+cropped.jpg)
Dennis Boggs find, Columbia River valley foothills, Irrigon, Oregon
Collector Dennis Boggs recognizes certain stone material as "exotic" to his locale and in unnatural concentrations and flags it for closer inspection for evidence of human modification. In this fossilized egg, pareidolia may have led someone in prehistory to perceive a face as we can today and modify it slightly to animate it with a concave mouth. Rare lithics found in archaeological contexts demand close scrutiny for manuport or artifact status and possible visual properties. Over time, patterns may be ruled out or confirmed. While we will of course not know with certainty if this example was recognized or modified in the Stone Age, it may be instructive because perhaps something similar will be identified in an archaeological context in the future.
The egg appears to have broken under directly applied physical pressure.The back side of the egg was likely face up when it was crushed because all the pieces are very small compared to the "face" side, which may have been cushioned by mud or earth accounting for larger pieces.
Side view of fossilized egg
Dennis Boggs obsidian tool, Columbia River valley. Mode I Oldowan tool forms like this are plentiful but not accounted for by American archaeologists.
Obsidian hydration dating on this fracture might be possible.
Dennis Boggs find, Columbia River valley, Irrigon, Oregon. Levallois point, American style. I have identified Middle-Paleolithic portable rock art motifs in Dennis' collection. Most of the tools found near or with the art are cutters, choppers, scrapers and pounders. A point like this is rare.
