A Artifact I found in Texas

I tried to make then smaller in photobucket but I failed in doing it right.
I love to read but I am really dislexic when it comes to reading directions lol
I will keep trying.

Still trying to figure out how to crop this .
I will keep trying



[edit on 4-9-2008 by Simplynoone]

I only have one more
And no pictures of the back side.
I dont know if this is too big or not but here it is



[edit on 4-9-2008 by Simplynoone]

No matter how old, or whatever, it is a great find. Congrats, and my first thought when I saw it was Moon. He does have some interesting qualities. Thanks for sharing it.

He is just very funny looking .
I cannot figure out if he looks like a strange alien looking being or a old man that has a pointy nose and a pointy chin.I think he is definately a man though.

What really has me stumped is he has no ears.
I know everyone has had ears throughout history and so did the dietys.
So why not ears ..or even slits to show he has them.No ear mark nowhere.





[edit on 4-9-2008 by Simplynoone]

So why not ears ..or even slits to show he has them.No ear mark nowhere.

Probably because the artist left them off. Artists do things like that.

Tempérament d'artiste

Originally posted by Hanslune

So why not ears ..or even slits to show he has them.No ear mark nowhere.

Probably because the artist left them off. Artists do things like that.

Tempérament d'artiste

Everyone knows the moon doesn't have ears! He would make a cool incense burner.

Be careful, it is one of those MASKs.

Could it be some kind of stopper lid for a jar, like the canopic jars of Ancient Egypt?

Doesn't petrification mean "wood to stone"? This is sandstone, it has never been wood, and certainly isn't old enough for the petrification process to take place, which doesn't result in anything like sandstone.

Nice find though, hold on to it. An interesting mystery.

NICE!

IT looks indian to me.
Maybe Mississippian?

Here's something from Illinois that looks similar.

Clay figures like this example are rare. This one was evidently never attached to any type of vessel. There is a small round hole on the bottom that indicates it was once mounted on a stick, like a dolls' head might be attached. Most anciently sculpted human forms from the Mississippi Valley region were incorporated into ceramic vessels of endless shapes and varieties.

Here's another one.
Weeping effigy pottery;






[edit on 5-9-2008 by Clearskies]

Originally posted by Simplynoone
I did some digging from the townspeople and they said that the area just above that was rumoured to be an old Indian artifact site or burial mound.

Whereabouts in Texas? I can tell you if there was a mound there.

I even took it to the Dallas Museum of Natural History.
The guys who check dinosaur bones and all told me that it was sandstone,was definately sundried so was before they had kilns

I love our paleontololgists and work with them, but they don't know beans about human artifacts.

I'm not sure who you talked to (you probably don't remember the name) but if it was a lab worker, they may not have given you good info. Some of what you report them saying doesn't match up with what Fiorello or Tykoski would have said (the guys I work for as a volunteer) -- and some of it sounds wrong (like, as Hans said, the "petrified" and "from the time of the dinosaurs" when it clearly isn't that old.)

I called one more place I had not talked to here in Dallas and that lady was not very nice at all and said that she wanted me to bring it to her and then asked if it was found on private property or not I said yes ..then she said she would take it from me if it did turn out to be something very old .

That's because there's laws about tribal artifacts -- if you find them, they have to be given back to the tribes. The tribes are very insistant on that.

However...

It's a pretty cool looking piece.

It appears to be the head of a puppet or a doll.

It's not a mask (because those don't have necks). It wasn't broken off a statue (the object has no back and was made that way. The neck has a slight "lip" that would have held the cloth body.

I agree that it wasn't made by an Indian tribe. I believe a good date for it is "before 1970 but after 1820." If it was made by a local dollmaker, you won't find reference photos for it around.

Like you, I do question the "sandstone". You are right on the mark when you say that carved sandstone is awfully fragile. This appears to be fired clay. I couldn't tell from photos, though.

