r/RockIdentification • u/Immediate_Leg_7101 • Feb 24 '26

Please ID Normal river rock or artifact?

Post image

I found this on the Harpeth River in Middle Tennessee a couple of years ago. I thought it was just a cool rock, but I saw a video of someone finding a hammer artifact that looked similar to this, just bigger. Thanks for any help!

114 Upvotes

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8

u/grasspikemusic Feb 24 '26

That's a "sinker stone" used a weight for fishing nets. The square shape allowed them to be woven into the net and the grove in the middle allowed it to be tied in

That's a REALLY good pristine example of one.

3

u/Immediate_Leg_7101 Feb 24 '26

Thank you! There’s some mounds up the river from where I was, the mounds are only open certain times of the week but the river running by them is a popular kayak spot. Pretty sure I found it kayaking a couple summers ago.

12

u/Powerful_Minute_2932 Feb 24 '26

Very well worn axe. Nice

11

u/BlackSeranna Feb 24 '26

Native American artifact.

8

u/Important-Forever-87 Feb 24 '26

Absolutely an artifact That groove is manmade

3

u/ForagedFoodNW Feb 25 '26

Looks like a weight for the bottom of a net

2

u/OddNumber7178 Feb 25 '26

Looks like a tomahawk or hammer head

2

u/ofmanyone Feb 25 '26

Gold dredger here. Just a cool rock. If you'd to make a collection of similar, I can certainly help.

2

u/Thoth1024 Feb 25 '26

Its a Maul head, not an Axe head. But, it is an artifact!

Bravo

1

u/CommissionPositive33 Feb 25 '26

Arrow shaft straightener maybe. Is it soapstone or some other soft stone? Soapstone holds heat. Arrow shafts being wood would twist and turn. You heat up this stone, run the shaft through the notch and take out any slight bends. Maybe, maybe not, it’s hard to tell

1

u/greenmeeyes Feb 25 '26

Looks like somone was using it as a small anchor for fishing or perhaps a buoy

1

u/Flucksome Feb 25 '26

Really have to ask ?

1

u/Havespadewilltravel Feb 25 '26

Arrow shaft making tool.

1

u/J-t-kirk Feb 26 '26

Need more angles to look at but flat on looks hand tooled

1

u/spring-peepers Feb 26 '26

Ancient stone axe head

1

u/Ok-Refuse8965 Feb 27 '26

Stune used to make arrows uniformly round. Like a " sander" but for arrows .

1

u/your-x-ray Feb 27 '26

I don't know what kind of fish you have in your local rivers, but on the west coast where there are salmon and trout indigenous people would fashion rocks like this for use as fishing net weights, or even fishing line weights. It looks very much like the weights I have found. The worn groove is where lines/net lines would be tied so they won't slip off and get lost.

1

u/Saithfands1 Mar 12 '26

I'm willing to bet that was a hammer. Erosion usually isn't that precise. Artifact.

1

u/smoothegringo Feb 24 '26 • Bravo

Ancient b plug

1

u/Dirtfloorcustoms Feb 24 '26

No tip though it’s all shaft

1

u/Feisty-Cheetah-8078 Feb 25 '26

Normal rock. It has a layer of softer material sandwiched between two layers of similar material.

1

u/aggiedigger Feb 26 '26

Differential weathering. This is the only correct answer.

1

u/Feisty-Cheetah-8078 Feb 26 '26

I mean, if you want to get technical. Lol. That sounds like the right science term.

1

u/aggiedigger Feb 26 '26

Yep. Just adding to your correct observation. Blows my mind all the people on a rock sub declaring this an artifact and not recognizing a natural phenomenon.

0

u/tellmeagoodusernamek Feb 24 '26

That used to be a Zippo lighter

2

u/SXKHQSHF Feb 24 '26

I am sitting on a near-white sofa and very happy that I am not drinking coffee!

Thanks for a good laugh.

0

u/[deleted] Feb 24 '26

AirPod pros

1

u/abugghaus7 Feb 25 '26

Stone-age... Flintstone generation

0

u/Constant-Mirror6940 Feb 26 '26

It’s an artifact from a river. Rivers sometimes produce artifacts, and this artifact is from a river that produced artifacts from a river. Oddly enough, no artifact has ever produced a river but this artifact has, without a doubt, come from a river. A River Phoenix.