✅ SOLVED Southwest Florida Calusa country, unsure of what these are.

[RayHeezy]

Alrighty treasure crew, I'm stumped. My buddy is doing some.pavers out front his house and stumbled upon these. They were found 2-6" deep. No conductive metal inside. a few were about 11.5, a few were about 12.3g, 15.2g,, large was 28.4g. Material feels extremely smooth and heavy. Almost like smoothed marble or granite. One seems to have a rust colored stain on it. Our ideas are a native American game, net weights, or scale weights. Found on the south end of the mouth of the caloosahatchee, Spanish, French, and Native American.

 

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[GoldieLocks]

Asian game board pieces?

 

[RayHeezy]

The area was cattle grazing land in 1958, property was developed some time before 1984. Has never had a house or foundation built.

 

[RayHeezy]

Update:
1.
I have tried breaking it with a hammer and the hammer just bounces off. 3 good swings and not even a chip with the hatchet either.
2.
I had one piece carried around with me and noticed it was getting marked up in off my coins. Took a quarter and ran it along the piece and the silver scratched off and now looks like it is a permanent mark on the stone piece. Pic included.

 

[GoldieLocks]

I think I found these pieces on ebay.

Vintage Board Game The Viking Game by History Craft Ltd Past Times​

Herehttps://www.ebay.com/itm/2847502819...RaBuhGi22XLtm+rxmJJ/g/u3loM9|tkp:BFBMyKajucZg

 

[KSDirtfisher77]

If the hammer or hatchet just bounces off of it, like hitting a rubber ball with a hammer. They could be made out of Derlin plastic, it's almost a indestructible plastic used to make gears & rollers & such.

 

[RayHeezy]

I think I found these pieces on ebay.

Vintage Board Game The Viking Game by History Craft Ltd Past Times​

Herehttps://www.ebay.com/itm/284750281939?hash=item424c707cd3:g:jEgAAOSwM0NhZi3b&amdata=enc:AQAHAAAA4Fl7E9ijJ7RbMBxE6BeP0+iTddnWZz2jg+9otIQ2lL6vCA/lxQHUfobSOlpKhrdoQfDoKHoRYh3uL2BJfspStJXHKWmOXkVVCm6G/nUC7boPVAbJRQOzPENxppiUUSWKG+6TIYYC62fqKcA7y6+9TnhwWOqbbR1g4YdlcmrIljW41YBJ/xVwRiKH5JmQZCC/IEqrpI2xxHLtuKvmWpGUMfDymd4XObPGmjgMxTeaCdT5IXUIIWeE1uADQ4/48ZvzToWNzky+txpfZdoaRaBuhGi22XLtm+rxmJJ/g/u3loM9|tkp:BFBMyKajucZg

Love the thought but the simple zoom in pictures on these look like they have some sort of base or shape at bottom. Mine are fully cylindrical with rounded edges, except the single ball piece. I will get better pictures of that one tomorrow.
Much appreciate the accumulative thoughts on this.

 

[RayHeezy]

If the hammer or hatchet just bounces off of it, like hitting a rubber ball with a hammer. They could be made out of Derlin plastic, it's almost a indestructible plastic used to make gears & rollers & such.

If the hammer or hatchet just bounces off of it, like hitting a rubber ball with a hammer. They could be made out of Derlin plastic, it's almost a indestructible plastic used to make gears & rollers & such.

I haven't had much experience hitting rocks with stuff growing up in Florida. The cement/Pavement felt like it gave more elasticity than the mystery material upon rebound. I've been looking at Florida minerals and can't seem to match it. Not milky quartz, not talcum, not flint or calcite. Tomorrow has a density test on the way. It doesn't have a shine like marble but it has all the feels of marble. Weight, coolness, non-porous, at least in my young 31 years of life.
Delrin plastic, Polyoxymethylene, has a density of 1.41 gc3. Marble is 2.64. I only have a only digital scale and fish tank equipment to do my density work so I'm hoping I'll be able to get the calcs right.

 

[Red-Coat]

Just a guess, but those look to me like "tumbling media", also known as "deburring stones". They were used in tumbling drums for polishing or size-reduction of powders in much the same way as the more commonly found and usually larger milling balls. They came in various shapes with triangles/pyramids commonly seen, but also spheres, short cylinders, cubes, lozenges and other geometric shapes.

The early ones are usually made of fired ceramics, to which crushed quartz has been added and have the appearance of being 'stone', but all kinds of high-tech materials in modern times. One other common use was for taking the sharp edges off machined components and the excess 'flash' off cast components... cogs, gears, screws etc.

 

[Kray Gelder]

Just a guess, but those look to me like "tumbling media", also known as "deburring stones". They were used in tumbling drums for polishing or size-reduction of powders in much the same way as the more commonly found and usually larger milling balls. They came in various shapes with triangles/pyramids commonly seen, but also spheres, short cylinders, cubes, lozenges and other geometric shapes.

