Nut Stone.......15#'s

[Atlantis0077]

Afternoon,

Here is a pic of a large nut stone I found during the summer. You find these things in all sizes and with multiple holes and holes on opposite sides. As the name implies, ask most folks and they will say indians used these things to break nuts in. I dont buy that. They seemed to have a more specialized use. Many are just too fragile to have been used in such a fashion or are just not the right shape to have lent themselves to cracking nuts or acorns. Anyhow, I'll let you decide what they used them for. They are found in sites all over the South and East.

I also posted a picture of a smaller...hand-sized one for comparison.

Happy Hunting,

Atlantis

[ohioaxeman]

i also have a hard time believing in the nutstone theory! That first one looks like an alien skull!

[uniface]

That concavity is polished from a lot of use. A fire bow drill cap would be my guess.

[Tnmountains]

Maybe they are used for diffrent things in diffrent places? Here we find them a lot in the shelters or cliffs. They would every year retreat to the mountains to gather nuts and process them. Nuts store well and was a large part of the winter delicacy. I have numerous ones I am 100% sure were for nutting in this area.
Nice pictures and can post similiar from this area. Mine seem to be a little more stout than yours
Nice finds as always.
TnMtns

[creek astronaut]

it has been a debate whether nutting stones are actually "nothing stones"(geofact).i use to find these on the ohio river quite often,they were a different material than your,the ones i have found were made of sandstone.i personally think they were used for something by the natives but dont buy the nutting stone concept.how many nuts would you have to break in that stone to make that impression and polish?I would think an insane amount of nuts.i am more inclined to go with unifaces theory of a fire starter.

[Tnmountains]

Ok nutstone found with millions of shattered hickory nuts in the mtn in a rock shelter 2 feet down. Say nut stone Cmon you can say it. They come with that rock thing that breaks the nutts. Some stones have many more holes that fit the hickorys.
Nut stone,,,,, Nut stone hehe

Ok came back and read this post and saw I forgot my nutstone picture! I will try again. No wonder everyone was LOL@me ! Ok nutstone.

[ohioaxeman]

Ok nutstone found with millions of shattered hickory nuts in the mtn in a rock shelter 2 feet down. Say nut stone Cmon you can say it. They come with that rock thing that breaks the nutts. Some stones have many more holes that fit the hickorys.
Nut stone,,,,, Nut stone hehe

lmao.... too funny!

[SoIll]

I've gotta agree with TNMountains there are nutting stones.
On the other hand, there are ones that have polish in the bottom like these. Obviously a different wear pattern.
Maybe a cap stone for a drill, maybe for grinding fine grained minerals

[Tnmountains]

Herb(med) or plant grinders when real smooth.Also heard speculation on paint pots. But seems everything is a paint pot that is cupped.