Hi blogsters:

After a person's toted enough tonnage of neat rocks out of remote places there comes a time when the item has to make a strong argument for itself to pay the cabfare out.  Mostly they just don't have the moxie.

If I'd found something interesting enough to carry home from those sites yesterday, which I certainly didn't, because of the restrictions on doing so, one such item would have been this.  If I'd found it there.  Which I didn't.

The backside is fitted perfectly to fit inside the left hand.  The front, or top side is notched with three well-used cavities about a quarter-inch in diameter, each with an ocher residue inside.  The tool was obviously used for applying paint with some delicately-made brush or small stick, or cactus tine or thorn.  Might have been for tattoos, war paint, painting pottery designs, or for pictographs.

I've never seen one of these prior to having found it.  I've heard of them, but they're rare.

If I'd found it yesterday I'd have been convinced that piece was worth a ride out without measuring the size and weight in my mind.

Jack