The early ones are usually made of fired ceramics, to which crushed quartz has been added and have the appearance of being 'stone', but all kinds of high-tech materials in modern times. One other common use was for taking the sharp edges off machined components and the excess 'flash' off cast components... cogs, gears, screws etc.

I think Redcoat is correct, tumbling media. Here are a couple examples I found.

 

[RayHeezy]

Just a guess, but those look to me like "tumbling media", also known as "deburring stones". They were used in tumbling drums for polishing or size-reduction of powders in much the same way as the more commonly found and usually larger milling balls. They came in various shapes with triangles/pyramids commonly seen, but also spheres, short cylinders, cubes, lozenges and other geometric shapes.

The early ones are usually made of fired ceramics, to which crushed quartz has been added and have the appearance of being 'stone', but all kinds of high-tech materials in modern times. One other common use was for taking the sharp edges off machined components and the excess 'flash' off cast components... cogs, gears, screws etc.

Great answer! What would be a good way to test this?

 

[Red-Coat]

Great answer! What would be a good way to test this?

I don't know how you would really go about verifying this. All I can say is that the appearance and description of properties are consistent with tumbling media/deburring stones. That would also explain why they are so smooth, with rounded angles and corners.

 

[RayHeezy]

I don't know how you would really go about verifying this. All I can say is that the appearance and description of properties are consistent with tumbling media/deburring stones. That would also explain why they are so smooth, with rounded angles and corners.

I totally agree with you. I'm working on finding out what the property across the street was in order to determine whether they could've been using them. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think we have any minerals down here that would be worthwhile tumbling?

If it was used as a.metal deburring tool wouldn't I be finding metal slaw or pieces around the area?
why would there only be a handful?
If just being in a pocket with common clad is enough to mark it, wouldn't whatever it was being tumbled with cause marks as well?

 

[Red-Coat]

I totally agree with you. I'm working on finding out what the property across the street was in order to determine whether they could've been using them. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think we have any minerals down here that would be worthwhile tumbling?

If it was used as a.metal deburring tool wouldn't I be finding metal slaw or pieces around the area?
why would there only be a handful?
If just being in a pocket with common clad is enough to mark it, wouldn't whatever it was being tumbled with cause marks as well?

If those are what I believe them to be then I would say they have been heavily used... otherwise couldn't see them being that smooth and rounded. I don't know how the mark occurred, but could well have happened at a later time from contact with something or relatively light abrasion unrelated to their usage.

I have known these things turn up in fields near industrial premises in small groups and also in old coffee cans in sheds or old tool boxes. There comes a point where they are 'exhausted' and simply discarded. Polishing minerals (in the sense of wanting to make decorative precious or semi-precious pieces) would, I think, not be a typical usage. Deburring, certainly, and I also mentioned size-reduction of powders. I know that they have been used for things like converting dried kaolin/clay into finer particles for pottery production and also for producing fine colourant powders to be used in paint. I have seen anecdotal reference to other powders such as gunpowder or its components but can't verify that.

 

[RayHeezy]

If those are what I believe them to be then I would say they have been heavily used... otherwise couldn't see them being that smooth and rounded. I don't know how the mark occurred, but could well have happened at a later time from contact with something or relatively light abrasion unrelated to their usage.

I have known these things turn up in fields near industrial premises in small groups and also in old coffee cans in sheds or old tool boxes. There comes a point where they are 'exhausted' and simply discarded. Polishing minerals (in the sense of wanting to make decorative precious or semi-precious pieces) would, I think, not be a typical usage. Deburring, certainly, and I also mentioned size-reduction of powders. I know that they have been used for things like converting dried kaolin/clay into finer particles for pottery production and also for producing fine colourant powders to be used in paint. I have seen anecdotal reference to other powders such as gunpowder or its components but can't verify that.

What a wealthy response, thank you. I'm hoping that I'll be able to find something relevant to the deburring while inquiring about the old house nearby.

 

[RayHeezy]

Solution day!
I emailed the local university and they were unsure, so I brought the unknown item to the Historical Society of Southwest Florida. They sent the information to state archaeologist Ryan Wheeler.

Below is his response:

"... good to hear from you! Thanks for sharing those stones! I've seen something like this before and I'm pretty sure they have some kind of industrial application, maybe paint manufacture or some sort of polishing. Think about the abrasive materials you would put in a rock polisher, but on a massive scale. The ones I saw were a different shape, more like little cones. But, about the same size and that same marble-like, really hard material."

So there we have it! @Red-Coat well done man, you really hit the nail on the hammer! Also a huge thank you to Ryan and Nancy if you're reading this!