✅ SOLVED stone chisel thing

[NJKLAGT]

Hey Everyone,

I was digging a signal at an old house site and this stone chisel-shaped thing happened to be in the hole. It looks like a black and green kind of granite or something but I'm not sure, maybe the geologists among you will know. Does anyone know what this is? It's certainly man-made. It was about five inches down.

Thanks for your help!


NJ

 

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[Charlie P. (NY)]

It sure looks like a celt - stone age axe. No idea if they are known or found in your area.

 

[sawmill man]

That is a small celt and a good one

 

[NJKLAGT]

This is the Brant County area in Southern Ontario. Any other ideas?

 

[Tpmetal]

This is the Brant County area in Southern Ontario. Any other ideas?

nope gotta be a celt or some sort.

 

[submariner]

nope gotta be a celt or some sort.

Just more evidence that Columbus wasn't first.

 

[NJKLAGT]

Probably a silly question, but are there ever any cases of people finding reproductions of these things? I'm just having such a hard time accepting that I found something thousands of years old, I've only found one arrowhead before and so this is all very new to me.

I will say though, that the area I found it in has some very interesting features, one being a giant hill with a creek running around it, probably very attractive to early peoples.

Can anyone give an approximate date to this thing, or tell me anything else about it?

 

[sawmill man]

There is a possibility, but if you found it 5 inches down its probably the real deal ,i have found them in cliffs ,lying flat in plowed fields and in creek beds. Hard to give exact age , but its a few hundred to thousands of years old, used as axes ,war clubs and some could have been used as a adze for hewing wood. congrats to finding the ancient stuff.

 

[tomsneck]

That s a beautiful celt. Wtg

 

[Wampum]

Just more evidence that Columbus wasn't first.

I think you may be confused. A celt is a tool made by Native North Americans and are known throughout the northeast part of the US and Canada and most likely elsewhere. In your post it seems to me that you were assuming that this was made be the Celtic people or Celts as they are called. This tool is not related to them. Sorry if you were joking it's hard to tell sarcasm through text.

 

[bradyboy]

how did you find it 5 inches down?
Its not metallic
Just asking as to how you found it

 

[NJKLAGT]

how did you find it 5 inches down?
Its not metallic
Just asking as to how you found it

I was digging a thick signal (ended up being iron) near the edge of the front yard and this was in one of the shovelfuls of dirt. I think I was widening the hole because I was having trouble locating the target, and this kind of just appeared in my shovel, I don't think I struck it or anything. I said, "well that's definitely not a normal rock". I held it under my coil and it didn't make a sound. Then I took it home to ask you guys about it! I originally thought it might be some scrubbing tool for laundry or something, haha! Because although it looks totally like some ancient axe or something and that should be the obvious first impression, I'm always a skeptic first because I can't stand guessing at something only to find out later that I was wrong, because that's so deflating, I hate it. It took me a long time to accept that my first arrowhead was an arrowhead, haha! But really, how unbelievable is it to find an arrowhead when people have been making them here for thousands of years? That's just me.

 

[NJKLAGT]

So is the consensus that it's the real deal then? I mean, I guess it is more likely that it's the real deal and not that one of the parents or two children who lived there was a hobbyist and made their own primitive celt for fun. Or maybe they even collected arrowheads and things that they found in the fields, and dropped one? Over in the Bottles & Glass forum Harry Pristis has mentioned greenstone deposits in Ontario, and that these celts were widely traded in North America, and I'm becoming more and more comfortable with the idea that this could be genuine. This is a place that probably would have attracted people in the past. The only reason I found the house site there in the first place was because the huge lone hill with a creek winding around it was so interesting and I just had to check it out.

"Why not?" might be a better question. Any skeptics out there wanna weigh in? I myself just find it so hard to believe, even though it's not unbelievable at all. There's a word for that, I forget what it is...

 

[Old Pueblo]

Yes, and it looks Native American to me. Really awesome find.

 

[Plug N Play]

Not an uncommon tool to find. Yes, it looks ancient.

Interesting rocks were commonly brought home to line the yards, flowers, trees, and gardens around the homestead.
These would often include the native tools, ... bowls, pestles, mortars, celts, adzes, etc.

Are you finding remnants of other rocks laying around, left from the old homestead ?

This may be an insitu find, left there for hundreds or thousands of years, or it may be a yard-rock left by the tenants.

Either way, it looks ancient, and a lucky find on your part !

 

[Old Pueblo]

I was digging a thick signal (ended up being iron) near the edge of the front yard and this was in one of the shovelfuls of dirt. I think I was widening the hole because I was having trouble locating the target, and this kind of just appeared in my shovel, I don't think I struck it or anything. I said, "well that's definitely not a normal rock". I held it under my coil and it didn't make a sound. Then I took it home to ask you guys about it! I originally thought it might be some scrubbing tool for laundry or something, haha! Because although it looks totally like some ancient axe or something and that should be the obvious first impression, I'm always a skeptic first because I can't stand guessing at something only to find out later that I was wrong, because that's so deflating, I hate it. It took me a long time to accept that my first arrowhead was an arrowhead, haha! But really, how unbelievable is it to find an arrowhead when people have been making them here for thousands of years? That's just me.

Incredible what you guys happen to dig up. T-net is full of stories like this, which is why I love to hear about them. Im always pretty skeptical myself.

 

[Old Pueblo]

No, its real. ARtifacts like these are much more difficult to produce than it may seem. Its unlikely some kid in recent times would have the knowledge to produce something like this. And celts and stuff are a fairly common find in your part of the world, from what I understand. If you google it you can find tons of other nice examples like yours. And finding it buried in the ground is definitely where youd expect to find something like that. That and in the fields after tilling or whatever they call it.

 

[NJKLAGT]

Alright everybody, I'm feeling pretty good about this! It sounds like everyone is pretty confident that it's a celt, so I'm going to start calling it a celt.

Thank you all so much for your help!

 

[coinman123]

It looks real to me! I am not sure what a reproduction would be doing underground. I still haven't ever found an arrowhead, and have looked everywhere.

Amazing find! It is amazing to think that someone was using that tool thousands of years ago, and you were the first person to hold it since!

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

As far as age - in the US/Canada maybe 8,000 to 500 years BC. The process is labor intensive - they are knapped to rough shape and then ground to polish them. Mississippian maybe (3,500 BCE +/-)? The Mound Builders. They got as far North as the Great Lakes.

Hell of a find. That size is likely an adze or gouge tip. If you have a local historical society you definitely want to describe it to them. Show (but do not loan) it if they want to measure and photograph it. Though I don't know what Canada's antiquities laws are like.