Indian Tools?

[sloth]

Hey all, I have found two fossils at a spot in Florida that seem similar. They don't look like any bone I know of so I am wondering if they might of been worked by Native Americans.

[bmorefossil]

i wish i could say yes on this but being that i find a few hundred bones every time i fossil and many of them have ends that look like that im going with broken bones sorry

[sloth]

that's what I used to think until my friend showed me a fossil I would of thrown away as a broken bone. Turned out to be a bone needle from paleo indians.

[Cris]

I'm no expert and the pics don't show any obvious grinding marks...But I still think its very possible for it to be an awl or something like that.

[chainsaw]

They may be antler tips for arrowheads notice the drilled out bottoms on these pictures, Its hard to tell if yours have been drilled out from the photos.

[Auspex]

They may be antler tips for arrowheads notice the drilled out bottoms on these pictures...

Wow! I did not know that was done; too cool!

[bmorefossil]

They may be antler tips for arrowheads notice the drilled out bottoms on these pictures, Its hard to tell if yours have been drilled out from the photos.

hmm that is pretty cool

[Harry Pristis]

Hey all, I have found two fossils at a spot in Florida that seem similar. They don't look like any bone I know of so I am wondering if they might of been worked by Native Americans.

Bone (including antler) doesn't survive environmental exposure nearly as well as lithic artifacts. But, it does survive in special circumstances. You can identify bone tools from the alteration done by man. If it's a sharp sliver of bone without discernible alteration, it's just a bone fragment.

Don't forget to examine your bone fragments under magnification for tell-tale grinding marks.

The same is true for antler tips. You cannot assume that a hollow place on the broken face is a socket for hafting if there is any other possible explanation (such as deterioration of the spongy bone center). The curved tip of an antler would make a poor arrowhead unless you were trying to shoot around corners.

[sloth]

Yeah, they aren't hollowed out and the curve does seem strange for an arrow head. I looked around online a little and saw some pics of bone made fishing lures that have the same sort of shape as what I have. Besides the tip of an antler I don't know what bone it could be if it's not made by neolithic people..

[Frank Menser]

I kinda go with an antler tip on the smooth one and possibly a tooth core on the rough one.

[JohnJ]

...The same is true for antler tips. You cannot assume that a hollow place on the broken face is a socket for hafting if there is any other possible explanation (such as deterioration of the spongy bone center). The curved tip of an antler would make a poor arrowhead unless you were trying to shoot around corners.

Presumption, when it comes to artifacts or pseudo-artifacts, is based too often on what we'd like something to be. Harry makes some good "points". Take for instance chainsaw's hollowed antler tips, in some cases they might have been used for some sort of weapon tip, or maybe they were used for something else. Having lost a little blood to some flint knapping, I suppose it's possible that some of these could have been hafted for use in pressure flaking stone tools. What we do know, based on close observation, is that people sometimes altered bone to make tools and weapons. I try to be conservative when speculating on fragmentary evidence or paleo intent...mother nature and hope can fool you.

[mommabetts]

They may be antler tips for arrowheads notice the drilled out bottoms on these pictures, Its hard to tell if yours have been drilled out from the photos.

I make things like that to sell at the historical re-enactments that I do. All of the ones I have seen have been used to measure blackpowder out in to use with the blackpowder guns that we shoot. I know that the Indians used them alot for that. Never seen one used for arrow tips before.

[BobC]

Those are really cool!