Found a weird pottery shard in my backyard last weekend

I was digging up some old bushes near the fence line behind my house in Dayton and pulled out this curved piece of clay about 4 inches long with faint lines on it. My neighbor thinks it might be Native American from the Woodland period because of how thick it is and the type of clay. Has anyone ever found something like this just digging in their yard and got it identified?

3 comments

3 Comments

harper_foster21d ago

emery_black said "they told me it was just old brick" but honestly that doesn't sound right for what the original poster described... a curved shard with faint lines on it wouldn't be brick at all, brick is usually flat and smooth unless it's really worn down. Ohio's got tons of Woodland period sites, especially along the river valleys near Dayton, so a curved piece with markings could be part of a pot or a pipe. I'd say don't write it off as brick just yet, take it to someone who actually handles pre-contact artifacts instead of a historical society that mostly deals with 1800s stuff. The University of Dayton or even the Cincinnati Museum Center might be better since they have real archaeologists on staff. Better to have it checked by someone who knows the difference between a pottery sherd and construction debris.

grantw3217d ago

Buddy of mine found almost the same thing near Chillicothe and it turned out to be a broken pipe stem.

emery_black21d ago

Found a similar piece in my yard near Cincinnati once and took it to the local historical society, they told me it was just old brick from a long gone foundation. Maybe check with a university archaeology department if you want a real ID.