Expert: John Shea - 10/16/2006

Question
This is a question for John Shea if it the same person who was recently on the discovery channel. I saw the show about neanderthol weapons. My father found a weapon in Massachusettes last year. I contacted the Mass archeiology society and they said it was not indian and they have never seen anything like it before. There is no way it is a natural rock. I was hoping you could look at the pictures and tell me what you think. I can send them when you return this message with an email adress. Thank you. Candice

Answer
Dear Candice
Your next best bet would be to take it to an archaeology professor at either UMass or BU. There are several possibilities other than it being of Native American origin.
1. It may be an artifact from another part of the world that was brought to Mass. as a souvenir, and subsequenty lost/discarded. This happened a lot with obsidian tools from the South Seas.  Sailors brought them home and their descendants tossed them out.  Later on, someone else found them and a "mystery artifact" was born.  I've heard of many such We even had someone show up here with what looked like a warthog tusk they found in their garden.
2. It may be something that was brought over here in ballast gravel (used to stabilize old wooden ships.  Such gravel was cleared out and discarded upon arrival in the New World.  Sometimes common Old World artifacts, like stone tools and Roman coins end up here in this way.
3. It could be a product of modern flintknappers.  There are many people who make replicas of stone tools for fun. This could be something created by one such person.  I was once on a survey in Mass, in which we found remains of an "arrowhead" knapped from remains of a ceramic electrical insulator.
4. Lastly, you would be amazed at how natural forces can create the appearance of artifacts.  A man once showed me pictures of stones from Ice-Age deposits that looked like they had been cut and polished with a diamond saw.  Upon investigation, they turned out to have been "ventifacts" -artifacts polished by wind-borne sand.
Sincerely,
John Shea