Fishing weights?

[BridgetownTreasures]

These were found among the collection of my grandfather, who gathered treasures - mostly rock & gems - all over the Pacific Northwest from the 1930's through the 1990's. He also had some things from his childhood in Sioux Falls, including one fishing weight that he clearly labeled as being from the Sioux river. These pieces were in another part of his collection, and they are not labeled. One looks more like a pestle than a weight, but I know very little of these sorts of artifacts. Very grateful for any thoughts or input.

 

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[Tdog]

The pestle is not a fishing weight. It is a Pestle!

 

[newnan man]

I don't think any of those are fishing weights. Seems like a lot of work to grind a stone into those shapes and then throw it in the river. Any rock would work.
I may be wrong but I believe they had some other purpose. Thanks for sharing. The experts will chime in.

 

[unclemac]

they all look like pestles to me, and they also look like Columbia River artifacts.

 

[Imfishboy]

They are artifacts, nice finds. Much more valuable than weights.

 

[joshuaream]

they all look like pestles to me, and they also look like Columbia River artifacts.

100% agreed

 

[dognose]

Very nice pestles.

You mentioned "another part of his collection" - what other treasures did your grandfather collect?

 

[BridgetownTreasures]

Very nice pestles.

You mentioned "another part of his collection" - what other treasures did your grandfather collect?

Yes, his things are spread over many boxes in a few households. He was primarily a rockhound, with Oregon as his home base. I’d say a good 90% f his finds are from the Pacific Northwest. Almost all rocks, minerals, crystals and gems. Some natural coral and shells. A few fossils and copralites.

He also had a few pieces of southwestern jewelry...turquoise/silver mostly.

The only native artifacts I’ve come across so far are these pieces, the other piece I mentioned above that was labeled “Native American Fishing Net Weight found by Sioux River, 1926” (i’ll attach a pic of that one to this comment), and a series of very tiny chips of obsidian that he had labeled as being Native American knife blades. These obsidian pieces are tiny - around 1cm or less each. There around 8-10 of them. When I came across them, I thought it was a stretch to call them knife blades - but I’m far from knowledgeable about these things.

 

[unclemac]

if that grove is only on one side, it is a tool to abrade arrow shafts.

 

[The Grim Reaper]

Nice examples of Pacific Northwest Pestles.

 

[BridgetownTreasures]

if that grove is only on one side, it is a tool to abrade arrow shafts.

These are the “knives” I referenced. They are very tiny - the longest is about 1”

 

[welsbury]

Those very well could be flake knives. They probably have use wear on one edge or more if he collected them. A simple artifact,but an artifact

 

[unclemac]

you bet...bladelets...think of them as razor blades.

 

[unclemac]

where are his projectile points? with what you have shown us already he MUST have had a lot of good PNW points too. Those points could help narrow it down as to where he was finding things.

 

[BridgetownTreasures]

So far, nothing like a point or arrowhead.

 

[unclemac]

ask around to people who may have known more.

 

[BridgetownTreasures]

if that grove is only on one side, it is a tool to abrade arrow shafts.

Turns out it has grooves on all sides...so maybe not a shaft abrader. Other than a fishing net weight, any thoughts?

 

[unclemac]

no, it still could be...i have one on both sides.

 

[BridgetownTreasures]

no, it still could be...i have one on both sides.

Interesting! Here are a few more photos that highlight the groove running the full circumference of the stone.

 

[unclemac]

well the groove on the end means it is not for shafts for sure.