✅ SOLVED What Kind Of Spike Is This

[piggman1]

It's been a long time since I've posted on Tnet, but I have something I need help in identifying. I live out in the hill country outside of Austin in some really rugged country. Mostly thickly covered Cedar/Limestone covered hills. While looking for a good deer stand this year, I came across a rather strange hill. The hill kind of stair steps up until you reach the top. Once you reach the top you can see where it was once cleared off in a perfect square about 75-100 yards, covering the whole top of the hill. In the middle of this clearing is a huge pile of rocks that form a circle, and in the middle of the pile it looks like something caved in causing the center of the pile to collapse below ground level. I also found that there are numerous piles of rock on the stairsteps on the side of the hill that look alot like old graves. The only relic I found was this spike on the side of the hill near the rock piles. It is longer than a railroad spike and measures 10 7/8" X 1 1/16", and the sides taper down from 1 1/4"'s to a beveled point. These measurements vary slightly because I don't think it was machine made. There are grooves on the sides of it that seem to be measurement marks. It is made of iron, and one end seems to have been used to hammer it into something, but the beveled end is in real good shape. Can anyone identify what this spike was used for, or maybe how old it is. Thanks

 

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[taz42o]

Its a chisel. Maybe for working with those rocks.

 

[piggman1]

That's what I was thinking except none of the rocks up there seem to be worked. They all seem natural. Does anyone know what the marks on the chisel are, or how old this could be?

 

[cudamark]

Maybe those rocks were the raw materials for making headstones if you think there is some connection to a graveyard. It might be that the markings on the chisel are used to help lay out whatever words or designs were needed to be put on the stone.

 

[osage express]

I think it is a wedge used in the feather and wedge method for splitting rock It has been used for years.Look up feather and wedge rock spiitting .I hope this helps... Osage

 

[piggman1]

Thanks Osage, but I checked out feather and wedge rock spiitting, then went back up there and can't find where any kind of that type work had been done. It all seems to be natural limestone. I'm just wondering if there might be a tunnel or something where it looks like the rockpile collapsed. If so, maybe it was used in there. I do agree, it is a chistle of some sort.