Found A Pseudoartifact When Fossil Hunting

[mikeymig]

How many times have you hiked a stream or creek looking for fossils and find something that you were sure was made by man only to find out later that its just a cool rock? I found this pseudoartifact at my secret Greenops site in Western New York this past collecting season. I was sure that this was something made by Native Americans and it looked to me to be a bird effigy with drilled eyes, a notched end, and a smooth or "worked" finish. This site has produced other Pseudoartifacts that are just neat rocks with holes and weird shapes but nothing like this. Its not a fossil but us field collectors find more then fossils when were out kickin rocks.

[Foshunter]

Eye looks to be drilled by a stone drill and is correct with larger hole on the outside and tapered to the inside, should look pretty much the same on the other side. Nice effigy piece---Tom

[Boneman007]

Looking at it, it looks like a good fit to the palm of the hand. Could it be a grinder of some type, with a sinew (string) run through the hole so it could be hung up? Just a guess on my part.

[mikeymig]

I know it looks like an artifact but its not. I took it to the RMSC when I was dropping off some crinoids and they assured me that it was a pseudoartifact. I felt the same way you guys feel when I first saw it lying at the edge of the stream and the area I found it in has numerous Iroquois sites nearby. I thought it was to cool to leave in the field.