I thought my cousin's 'ancient artifact' was just a weird rock from the garden

My cousin came over last month with this lumpy, gray stone he found near a creek in his backyard in Ohio. He was so sure it was a tool made by early people, maybe a scraper or something. I laughed and told him it was just a rock shaped by water, nothing special. He got a bit mad and took it to the local history society on a whim. Well, guess what? They sent a picture to an expert at the university, and it turned out to be a genuine pre-contact era nutting stone, used for cracking nuts, probably around 800 years old! The expert said the little worn cup in the center was the big clue. I felt pretty silly for doubting him. Has anyone else had a find that looked like nothing but was actually something cool?

3 comments

3 Comments

caleba4524d ago

Ever find a weird button and think it's just junk? My dad had this old coat with a flat, silvery button that looked totally plain. He was gonna cut it off. I took a closer look and saw a tiny eagle and some numbers stamped on the back. Turns out it was a Civil War era infantry button. It's not worth a ton of money, but it's a real piece of history just sitting in his closet. Makes you look at every little thing differently.

blair_allen24d ago

Man, I would have totally cut that button off without a second look. My attention to detail is basically zero, so history is safe from me ever finding it. I'm just out here ruining antiques.

victorb511d ago

So @caleba45, did you check the rest of that coat for other hidden stuff?