This photo header from someone who resells Japanese Kabuki dolls is interesting because it shows the same kind of "hollow eyes, hollow mouth" construction doll: i282.photobucket.com...

Give a little history, if you would... where did you find it, and when did you find it? I'll take a look at the area on Google Maps (unless it's near me, in which case I'll run off and look at it).

There are many artifacts that are found that can't be identified. If, 100 years from now, someone were to come across one of the dolls I designed in a landfill, they couldn't identify it or its purpose because they're artist's dolls and unique to the artist.

It's a neat artifact, though! A nice little treasure -- and a teacher who works with pottery may be able to tell you more about the materials and how it was made.

Originally posted by Clearskies
NICE!

IT looks indian to me.
Maybe Mississippian?

Here's something from Illinois that looks similar.

Clay figures like this example are rare. This one was evidently never attached to any type of vessel. There is a small round hole on the bottom that indicates it was once mounted on a stick, like a dolls' head might be attached. Most anciently sculpted human forms from the Mississippi Valley region were incorporated into ceramic vessels of endless shapes and varieties.

Here's another one.
Weeping effigy pottery;

[edit on 5-9-2008 by Clearskies]

I would say that is about as close as anyone could ever get to the same thing. I would follow that lead if I were you. The similarities are uncanny.

If you remember where you got it maybe you could show the item to some local University archaeologists. They might want to do a dig at the site. It might add to our understanding of the past in that area.

Here's something else from Tennessee that looks similar;


Although, I don't think it's hollow and it has that crest on the head.

These are hollow and were filled with pebbles, like a rattler;
Cup Handles








[edit on 5-9-2008 by Clearskies]

that one is very similar, but it has ears! lol. You are on the right track ClearSkies... keep digging!!

Wow nice help yall ...


I found it about 21 years ago in a town called Midlothian.
The area is now a housing addition .Just above it where the supposed ancient burial site was is a City Workers area (they store tractors etc there)
So now it is not private property anymore. ...
They bought the land from the owner.

The field where the creek is and where I found the head is behind Nth 6th street.That field is where it was once a HUGE dump.They just buried it up with dirt and it grew up looking like just a normal field.I dug deep into that dump and found out it goes back to the 50s according to the bottles and stuff I found.(I was into bottles at the time) .
The place I found it was just above that dump in a washout area looked like it could have been a personal dump from a house that used to be there (Years ago) ...So it could have just come from that house ...it could be just a clay figure from Mexico I guess ..But everyone who looked at it and the picture said NO it is not NEW.or Modern.And it doesnt look like it is at least not to me ..Anyway I find it interesting ...just thought I would share it and see what we could find out.

I did show it to many of the locals when I was a waitress at the local restaurants ...they didnt have a clue ..they were the ones who told me there was talk of a burial grounds in that area ..This town has many places where arrowheads and sharks teethe (a place called Sharkey Hill) are found all over ...So who knows..

reply to post by Simplynoone


Just wondering if since finding the artifact if you have had any paranormal activity. I have heard it is common with ancient objects.

Hi Black ...no I sure have not ..
I did have a dream about it once when I was really wanting to know where it came from .In the dream there were some sort if Indians (I didnt know which ones they were) and they were doing a sacred dance holding it like a baby would a rattle (It had a stick with the head on top ) ......shaking it every once in awhile as they walked around in the circle by the fire saying their ritual ..

When I hold it though I do get a sense of something ..not sure what but it is not a bad sense .Is actually kind of peaceful and that maybe I may even be related somehow ..because I sense that I know them somehow ...( I am part cherokee and french and also from the direct line of Robert the Bruce ) so who knows ..
(dear God please dont let me be part reptillion LOL)

[edit on 5-9-2008 by Simplynoone]

[edit on 5-9-2008 by Simplynoone]

Check this out:

www.texfiles.com...

Over thirty thousand years ago, while Cro-Magnon man carved sculptures in Europe, Llano Man was shaping the stone heads of Malakov right here in Texas.