Georgia - sharpening stone?

[pingdis]

Found this in my gold pan in a northwest Georgia creek. Someone has suggested that it is a sharpening stone to sharpen other stones or maybe fish hooks; any other comments, ideas or suggestions would be welcome! Thanks!

[Get-the-point]

Nope, it is a Abrading Stone. That type of stone was used to smooth out Spear Shafts and Arrow Shafts. You can tell from the stone you have there that it is one. Look at the polish down the groove. A clear indication that many spear shafts were smoothed out that it polished the groove, plus look at the width of the groove it is perfect size for a spear shaft................................Nice Find......................GTP

[tmodel]

hello Pingdis!! and welcome to Tnet, from Tmodel!! on eastern highland rim of tennessee.no gold up here that i can find. interesting abrading or sharping stone to me they meen the same stone. i need more photos to show if that is a grove across the end of the stone. need side shot and any shot you think will show if that is a true grove same depth all the way across or if it is deeper in the middle looks deeper to me. sure looks polished in the bottom of some of the marks on it. Terry

[pingdis]

Thanks for the replies. That helps alot.

I've attached 3 more pics. 1 of them is the bottom side. I hope these help to show the main groove better!

[tmodel]

it may just be my eyes but steel looks dipper in middle of stone, if you you moved ruler in first photo down into grove in second photo, would the edge of the ruler be touching the bottom of the grove all across or just on outside edges of artifact. Terry

[Get-the-point]

hello Pingdis!! and welcome to Tnet, from Tmodel!! on eastern highland rim of tennessee.no gold up here that i can find. interesting abrading or sharping stone to me they meen the same stone. i need more photos to show if that is a grove across the end of the stone. need side shot and any shot you think will show if that is a true grove same depth all the way across or if it is deeper in the middle looks deeper to me. sure looks polished in the bottom of some of the marks on it. Terry

Far from the same stone Terry. They serve two purposes so clearly not the same stone. That stone is a abrading stone and one used to smooth out wood. There are other examples of Abrading stones like the ones in the picture below. Those are used to fine tune sinew. This example is clear see any similiarities. Same width, the depth can vary but it is usually consistant............................GTP

[centfladigger]

we find them down here alot but with our swamps and wet areas the bone sites they are associated with is preserved, most other places they have deteriorated already. These are everyday common items they used, bone pins and fish gigs from the cannon legs bones and socketed antler points antler atlatl hooks and a host of other things.

[pingdis]

Hey GTP - any suggestion on the age of this abrading stone?

Thanks.