A STONE AGE FIND BY THE AUTHOR

From JXF
Danny I think this one will interest you
being as I made this find while gardening. It was a stone with a
hole drilled through the middle and one side  unworked and the other
side Shiny looking as though there might have been a little bit of
flint chipping. Mike Fischer informs me that it's either a fishing net weight or
else it's an arrow shaft straightener. Do you have any ideas about these
pictures? John

From DJ
It should not be hard at all to tell the difference between an arrow shaft
straightener and a fishing net weight (in most cases).  The arrow shaft
straightener will have a grove that is of uniform depth and intends the full
length of the rock.  A weight may have a groove but will usually be rounded at
the ends.

From JXF
Dan many thanks for this. It sounds to me as though it could be an arrow
shaft straightener given the grove that had been chizled out and a hole
drilled through the middle of the gicen piece of flint. Once again many
thanks ; John.

From Mike Fischer

Dear John,
A week ago or so I re-sent you an email (for
the second time).  It had 2 pictures of
artifacts very much like yours, and the same
size.  Discussion on a blog suggested that
they could be either fishermens' net weights
or arrow shaft straighteners. 
Mike.

From Mike Fischer
Dear John,
Thanks for letting me review some of your
correspondence with Dan and Larry.  You
are getting lots of advice from all over.  On
sedimentary geology as evidence, the
interpretation of it depends on the researcher's
paradigm.  Mainstream geologists (in the oil
business especially) use sequence stratigraphy
that incorporates rising and falling sea levels,
climate changes, deposition, and erosion events.
Re-interpreting sequences is useful for discussion
among ourselves, but it does not advance the
public cause since it is just another opinion from
the peanut gallery.  I am disappointed that Dan
was not enthused by Gunnar's stone tool count.
That is the sort of hard evidence that changes
attitudes. Something as small as that fishing net
weight you found that turns up in the right place
can have enormous impact.  Such anomalous items
sit in the basements of museums and universities,
out of sight because they do not fit the standard
model of history.  If there is a gold mine for us,
that is where it is.
Mike