Can you identify this artifact?
 
 
 
 
This object was part of an artifact collection bequeathed to Washtenaw Community College by a collector. 
Everything in his collection was reported to be from southern Michigan and northern Ohio, but no more details 
than that. The collection includes approximately 70 artifacts ranging from Paleo to Woodland, and includes 
axes and celts. The artifact is a flattened discoidal shape and appears to be made of wood, with "hash marks" on 
each side. The object also has a rather deep groove around the middle. As I recall the number of "hash marks" 
varies on the sides from 7 to 9. It measures approximately 3 cm in length by 2.5 cm width. It looks mostly like a Yo-Yo.
 If anyone can identify it, WCC would be most grateful...

Submitted by Ann Zinn, Huron Valley Chapter

Know what this artifact could be? Please send ideas to Kerry at tk_bennett@yahoo.com. The best submissions will be posted.

A possible identification for this object is a net float for use in fishing. But Patrick Curren writes "The mystery artifact on the MAS website appears to be an ear plug. Jewelry used to stretch the earlobe. A net float would be unlikely considering its size." Great idea Patrick! The size does make more sense as an ear plug.

Another possibility is from Nancy Blake Gustafson who offers another suggestion: Wouldn't an earplug be more round and carefully shaped? It doesn't 

look much like the earplugs I have seen in Mexico, for instance. I wonder about the "bull roarer" use. An object on the end of a

longish fiber that was twirled about the head for the noise it created. Perhaps the notched and irregular shape contributed to the vibration

produced?

A few other ideas:

I also believe it is a fishing float, but for still fishing with a pole do to its size.

Could it possibly be a scoring device?  I have seen donut shaped rings in Guatemala which the Mayans used to keep score in a ball game. Or, could it be something used in trade to “count” commodities for trade.  The hash marks seem to suggest counting.

It looks like a bolos stone. There would probably be 3 of them, each on a cord, each cord tied at the center.  The weapon was twirled overhead like a sling, and thrown at the legs to trip and/or incapacitate prey.

I may be way off the mark, but I envsion a tool that one may use to stretch and even up rawhide strips for use as bow strings.  Dried rawhide has a certain amount of stretch and cuts quite easily.  Pulling a strip of said rawhide through the groove in the stone would smooth out the strip to a uniform diameter.  The 7-9 shallow notches are used to run along the surface of a greased rawhide bowstring while applying tension to it.  This helps stretch the strip and heat created by the friction works the grease into the strip, which will keep the bowstring flexible and somewhat rot proof.  The stone's dimensions make it a perfect hand tool, and I believe the grooves on each side offer different holding positions which makes it an ambidextrous tool.  That deep groove could also serve as a "nibbler" to reshape a broken projectile point or hide scraper, and I believe that it could be used to straighten and sharpen bone needles.

Hi, I’ve been looking at your “mystery artifact” photos for a few minutes and the more I look at them the more I’m convinced that this object is a gaming piece of the type used in the well-described basket/bowl game or peach/plum stone game, which, in variations, was played by native peoples throughout North America. While I’m not aware of any examples that look exactly like the one in your photos, the general appearance, size, and markings are typical of the gaming pieces used in these and other related games. Such “dice” were typically darkened on one side and were manufactured from fruit stones, wood, bone, stone, shell, broken potsherds, or in later times, metal (copper or brass) or broken sherds of china. I would refer you to Stewart Culin’s classic 1907 study on the “Games of the North American Indians” (Twenty-fourth annual report of the Bureau of American Ethnology 1902-1903, Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution, pp. 44ff.)

Thanks everyone for their input. (By the way the most popular response was that this was a yo-yo!)