Texas finds.

[Rock John]

Just sharing,  let me know if something stands out.  Thank you. 

[facehugger]

2nd photo resembles a cretaceous marine gastropod steinkern.

 

Any info on how and where you obtained is always helpful to the community when trying to identify. 

[Rock John]

That it is.  A  Gastropod that I found at a native mound.  If you look you will see it was carved and is a native with a head dress. 

[Rock John]

The last one is mammoth front left fibia. Found on Cordova creek in Sattler, TX. 

[Rock John]

The 3rd pic from bottom up that looks like a foot is a moccasin fast.  You can see the fossil shell that was mixed up with the sand and crushed limestone then poured into a dried foot print.  Then cooked under a  Ceremonial fire and turned to stone. 

[Uncle Siphuncle]

5 hours ago, Rock John said:

The last one is mammoth front left fibia. Found on Cordova creek in Sattler, TX. 

Looks like you found a mammoth distal humerus, great find for the area, or any area.

[Al Dente]

6 hours ago, Rock John said:

The 3rd pic from bottom up that looks like a foot is a moccasin fast.  You can see the fossil shell that was mixed up with the sand and crushed limestone then poured into a dried foot print.  Then cooked under a  Ceremonial fire and turned to stone. 

Looks like a weathered piece of limestone. What is a moccasin fast?

[Rock John]

Its a casting of a foot. You lay it down and wrap leather around it and stich it up then pull it out and flip it over and repeat.  It makes that size shoe.  If you look you can see the ball of the foot and the toes.  Its a fired casting that turns into a stone. Sounds like glass if you tap it. 

[JohnJ]

1 minute ago, Rock John said:

Its a casting of a foot. You lay it down and wrap leather around it and stich it up then pull it out and flip it over and repeat.  It makes that size shoe.  If you look you can see the ball of the foot and the toes.  Its a fired casting that turns into a stone. Sounds like glass if you tap it. 

 

Your stone may look like foot casting, but it is not.  It is an eroded fragment of shell hash limestone.  There are several places in Central Texas to find similar pieces.  A county location could help us ID the geologic formation.

[Rock John]

I can duplicate the stone.. I know how its made.  If you look at it you will see the river sand with the shell in it.  There would be know way to duplicate the toes and ball of the foot naturally.. I know its a head scratcher.  But they had foot in making it.  Lol. 

[Rock John]

It was found on the san saba I want to say Williamson co.  But its been years.  I found it 16 years ago. 

[Kane]

Would sea shells survive being fire cast?

[Rock John]

Here is some of the knowledge I have learned along the way.  

 Every area has 7 different woods. Except the desert areas. But still have root systems.  Each one of the woods burn at a different temp. After making the pieces to fire they would wrap them in green leaf and gently place in a pocket under the fire mound with rocks making a pocket around the piece.  Then build the fire from lowest temp then build up to hottest temp then bring it back down.  After a couple weeks of ceremony. The fires cool slowly and then the pieces are pulled.   There is a process.    That foot is limestone powder, sand from the river and water to make the mud.  Then pour into the mold and let sit after a few hours it can be lifted then wrapped and placed into the pocket.  Total process is one full moon to another.    Try it yourself.  

[JohnJ]

4 hours ago, Rock John said:

Here is some of the knowledge I have learned along the way.  

 Every area has 7 different woods. Except the desert areas. But still have root systems.  Each one of the woods burn at a different temp. After making the pieces to fire they would wrap them in green leaf and gently place in a pocket under the fire mound with rocks making a pocket around the piece.  Then build the fire from lowest temp then build up to hottest temp then bring it back down.  After a couple weeks of ceremony. The fires cool slowly and then the pieces are pulled.   There is a process.    That foot is limestone powder, sand from the river and water to make the mud.  Then pour into the mold and let sit after a few hours it can be lifted then wrapped and placed into the pocket.  Total process is one full moon to another.    Try it yourself.  

 

Respectfully, I disagree that this is an artifact as you describe.  Besides having the characteristics of few different Texas formations, this rock doesn't show any signs of heat treatment.  The temperatures required to fire your unique slurry would alter the color of the shell and matrix.   

 

In addition, the San Saba River is not located in Williamson County.  I'm not sure how you arrived at your conclusion, but there are countless numbers of rocks similar to yours found across Texas.

[Al Dente]

8 hours ago, Rock John said:

Here is some of the knowledge I have learned along the way.  

 Every area has 7 different woods. Except the desert areas. But still have root systems.  Each one of the woods burn at a different temp. After making the pieces to fire they would wrap them in green leaf and gently place in a pocket under the fire mound with rocks making a pocket around the piece.  Then build the fire from lowest temp then build up to hottest temp then bring it back down.  After a couple weeks of ceremony. The fires cool slowly and then the pieces are pulled.   There is a process.    That foot is limestone powder, sand from the river and water to make the mud.  Then pour into the mold and let sit after a few hours it can be lifted then wrapped and placed into the pocket.  Total process is one full moon to another.    Try it yourself.  

Is this process published anywhere? If not, where did you hear it? You have described the most inefficient method of making footwear I’ve ever heard of. Years ago I knew someone who made their own leather moccasins. It was a simple process that didn’t involve foot-shaped stones. Just a tracing of a foot onto leather to get the right size.

