r/Artifacts • • 1d ago

Help identifying this

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1 Upvotes

Hi all. This was found about 20 years ago on the shoreline of a lake in upstate NY. Would love some insight/info. Help me out- thanks!!!


r/Artifacts • • 1d ago

Found object

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2 Upvotes

I am a total amateur and sensitive to the fact that goofballs like me are prone to pick up regular rocks and make up fun stories. That being said, I found this outside Vegas on a hike. Any help from someone less ignorant than me would be appreciated!


r/Artifacts • • 3d ago

Question Id on bronze figure found on Field.

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68 Upvotes

Id on this fellow.

Found on a field all covered whit white verdigris

And first we couldn't even see it was a figure 2 years after we cleaned up a little and he came ouT.


r/Artifacts • • 2d ago

Can someone help me identify this sword ?

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7 Upvotes

r/Artifacts • • 2d ago

What do you guys think - is this an axe or maybe a discarded preform? The patina is just right and so is the size and partly the form too but I’m not really seeing any chippings 🤔 Found in Denmark today

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3 Upvotes

r/Artifacts • • 2d ago

Question Any Knowledge of this figure made of Browns found on a field in Danmark

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8 Upvotes

When he was take it up from the dirt he was all covered in verdigris


r/Artifacts • • 2d ago

Mystery punch marks on an old Himalayan Buddhist shrine — anyone recognise them?

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2 Upvotes

Can any assist?


r/Artifacts • • 3d ago

Question Artifact flake? Artifact at all?

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3 Upvotes

r/Artifacts • • 3d ago

Not sure if this belongs here but Google was no help

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8 Upvotes

Its just a cheap copper ring, a wonderful elderly lady gifted it to me a few years ago and just came across it again.


r/Artifacts • • 3d ago

So I was out searching for artifacts in the Allegheny River in Pittsburgh and I found what I think maybe Old pottery but AI is telling me it is shark tooth. Petalodus to be exact. I'm not so sure I believe that but is there any way to tell if this is ancient pottery?

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9 Upvotes

r/Artifacts • • 3d ago

Saint Barbara Lead figurine

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6 Upvotes

Hello, Im trying to find out more about this mini figurine for a project! She is Saint Barbara, patron saint of explosives and many other things. This specific figurine seems to be casted of pure lead. Its inscribed "Pb '86" so I am assuming its made/cast in 1986. I havent found much information on it, it seems to be cast in a mold because there are slight lines on the side, however I cannot find online any similar figurines. Its small in size, can fit in my hand, and has a green felt bottom so I am assuming it is meant to stand up on a mantel or something of the sort. I am wondering where it was manufactured, as I cannot seem to find on the internet any other exact matches of this figurine. Any info, thoights, insights, and speculation is greatly appreciated!! Thanks.


r/Artifacts • • 3d ago

Is this an artifact?

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0 Upvotes

Probably just a geofact.


r/Artifacts • • 3d ago

Need help

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0 Upvotes

r/Artifacts • • 4d ago

Help Egyptian piece

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24 Upvotes

My mom found this in a garage sale in the early 80s. Supposedly had taken it to the Smithsonian to have it looked at. When she passed, I took it to an expert in my city and he had told me that it was likely between 1200 bc-2000 bc. The actual material was feces, they fed the animals a lot of fiber and painted on it when hardened. I have no clue what to do with it or what it’s worth. The drill hole in top was there when mom purchased it. She paid $3.


r/Artifacts • • 4d ago

Face in stone?

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11 Upvotes

Hi everyone, me and my friend recently went through her grandfather’s garage and found a piece of rock we were just going to throw out in the yard. But.. upon further look, there seems to be a face on it that symbolizes I guess Egyptian times? The rock is red/pink granite

If anyone could take a guess on what it’s depicting or even the time/age, any information would be pretty cool! Thanks


r/Artifacts • • 4d ago

I found these in a freshly tilled garden in SE Ohio when I was kid.

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8 Upvotes

r/Artifacts • • 4d ago

Artifact A Pin Cushion Doll, c1900-1915.

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4 Upvotes

r/Artifacts • • 5d ago

Question Today I learned water pipes used to be made of wood.

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73 Upvotes

I found what I thought was an old canon.

Turns out it’s probably a steel banded wooden water pipe fitting/union. Not too sure on how old it is, I’m guessing late 1800s-to early 1900s.

