specifically, it may be an Enchodus tooth.

Enchodus was a large, boney fish with teeth that would put any modern barracuda to shame. These predators were widely distributed during the Late Cretaceous. Here's an image of an Enchodus tooth from North Africa, and I have one in my drawer from New Jersey. The tooth in the image not a large one as Enchodus teeth go, but is in nice condition.

​

 

[larson1951]

Re: Bone Tool Find. Is it bone? No matter what it's old!

rufus
after looking a little closer i believe it was made from a bird bone(a hollow bone)
check this link and look at the 2nd picture from the top i believe image _1675
look at the 4th and the 8th from the left on the bottom row of awls
it really looks very close in my opinion

http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,325293.msg2368059.html#top


I do not want to disagree with harry's thoughts but i think this might be the answer
lars

 

[latrans]

Re: Bone Tool Find. Is it bone? No matter what it's old!

That's a bone awl for sure and a nice one. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Harry Pristis]

Re: Bone Tool Find. Is it bone? No matter what it's old!

Conflicting opinions are what makes this interesting, Lars!

It should be easy to eliminate either a tooth or a bird bone.

Tooth: not hollow, relatively heavy, flattened convex-convex sides.

Bird bone: hollow, relatively light, MOL round in cross-section.

Split bone: concave-convex sides.

The object may very well be a piece of sharpened bone, but I am suggesting another possibility for rufus to eliminate.

 

[larson1951]

Re: Bone Tool Find. Is it bone? No matter what it's old!

yes you are right
if we could get a shot at a slightly diff angle i believe it would show us that it was made from a hollow bone
just look a little closer and you could maybe see that it could have been
lars

 

[ohio]

Re: Bone Tool Find. Is it bone? No matter what it's old!

Definitely a bone awl.

Chuck

 

[The Grim Reaper]

Re: Bone Tool Find. Is it bone? No matter what it's old!

Definitely a Splinter Bone Awl, and like lars said, it is made by splitting a bone and then sharpening it into a nice point. Lars finds all kinds of these on his site and I find quite a few myself on sites I hunt.

Rufus, if I was you I would back to where you found this and see if you can find a Midden or Trash Pit that may be eroding into the river. If you can locate the Midden you could probably dig through it fairly easily and maybe find some more tools and other artifacts. Also, are the fields right aabove that spot plowed to where you can walk them. You may just have a site aboce there that will have more of these tools and other related artifacts. Most of the time Bone Tools are associated with the Ft Ancient/Mississippian Cultures and dated from around 1000 to 1650 AD. Check and see if you can find any Pottery Shards, pieces of Mussell Shell, and pieces of Bone laying around everywhere and that would probably be a camp. Go and check out some of larson1951 posts of his dirt and you will see what I'm talking about. Keep in my mind though that larsons site is to the extreme in the amount of pices laying around and yours may not look that littered, but will the same pieces to some extent.

 

[Harry Pristis]

Re: Bone Tool Find. Is it bone? No matter what it's old!

So, how about it, Rufus? What did you conclude about the object?

 

[flintdigger]

Re: Bone Tool Find. Is it bone? No matter what it's old!

I agree that is a nice splinter bone awl. Nice condition that is a good one.