Walker 'Stone Tools' Weren't Made By Humans, State Archaeologist Says

Star Tribune ^ | 3-5-2007 | Robert Franklin

[blam]

Walker 'stone tools' weren't made by humans, state archaeologist says

By Robert Franklin, Star Tribune

Materials found on a hill above Walker, Minn., were not clearly stone tools dating back 13,000 to 14,000 years, the state archaeologist has concluded. Several experienced archaeologists have concluded that "the great majority of the collection was produced by natural processes," State Archaeologist Scott Anfinson said. "There were a few 'maybe' flakes [of stone], and there were clearly no stone tools of obvious human manufacture or use."

Nor is it likely that people lived in the "very uninviting environment" of the Late Glacial age in northern Minnesota, Anfinson said in an eight-page paper dated Feb. 20 and released today.

However, archaeologists involved in the find say they haven't changed their minds that there's enough at the site to protect it and look at the possibilities of human habitation.

"None of the artifacts are what we would call a museum piece, I suppose," said David Mather, the state's archaeologist for the National Register of Historic Places.

At one meeting of archaeologists, Mather said, "the majority of people I talked to felt there were some genuine artifacts or something they did not feel comfortable dismissing."

[blam]

GGG Ping.

Crude Stone Tool?

[stockpirate]

Rock.

[whizkid]

I don't care who you are - that's funny.

[Cheapskate]

"So easy, a therapist could do it"

[Coyoteman]

Click through to the article, then to the archaeologist's report.

It is devastating! Not looking good for these being real tools.

[dangus]

damn.

[stockpirate]

LOL

[flying Elvis]

A sex stone: friggin rock.

[joebuck]

If that's a prehistoric tool then I've got a whole backyard full of them.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Blam. Eoliths info.

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. Thanks.

Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on or off the
"Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list or GGG weekly digest
-- Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)

[SunkenCiv]

a prehistoric tool:

---

---

[ApplegateRanch]

Thanks for the ping.

Crude Stone Tool?

Yes...if it is the same one I picked up & used one day, because it was handy.

Sometimes a handy stone of the right size & configuration can save me a long walk back to the barn or a campsite to get a REAL tool. Use it once & throw it away; they get the job at hand done a little quicker than other wise.

Call them "a tool of opportunity".

I've pounded on several different things with a lot of different rocks in my time, but that didn't make them "hammer stones", either.

Then I bought a good pair of fence tool pliers & scabbard.

Now about the only thing I use rocks for is to throw at the deer raiding the bird feeders. Oh, and when I run out of used sparkplugs rock fishing, I'll tie on a rock, since I hate tossing perfectly good, expensive lead into the ocean. Finding one with a hole through it isn't hard.

[null and void]

Scissors.

[null and void]

Darn you!

[AdmSmith]

LOL!

[CJ Wolf]

"Oh, and when I run out of used sparkplugs rock fishing, "

You use sparkplugs to rockfish? Please tell me, how does that work?

I use rocks for loads of things too.

[Constitution Day]

You know, I'm not 100% in love with your tone right now.

[reagan_fanatic]

"Looks like somebody woke up on the wrong side of the rock."

[ApplegateRanch]

I used to live near the N. Cal & S. Or coasts, and would wade out at low tide to large rocks, and cast into the kelp beds. Lost a lot of tackle that way, until I was taught the sparkplug trick. Take a lunch & plenty to drink, so you can fish the incoming tide, and wait for the next low tide to leave.

Have to make certain the rocks are safe at high tide, and study your tide tables. On the slack & outgoing, you can fish from the seaward side or the flanks; on the incoming, stick to the shoreward side to avoid sneakers while you have less rock to protect you.

Close the sparkplug gap completely, and then attach to the end of your line with a snapswivel. Unlike the usual leader, use line as heavy as your spooled line. Start rigging your hooks a couple of feet above that in the normal manner. The whole rig ends up being about 6 or 7 feet long, so you need a long rod to cast it, and a bait that stay on the hooks...squid or mussles work good, as do a lot of the shelled stuff growing on & attached to, the rocks.

When (not if LOL) the plug (if the ocean is rough or the the plugs are small ones you may need two) get hung up on the bottom, then either the snap opens, or the bendable electrode opens the gap. Either way you're freed, and all you lost was a used sparkplug.

My favorite spot was S. Or, where a wide, flat ridge ran out about 100 yards to a rock about 30' high. The ridge formed a firm causeway that was mainly knee deep at low tide, so you could see where you were stepping.
Not deep enough for bottom fish, but mainly sea trout, cabazone,and the occasional 'sea bass' were pretty plentiful, among others.

[CJ Wolf]

Big thanks! and to think I used to throw those things away. Now I gotta make some room in my tackle box. That is a great idea and environmentally friendly (at least compared to the lead sinkers I always loose) :-)

[ApplegateRanch]

No problemo. Glad to help.

[Sam Ketcham]

nanana nanana - I hear the strains of music from ....... "The Twilight Zone." Who did make the tools?