I found this piece years ago on a salt water bay beach here in Rhode Island. It's made of pottery, the white flecks are shell. So shell tempered pottery. It's 1 inch in diameter, raised up on the top side, flat on the bottom. It seems obviously hand made and you can see what I think are the maker's fingerprints on both sides. I think it's Native American, but I'm not familiar with small pottery artifacts at all. New England has an acidic soil not kind to pottery. I've only one field where I've found pottery sherds and that field is very sandy with the pottery found in plowed up shell refuse pits where the lime would help neutralize any acid. Anyway, my best guess is Native American, and I've always called it a bead. It kinda looks like a spindle whorl but I think it's much too small for that?? So I thought I'd seek opinions if anyone is more familiar with what this is.

The first 2 pics are the top side. The first pic shows the "fingerprint" patterns and you can see where the maker pressed his/her thumb or finger in 6 places around the center hole.
The 2nd pic shows the true color better.

Here's the side view showing how it's more raised on the "top" side:

And, the 'bottom" side:

Thanks for any ideas
Charlie

JMHO here but I don't see fingerprints lasting anytime at all in sand and especially on a beach.

Lakeman wrote:

Not positive they're fingerprints either, but it was after a very big storm with lots of erosion, so it was likely buried pretty good before I found it. But, that's why I ask. For all I know it's a discarded girl scout project from the 40's!

Just went and checked my records. It was found after Hurricane Bob in 1991. The beach in question had much of it's sand removed altogether, down to a layer of clay. I found it at the top of the beach where a 15 foot embankment had been chewed into by several feet. But I always felt it was a highly improbable find if Indian.

Well, CMD, sounds like you have this piece pretty well figured out.
It's obviously clay because of the fingerprints, and you found it in an area
where you might find NA artifacts, but it's still a good question whether it is
NA or not.
I have never seen a NA bead like that before. Most types would be smoothed and
have the ridges and fingerprints smoothed out. So that does make you wonder about
the Girl Scout project from the 40's. If you could find even one other example of
a bead like that from aboriginal context then I would say mystery solved.
The only thing I can think of that might help decide it one way or the other is to
look closely at the shell. It kind of looks like that shell/sand has gotten stuck to the
outside of the piece incidentally. If it a true shell tempered clay then the shell
will be mixed throughout the clay, and that would be a definite sign of Native
American manufacture.
Might be hard to tell for sure without whacking it with a hammer.

JoeM

Thanks, JoeM. Nah, I don't have this piece figured out at all. Over the years, every time I look at it, "improbable" is the first word that comes to mind. Re your suggestion on the shell, the interior wall of the hole has shell as well. All the shell seems to be an integral part of the composition and not adhered somehow, but embedded. Just checked some shell tempered sherds and saw no difference in that aspect. BUT, and this may eliminate it as NA, there is a color difference. All the shell or grit tempered sherds I have found are much lighter brown in color then this thing. Many are a reddish-brown. I've only seen a couple of Late Woodland vessels from New England that were as dark brown as this. There was a very large village, Middle-Late Woodland, on the bluff above the beach where found. If it's NA, it may have ended up on the beach when the hurricane/storm surge chewed up the bluff.

These sherds are from the village site on the bluff overlooking the beach in question.
Much different color:

Yes, since you don't have anything to compare it to, that's a tough one.
It's starting to sound more and more NA all the time, but if it was mine
I'd be doing a lot of flip-flopping too.
You mention the different color of the clay. Can you tell if it has been "fired"
or possibly "sun-baked"?

I'm leaning toward NA, if that helps , but it sure is hard to say for sure.
Guess you'll just have to find another one.
Thanks for posting it.

JoeM

JoeM wrote:

Not sure how to tell difference between fired or sun baked. Someone told me if fired, the hotter the fire, the darker the pottery?? Or else the longer fired, the darker?? Anyway, thanks for the imput!