Dan, 

From your photos I would suggest looking into some sort of burner orifice.? The morphology of this artifact is very similar to burners made for natural gas, propane, etc and the color variation at the end suggests the presence of heat and the products of combustion.? It was very common to use a high grade ceramic for this type of application for gas light and other similar applications.? I browsed a bit on google books to try to find a picture in the period literature but have been stumped so far.? When you do find out, let me know, I always enjoy a good mystery!? 

Best,

Stathi Pappas


___________________________________________________________________

Efstathios I. Pappas
Doctoral Candidate
Department of Anthropology/096
University of Nevada, Reno
Reno, NV 89557
209 603 7363


-----Original Message-----
From: Dan Trepal <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Tue, 5 Feb 2008 8:12 am
Subject: Mystery artifact...ID help?



Hello Everyone,

I'm looking for a little help identifying an artifact.

The artifact was collected during excavation in a cannon boring mill at
the 1817-1912 West Point Foundry site. It was found in context with late
19th-century tobacco pipe fragments. It has a tapering, cylindrical
cross-section with a grooved collar and a rounded head with a straight,
narrow slit across the top and extending down the sides. the other end is
broken. I am not sure what material it's made from, though it may be clay,
hard and cool to the touch. It looks as though it has been turned on a
lathe, and the grooves are very sharp and straight. The broken end looks
as though it may have been cut rather than simply broken.

Photos:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v439/danthearcheologist/artifact_ID/001.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v439/danthearcheologist/artifact_ID/002.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v439/danthearcheologist/artifact_ID/003.jpg


Any ideas?

Regards,


Dan

-- 
Daniel J. Trepal
Masters Candidate
Industrial Archaeology
Michigan Technological University
Social Sciences Dept.
1400 Townsend Drive
Houghton, MI 49931
http://www.social.mtu.edu/IA/iahm.html
[log in to unmask]


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