NC/SC grinder, discoidal, abraider, you tell me?

[redbeardrelics]

All of the recent discussion on hammer stones etc. has prompted me to look through some stashed away boxes for some examples. The photos here are of an artifact I found while living in the Carolinas in the mid 1980's. I believe the material would be generically called porphyry. I would be interested to know if there are known outcrops or locations in that area of the southeast, that the prehistoric peoples would have obtained the material, or if it might have been traded into the area?
I am also curious to hear everyone's thoughts on if they think this would have been a hammerstone, abraider, grindstone, discoidal, or something else?

(PS. SCrocks, I only walked this particular site once, and found several broken points in the same spot, and it may still be there if you ever want to check it out. It was off HWY 21 if I remember right. It is/was the main road between the Carowinds area south of Charlotte, and Fort Mill, SC. Somewhere along that road the high tension wire power lines crossed the Hwy, and on the west side of the road the electrical towers were placed upon each subsequent hilltop. They must have sprayed to kill the weeds around the bases of the towers, because there was exposed ground around them. I looked around the bases of the first two towers and there were artifacts on both those hilltops.)

 

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[southfork]

Nice Mano that was used for other purposes .

 

[Charl]

Well, that would be the type of attractive stone chosen for gamestones. It looked nice enough to be a biscuit style, which you can see down aways on this page..

Discoidals

Maybe it hadn't been polished yet? Here's a biscuit discoidal from RI that's pretty plain in comparison. Not sure about your's, but all I know is they often selected pretty patterned rocks, does look like porphyry, for gamestones. Got the right shape, both faces a bit raised....

 

[NC field hunter]

I'm pretty sure it's a game stone. That is a rare hard stone. I have a Mano made of that lithic.



I also have a Mano shaped similar to your piece.











Look at how beat up my Mano is. Look at how perfect your piece is. I believe if yours was a Mano, it would show dings and wear. I see a concave face on yours. The concave face and overall smooth finish makes me call discoidal or game stone on your find. It may not have been completed. Most have a better polish in the end. It's still a mighty fine piece.

 

[monsterrack]

Looks like a chunky stone to me JMO, cool artifact either way.

 

[alaldrid]

Nice find and color to that one.

Here is one that I have posted in the past, looks close to yours but a different type rock. Believe it to be an unfinished discodial. Found in the southern piedmont of NC.

 

[sandchip]

Mighty nice looking find, Redbeard. Looks like a discoidal, biscuit, chunky stone or whatever you like to call 'em. All the same (to me, anyway), just differing in sizes, styles and levels of finish and refinement. And I sure as heck am not a geologist, but always called the black and white rock diorite. Found this bannerstone in middle/south Georgia many years ago that looks to be made from the same material.

 

[SCrocks]

Great find Redbeard! I would have the same question If I had found it. Wish there were more of that type stone around here. Neat looking for sure. I found one fairly similar to yours,different type stone though, that Mr Peck called a nice pitted hammer stone. I found a discoidal looking thing not far from Carowinds made of a sandstone material. It was pushed up in a burn pile and got really hot from the fire I believe. Caused the stone to dry out badly. Yours is a great find whatever it's called. Thanks for showing

 

[rock]

Nice stuff guys

 

[redbeardrelics]

Thanks for all the comments, info, and photos folks.
Charl's, Alaldrid's and SCrocks items all look to be the same type artifact as mine, at least they do to me. Since those do not appear to have been polished either, maybe that was not always a requirement or trait in the NC/SC area on up through the east coast?
NC Field Hunter, your mano sure does look like it could have come from the same chunk of stone as mine, and your comments on the surface condition differences between manos and discoidals makes good sense to me.
I really appreciate the link to the Discoidal info Charl, I had never read much about them before, and there sure is some interesting info, and impressive discoildals shown in that article.
Speaking of impressive artifacts, Sandchip, that bannerstone of yours is a museum piece, I love the polish and condition of that, and I don't think I had ever heard of diorite before. I Googled it and it sure does look to be the same stuff. It appears (from my untrained eye) that porphyry and diorite look very similar, but that they are just composed of different mineral deposits, and I am gonna have to study up on it to be able to tell the difference one day. I only have one other piece of diorite/porphyry in my collection, and it is a piece of a polished bannerstone that I found up here in MD a couple years ago. I will dig it out and post a photo of it here in the next day or so.
It didn't show up well in the photos I posted, but the two faces or sides of my artifact are flat to slightly convex, except for one spot on the edge which is recessed a bit, about the width of my finger. I have wondered if that was intentional for maybe shaft straightening or smoothing purposes, or if it was just a natural feature of the parent material/rock that did not get pecked or ground away. HH

 

[sandchip]

Redbeard, I appreciate the kind words and hope you'll forgive me for posting my banner on your thread. After 24 years, I guess I could call it a once-in-a-lifetime find. The similarity in the material between your discoidal and my banner was as close as I've seen, and figured that the comparison would've been lost had I posted it elsewhere. It sure would be interesting to know where the material came from.

 

[redbeardrelics]

Hey Sandchip I am really glad you posted your bannerstone here, I too would love to know where the prehistoric peoples obtained that material. Here are some photos of the only other piece of Diorite/porphyry that I have picked up. I am thinking it is a fragment of a bannerstone of a different type than yours. It is polished, and I really hope to be able to find another piece of it one day. HH

 

[creekhunter]

We find chunks of that in Ohio around the Glacial sediment areas, probably drugged down from Canada.