[Fossildude19]

8 hours ago, Rock John said:

Here is some of the knowledge I have learned along the way.  

 Every area has 7 different woods. Except the desert areas. But still have root systems.  Each one of the woods burn at a different temp. After making the pieces to fire they would wrap them in green leaf and gently place in a pocket under the fire mound with rocks making a pocket around the piece.  Then build the fire from lowest temp then build up to hottest temp then bring it back down.  After a couple weeks of ceremony. The fires cool slowly and then the pieces are pulled.   There is a process.    That foot is limestone powder, sand from the river and water to make the mud.  Then pour into the mold and let sit after a few hours it can be lifted then wrapped and placed into the pocket.  Total process is one full moon to another.    Try it yourself.  

 

There would be absolutely no point to the "process" you describe. 

To what end would this be done, especially when one can gather mud, step in it, then let it dry in the sun?

Native peoples were much too smart to waste this kind of time to make a vaguely foot shaped effigy.

Your impression of how this rock came to be is rather beyond reason. 

[Harry Pristis]

It's been years since hearing about a "moccasin LAST," and this story is no more credible than that one.  Isn't this classic pareidolia with fanciful elaboration?

[Randyw]

As some of you may know my wife and her family are native American and many of them practice and teach the old ways. Especially my brother in law before he crossed over. They have never made moccasins in the way the op describes. Nor have they ever made or heard of a "foot casting"

[Rock John]

I'm glad your experienced in your past.  I follow my Cherokee and Choctaw ways myself.  I spent 2 years living in the woods and studying what the earth has to teach.. the time I speak of was the knowledge of the  Ancestors ancestors. Just because you have not heard of this doesn't make false.  It just means you don't know about it.  Its a known fact that the ceremonial fires were used to fire pottery and other tools.  The evidence is there to prove these things.  To think that you know all of the knowledge is pretty bold. If your not learning something everyday then your not paying attention.   They are moccasin fast or last.. either way.  Because these pieces are few not a lot of studies have been done on them.  Doesn't mean that they aren't real.  That kinda thinking limits a vast part of our ways of the past.  That piece that is pictured is a casting and its as real as the foot prints of the giants from the past. My Native name is DancingSun giving to me by my  Ancestors after learning of many ways of the past. And if I said what you said about that knowledge my teachings would of ended then. You have to keep a open mind and not be closed in a box of thinking. I learn all the time.  

[Rock John]

This is for making multiple moccasins of the same size. Yes they were smart a lot smarter then we give them credit for.   

[Rock John]

But you are welcome to have your opinion.  All good. thank you for your input.  

[Kane]

26 minutes ago, Rock John said:

I'm glad your experienced in your past.  I follow my Cherokee and Choctaw ways myself.  I spent 2 years living in the woods and studying what the earth has to teach.. the time I speak of was the knowledge of the  Ancestors ancestors. Just because you have not heard of this doesn't make false.  It just means you don't know about it.  Its a known fact that the ceremonial fires were used to fire pottery and other tools.  The evidence is there to prove these things.  To think that you know all of the knowledge is pretty bold. If your not learning something everyday then your not paying attention.   They are moccasin fast or last.. either way.  Because these pieces are few not a lot of studies have been done on them.  Doesn't mean that they aren't real.  That kinda thinking limits a vast part of our ways of the past.  That piece that is pictured is a casting and its as real as the foot prints of the giants from the past. My Native name is DancingSun giving to me by my  Ancestors after learning of many ways of the past. And if I said what you said about that knowledge my teachings would of ended then. You have to keep a open mind and not be closed in a box of thinking. I learn all the time.  

Would it not technically be “closed in a box thinking” to assert these are foot casts at the expense of any other possibility?

 

You will have to appreciate that this forum is science based. As such, we abide by the empirical method and rely on established scientific sources. Although some of our members may subscribe to some form of spirituality, we agree to keep our interactions here squarely within the domain of science. There is a time and place for matters of spirit, faith, etc. to be discussed, but that is not here. Exploring and cherishing our heritage is a lovely pursuit, but in this venue we stick to discussing the heritage bequeathed to us by natural science to explain phenomena geological, paleontological, and anthropological.  

[Ludwigia]

1 hour ago, Rock John said:

But you are welcome to have your opinion.  All good. thank you for your input.  

 

Sounds like the overwhelming majority here is going to have to agree to disagree with the minority.

[DPS Ammonite]

John, what is the length and width of the foot cast?

[Brandy Cole]

I think it's always good to keep an open mind; but the big question I would have here is exactly what sources have led you to this conclusion?  It would help us all to be more educated if we knew:

 

Is your conclusion based on specific scientific studies or literature that we could research for ourselves? 

 

Are you basing it on word of mouth?  If so, what made you decide that your source was sufficiently reliable?

 

Are you basing it on your own personal experiences of trying to recreate an idea of how this could work?

 

Is it some combination of the above?

 

If you're basing it mostly on your own experiments, can you show us photos to explain what you're talking about?  Especially any photos that address the issues that others have raised with the process (such as shells not surviving the process intact)?