Banded Slate?

[Mud Hawk]

Found this one twice... The first time I said hmmm and dropped it back down. I "re-found" it again yesterday and the possible grinding made me take it home.

It looks like banded slate to me, but I am not sure. It also looks like it has purposeful grinding (parallel planes) on opposing sides. I have a few wet shots and one dry shot of what I think are the ground areas.







Ground Area 1, Dry:


Ground Area 1, Wet:


Ground Area 2, Wet:


Video for an idea of form:
Click here for a video of form...

Is it banded slate, are those ground by man, and was it going to be something?

[CDEAN]

The "ground" areas kinda look like natural breaks that got smoothed out over time.

[Mud Hawk]

Thanks for the reply CDEAN. As far as those surfaces go... I don't see how it could be possible to "naturally" be smoothed down while still retaining a clean edge... i.e. it would have been rounded on the edges of the ground areas in question. The edges around the potentially ground areas are very distinct.

I have ground what are called "windows" in many a metallic rock to get an idea of material. It looks exactly like it was ground on a very flat surface. Hope that made sense!

[paleoman]

Hey Mud that looks exactly like the stone in the Uwharrie River down here in NC. Do you see much of it up your way? The river is full of it here. Pretty stone.

[Mud Hawk]

Paleoman, nope this is the first specimen I have found and it was in my artifact "hot spot". I have convinced myself 90% positive it is ground... but to what purpose. Might have just been toying with it and chucked it. Then again I could be totally wrong .

[paleoman]

Well it's exactly like we have, might have been traded in?

[paleoman]

The tan end you show in the last 3 wet shots are the natural color or the outside core of the stone.... around here anyway.

[cgode]

Looks like slate to me, just googled it and found reference to artifacts made from green and black banded slate in Warren and Richland counties Ohio. As to the purposeful grinding, it does appear that way to me but I have never found a ground slate piece before so I have nothing to compare it to.
Have you ever heard of knapped slate pieces?...Ghost said he has seen some.

[Mud Hawk]

Ghost actually has a Clovis made of slate or shale (I get them mixed up).

Another flag that tells me those areas were ground is the "grain" in the stone. Kind of like sanding against the grain in wood. Pic three shows the alternating layers of color in the stone... that's what I am calling the grain. Pic four you can see the direction of grinding is going in a different direction than the layers.

[james b]

Originally Posted by CDEAN

The "ground" areas kinda look like natural breaks that got smoothed out over time.

My thoughts exactly.