Buffalo balls !!!

[grovestone]

So I have a friend who is completley engulfed in arrowhead hunting. She is a pretty redheaded gal and has built quite the collection of points. She is a member here but hasnt made her debut yet. This past summer she found this piece of ? A local archeologist looked at it an said it is hematite and he spotted traces of whatever indicated blood had once or is present. He point out that there are rodent scratch marks all over it where the were trying to either sharpen teeth or get a meal off these blood remnants. it is very heavy, probably at least 6 pounds and has a strange series of holes (i assume drilled into the bottom)forms a rectangular shape and is at least 3 inches into core of object. She calls these her BUFFALO BALLS and wanted me to post this for her so, here they are. Any feedback would just tickle her sh_tless... Thanks luv you JOY..

[Tdog]

Cool! Reminds me of the end of a large fossilized bone.

[grovestone]

me too, thats what i thought it was, but ol boy said it is a hematite tool of some sorts. i liked the dino bone idea better...lol

[Easttexashunter]

Lmao! i like the buffalo ball idea.

[tomclark]

Petrified wood??

"Balls", said the Queen. "If I had two, I'd be King!"

[joshuaream]

It's a natural hematite concretion, on the broken park of the "sack" you can see the layers in the concretion. If you look up Moqui Marbles, you can see similar formations found in sandstone. It very well could have been picked up and used by natives for red ochre.

I'm not sure how the Archie could find blood on it, probably just some of the remaining red pigment made from hematite.

[Mojave]

A new term!
Prairie Oysters
Mountain Tendergroins
Cowboy Caviar
Swingin' Beef
And now Moqui Marbles...
I'm gonna have to remember that one.

[cachefind09]

I also think that there wouldn't be any blood stain on the piece. Hematite comes in many colors ranging from silver to red and since they contain a high content of iron they are going to have oxide stains on the surface. Here is a 4 lb. piece I found and it has many oxide spots on it that you could easily be mistaken for blood.

[grovestone]

i completly agree, natrual hematite formation, however, whats up with the hole in the middle? Does it form that way. My friend is a member here and hasnt made any posts. I am pushing really hard for her to show her stuff, you guys would be very impressed. She still thinks its a tool as did that archie. I am enjoying her reaction to getting feedback!!! keep it coming she cant believe i told yall she calls them balls!! lol

[cachefind09]

Hematite was often used in tools such as axes, celts and others and were ground to a particular shape. This doesn't mean that your piece wasn't used as a tool, it could have been used as a hammerstone in it's natural form without being shaped. Being a piece of hematite, it would have been very impact resistant and would have served it's purpose well. I feel the archaeologist was off on the call about blood stains on the piece which makes me wonder if the piece was even identified correctly. It's hard to tell from the picture but it could even possibly be an iron meteorite which can look very similar to a piece of hematite.