What I found in my garden

in #archaeology6 years ago (edited)

I was rebuilding the retaining wall for the flower bed inside my front gate and that entailed sieving the soil in there. It appears that the soil was brought in from elsewhere as it was typical red Johannesburg shale soil, whereas I live on a ridge formed by the Vredefort meteorite strike and the soil is dark and contains a high percentage of quartzite. So this could have come to my place from elsewhere. Although there were many rock shards, this one caught my eye:
Stone tool front.jpg
It fits perfectly into my right hand and although quite worn shows signs of flaking at the back side:
Stone tool back (2).jpg
This is a cutting edge and the facets fit my thumb perfectly:
Stone tool cutting edge.jpg
The other side where it can be held by the fingers
Stone tool faceted edge.jpg
Different finger positions on the faceted sides, giving good leverage and a comfortable grip
Stone tool finger position.jpg

Stone tool finger position 2.jpg
What do the experienced and educated people think? I found a second point close by but I put it somewhere safe. So safe that I can't find it now. It shows similar faceting to allow an easy grip. If I find it again, I will post pictures

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Very nice Middle Stone Age Scraper

Thank you for the confirmation

Very interesting. It almost seems that the rock was fashioned as a useful cutting edge by the way it fits the fingers.

It could be any of the things mentioned in the comments here. However, when I was taught to nap arrowheads I was told that when you find things like this they were usually attempted heads that did not quite work out right and were discarded. :)

This looks like a tool that may be efficient for grinding up small objects into smaller bits or scraping something off a designated surface... what do you think this may have used for??

I think scraping seems most likely

most definitely... @asaj nailed it i believe

it is really an interesting specimen, by the form it can be said that it really was brought to you from another place. One of the edges is almost perfect for a finger. In fact, it can be used for various purposes.
I'm interested to look at the second, which is well hidden)
thanks, it's interesting

That's an interesting find indeed :)

You might have discovered a fosil who knows

Totally think if it fits into your hand so well then it was most likely used as a tool of some kind. We live in an area wher we frequently find pieces. I never discount the fact that anything could be used in ways we have never thought of before.

In ancient times, pieces of rock like these were used to carve out symbols on walls for future references or to pass information to generations to come. Thanks for sharing your experience

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