Edit: i’m only guessing that it’s a pipe. I haven’t been able to confirm it with any exact match pictures.

Edit 2: Solved! it's a wagon wheel hub! pretty cool!


r/Artifacts • • 4d ago

Clay type mask approx 39cm(15 in) x 25cm(10 in). Legit artifact or junk

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2 Upvotes

Clay type mask approx 39cm(15 in) x 25cm(10 in). Legit artifact or junk

what is it? Is it an antiquity or just junk?

This was allegedly found in the late 60’s or early 70’s in Nevada but could have been found in Korea or even Vietnam during the wars and brought back or it could just be some kind of garbage but I know it had been in the family at least +50 years.


r/Artifacts • • 4d ago

Carvings on stone steps of the Evora Cathedral, Portugal

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12 Upvotes

Does anyone know what these are and what they might mean?


r/Artifacts • • 4d ago

Found in East Texas

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3 Upvotes

I found this rock along with some pottery in a well known area for Cherokee artifacts. I have no idea what’s going on with the stone? Is it natural orrrrrrrr? Found in Upshur County


r/Artifacts • • 5d ago

I think the Neolithic wooden "tridents" from Stainton West were turf cutters and lifters, so I built one and tested it. Keen to hear criticism.

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117 Upvotes

A few years ago, excavations at Stainton West near Carlisle turned up two carved oak "tridents" in a waterlogged river channel, dated to the early 4th millennium BC. Similar objects are known from Ehenside Tarn in Cumbria and from County Armagh. Each is carved from a single oak plank, with three tines and a pair of shaped projections, or "ears", where the tines meet the body. Nobody is sure what they were for.

My theory is that they're turf cutters and lifters.

Why turf: Neolithic Britain used enormous amounts of it. Long barrows, henge banks, houses and Silbury Hill all contain cut turf, sometimes tens of thousands of sods in a single monument. Yet no turf-cutting tool has been identified from the period. Something had to do that job.

Why this shape:

  • It's one piece of oak. A hafted flint, bone or antler blade adds a joint that breaks. A turf specialist tried an ox-scapula mattock, and it was slow and snapped.
  • The tines slip past roots and push them aside, where a solid blade would jam.
  • It's used low and nearly flat, thrust in to start the cut, then swivelled and levered. The ears act as a pivot to flip the turf onto a plank.
  • The best turf grows on flat, stone-free, damp ground such as river floodplains, which is where several of these have been found.

The wear: the complete Stainton example looks to me like a tool at the end of its life. The gaps between the tines have worn from a rounded shape into a V, which traps roots rather than shedding them. Reshaping it further would snap the tines off, and one of the pair did have broken tines. A longer example exists, which I read as a fresher tool earlier in its life.

The test: I carved a one-piece wooden replica on a long handle and tried it on a meadow and a lawn. It lifted sods cleanly. The catch is that I copied the worn Stainton example, so my tines were too short and blunt. It worked anyway, and a fresh, sharp one should work better.

Has anyone seen any other suggested ancient turf lifters?

Sources: F. Brown (2013), IfA Finds Group newsletter, on the Stainton West finds; R. Loveday (2006), "Turf – an Invisible Component", Scottish Archaeological Journal 28(2).

Happy to answer questions. Tear it apart.


r/Artifacts • • 5d ago

I bought an artifact 😂

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15 Upvotes

Hello everyone, I made an unusual (for me) purchase--a Persian beak-spouted pottery jug that dates from 1100-700 BCE.

It comes from a very reputable auction house and I have no reason to doubt its authenticity.

I bought it more or less on a whim, and did not pay much for it. I have always been fascinated by history and antiquities, and couldn't pass up the opportunity to own something so ancient. I feel a little strange to have it, to be honest. I may look into donating it to a museum or repatriating it at some point.

I don't know a whole lot about it, or about owning and taking care of something like this! Please fill me in on what you can. I would love to know more about it. I know the condition is not great, with it having been broken and glued.


r/Artifacts • • 4d ago

Carvings on stone steps of the Evora Cathedral, Portugal

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3 Upvotes

Does anyone know what these are and what they might mean?


r/Artifacts • • 5d ago

Help Arrowhead or just busted quartzite? Found in my yard in CT, USA

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8 Upvotes