Any idea what this is?

[SweepNbeep]

I was out looking for shed deer antlers this weekend with my family in North Dakota. We found some, but my son also came across this odd piece.

It appears to be made of sandstone, not concrete. Assuming it was at one time completely round, roughly 1/3rd of it is what I have. I estimate it to be about 3.25" in diameter, were it not broken. The top side is rounded at the edge, and sloped upward ever so slightly towards the center. The top also has a groove carved the length of it, just inside the outer edge. The bottom is completely flat. It appears to have had a hole in the center, but the center hole is rough, not smooth like the rest of it. Can anyone identify this object? I did some Google searches, but couldn't find anything very similar. Any chance it's a native artifact? Thanks.

 

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[Tesorodeoro]

Looks like a piece of a broken grinding wheel.

 

[Older The Better]

Agree

 

[Tesorodeoro]

The only thing I’m thinking that bothers me a little bit about my suggestion, is that most grinding wheels have some sort of cog, if you will that allows the torque to get transferred to the stone to drive it.

Usually that’s a square “hole”. Perhaps a smaller grinding stone might have used bolt tension clamping force?

A wheel will usually have a circular hole for an axle.

Anybody have any thoughts on that?

 

[SweepNbeep]

I did a little Googling on the matter. While early grindstones were commonly made of sandstone, I can't find anything else like this. Most the grinding wheels I see are very much larger, and flat on both sides. This "wheel" is only a few inches across. Also, I was wondering, when you call it a grinding wheel, are you referring to something that would be used in a mill to grind wheat, or something that was used to sharpen things like knives and axes? Also, there is one teeny - tiny detail that I purposely left out because I wanted to get your opinions on this one piece by itself. These were also found in the vicinity, which is why I thought it might be Native American in the first place.

 

[SweepNbeep]

Maybe I should post it in the, What is this section.

 

[xr7ator]

If indians had wheels they wouldn't have dragged stuff behind them on two poles. Sure looks like a worn out and then discarded grinding stone to me.

 

[Tesorodeoro]

I was thinking a stone used to sharpen things. Way too small for a mill stone.

One thing to keep in mind..many Native American habitation sites were good ones for a reason. Subsequent people sometimes appreciated the same location.