Expert: Ralph Salier - 4/3/2011

Question
QUESTION: Dr. Salier,
attached is the first of a series of images (if needed) taken of a group of stone objects found along coastal NJ, a few of which are clearly tools, some of which may be more questionable.  I'm wondering first if you could help verify how those you can identify would have been used, next whether they would be considered a grouping that belong together or a random mix, which relates to the final question, how old you'd consider them to be.  
thanks for your help & best wishes,
Jenny

ANSWER: Hi Jenny.

Some are clearly manipulated by man but then were heavily eroded by beach action or some other erosion.  Typically the margins of flakes and edges are very sharp but in these cases all such margins are smoothed over.  I once found an arrow head (point) near Ocean City which was smoothed like this from action along the beach.  

I will number them one through four across the top of t he ruler (#4 being the black one under the redish one.  and 5 through 8 below the ruler #5 being  the largest of these.

Based on the fliker images, 1,2 and 4 were worked.  What #1 may have been is difficult to determine and may simply have been a core. #2 appears to have been an axe and #4 may have been a knife or scraper but due to the heavy erosion difficult to determine.#3 is a "geo-fact" just an interesting stone.

#5 may have been an adz and ground into shape rather then chipped.  It is of that shape but again heavily eroded.  #6 is a scraper in form but also heavily eroded.  #7 and 8 are both made of Chohansie quartzite/chert.  This only comes from one small quary in south Jersey.  Both have been worked.  #7 is a simple core for making sharp flakes and #8 is a blank or preform in process of being turned into an arrow head (point).

All are heavily eroded but this is quite typical of beach finds.  Are they a random mix. To a degree but still if found in a small area then they have a clear association to one another.



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: this is a fantastic help.  thank you so much for taking the time on a weekend. regarding 1,2,4,5,6 (7-8 as cores may be more difficult?) could you give me any idea of how old they look to be/ when they'd have been used? just picked up HCKraft, & am curious where to start :-). that might also give a clue whether it would make more sense that they came downstream from inland (?), or could be a result of slow westward sand movement, etc.

i hadn't realized the Chohansie was that localized.  have beautiful big natural chunks (again, beach) that look like they'd been hit once or twice to break pieces off. that i guess i thought were far more common than that.

Answer
Hi,

With out a "diagnostic" point, it is very hard to determine age.  However, the axe appears to be fully grooved which would make it early to middle archaic time period, or 3 to 4 thousand years old.  Given the heavy erosion, it would kind of point to being older cultural materials.

Just like us, they liked the beach too.  They were beach combers and also collected shell fish and other shore based foods.  So they did use this part of the coast.  Also not far from most beach areas are large oyster middens  as oysters  were heavily harvested.  

The erosion is from both wave action and blowing sand and tumbling of stones in the sand.  That is why beach sand turns glass chunks into frosted bits very quickly.  

As for Chohansie materials,  these are heavily fossiliferous sand stone/chert materials.  The quary is in Salem county and is known by archaeologists but generally to few others.  If you have a few chunks of it, it was quaried from there.