Man-made tool or natural?

Spartacus31 · 04-06-2007 7:08pm #1

This object was uncovered about 1 mile inland from Rossnawlagh beach, Donegal. The local geology is dominated by carboniferous limestone and sedimentary and metamorphic rocks. The object was found in context with a smaller triangular stone. Has it been shaped or can natural erosion account for the peculiar shape and very sharp curved point?

3 pics at: http:// www.TinyURL.com/2ko4fy

Any ideas?

spartacus

maireadmarie · 07-06-2007 7:30am

Hi spartacus - if you send the photos to the National Museum they will be delighted to take a look - but phoning first might be a good idea. I think you may be legally obliged to contact them actually. Those certainly look like important artefacts to me.

boneless · 08-06-2007 9:28am

To my (relatively untrained) eye they look natural. I can see no knapping marks as you would see on flint or chert. There might be a percussion mark on the larger one but it is not very clear. There is a possibility that they have been fashioned by abrasion though I have not seen anything like them before in any assemblage of artefacts to date.

Sorry I couldn't be any clearer than my shilling each way... contact the NMI and ask for the duty archaeologist.

katarin · 16-06-2007 10:48pm

boneless wrote:

To my (relatively untrained) eye they look natural. I can see no knapping marks as you would see on flint or chert.

i agree, even other shaped stone like quartz would show obvious signs of being tampered with by humans. My guess would be that the stones have been broken naturally, but not recently. the edges don't look sharp enough for it to have been recent.

happyoutscan · 10-11-2008 8:02am

In my opinion they are natural.

Gnar · 11-11-2008 9:24am

Unfortunatly i think they are natural,i have seen similar objects before and its down to water eroding the object.Just a suggestion but try posting it on th paleontology thread ,to me the large one looks like fossilised Corpolite/dung