Round gray rock ID please

NCPeaches

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Mar 24, 2013
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Western Piedmont North Carolina
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Does anyone know what type of stone this is and is it normal for it to be shaped this way? I found it in a creek on my property where I have found tons of Native American artifacts, crockery and old bottles and glass. What are the odds the Native Americans would use it for something?

Thanks for looking!

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The brown is an iron stain, likely from mineralization from within the stone or one it was sitting against. Pretty small rock to be a native tool, but I have seen some similar items for sale - Google "native American grinding tools". I don't know if this stuff is positive thinking or really was an ancient tool.
 

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100_3982.jpg This is the type of small game stone I was talking about and yours look similar. In this thread the stone looks like it has a green tint to it. It could be what we call greenstone and the N. A. s most likely brought it there.
 

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i'm only just seeing this pic now. i have definitely found objects similar to this, and found that they are little baby pestles. that's in MY case. And, yes, some of the native tools can be and are small.
in my case, the area where the fingers grip is quite shiny, the bottom of the piece is a bit concave and also worn shiny. Mind you, i couldn't see the shine too well until i rubbed the object on my pant leg to knock loose the moss, dust, etc, and then the gloss was apparent and undeniable -- as it is only on the used areas. I just hope you don't give up on things like this --- feeling that they're meaningless.
I've definitely had the experience where i thought i had just a rock, but went home and examined the thing in depth, with magnification, and etc, and came to a way different conclusion. wish i knew what you think about the object at this point.... did you chuck it ?
 

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but, sorry, i'm not a geologist and can't say what the type of rock is. wish i knew. did you find out ?
 

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i find those from time to time, in my case they are kiln fired "brick" pieces, not native made, and i am not sure of the purpose, but they are not all that uncommon.
 

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Thats a cool little game piece imo peaches kinda like the one I found early this year but mine is flatter.
 

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Diabase is likely what its made of.
 

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Thats a cool little game piece imo peaches kinda like the one I found early this year but mine is flatter.

I took it to Archeology Day last January and David Moore said it was a game piece but he didn't know the stone type. He showed me some made out of pottery that was pretty cool too. He really liked it and I hope I can find more of them. I like the one you found too rock.
 

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Thank you Eu_citzen for the stone type ID, now I know what it's made of and I wonder if it's local to the area or some traded stone. I know granite is NC's official stone so maybe it's similar. I wish I knew more about stones. Thanks again!

No problem. Not being familar the local geology, I'd ask at a local rock club. Or look up geology maps (tricky for a newbie), perhaps ask the USGS on an e-mail?
 

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