Sharpening Stone

[Tedyoh]

Hi, I found this stone in the woods atop a small ridge in NE Ohio, it was next to a metal target I was digging and was about 5" deep.....I kept it because of its odd shape and it looks to be purposely cracked in half and the unusual scars /gouges on the rounded side of the stone. Some lines are vertical, horizontal and diagonal. My father has found arrowheads in the family field when they plowed it about 200 yards away. ...do you think this could have been used as a sharpening stone? The stone is dense for its size. I know very little about American Indian artifacts and their tools. Thanks for looking and your thoughts. ...

 

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[ole miss rebel]

Seems that IF it is a sharpening stone that the cut marks would be on the "flat" side.
They would hold the round side in their palm and use the flat side to grind on. Thoughts?

 

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[redbeardrelics]

Upon further thought, I do not think it would be a "sharpening stone", for the same reason that I think ole miss rebel has suggested. If it is a "sharpening stone" or abrading stone, I would have to wonder what it was that was being sharpened or abraded by it? Just what would have, or could have, been sharpened in those narrow and shallow grooves? If the desire was to grind a sharp edge onto a piece of bone, wood, or stone, I would think that such a task would be accomplished the way it is done in modern times, by using the smooth flat side of a stone, as practiced with modern whet stones. If a piece of bone, wood or stone was rubbed into the grooves on that rock, I believe the result would have been a dull, and low profile "ridge" left upon the bone, wood, or stone, but it would not have been very sharp at all would it?
I think that if the chipped edge of a piece of flint were worked through those grooves, the result would be what we might see as the "ground bases", on some projectile points, but I believe that process was probably accomplished the way it is with modern knappers, using a coarse stone, across the base of a point in all directions.
Tedyoh's item may be a pre historic human artifact of some purpose, but I am having trouble understanding how it could have been used to sharpen anything, or even straighten anything as in a "shaft straightener".
? HH

 

[Tedyoh]

Feels pretty natural in my hand flat side down and oddly only one of the gouges seem to be in line to cause any danger to fingers (index finger)

 

[gunsil]

Many rocks get marks like that from glacial movement and plow strikes, I doubt it is NA or man made for use.

 

[Neanderthal]

Upon further thought, I do not think it would be a "sharpening stone", for the same reason that I think ole miss rebel has suggested. If it is a "sharpening stone" or abrading stone, I would have to wonder what it was that was being sharpened or abraded by it? Just what would have, or could have, been sharpened in those narrow and shallow grooves? If the desire was to grind a sharp edge onto a piece of bone, wood, or stone, I would think that such a task would be accomplished the way it is done in modern times, by using the smooth flat side of a stone, as practiced with modern whet stones. If a piece of bone, wood or stone was rubbed into the grooves on that rock, I believe the result would have been a dull, and low profile "ridge" left upon the bone, wood, or stone, but it would not have been very sharp at all would it?
I think that if the chipped edge of a piece of flint were worked through those grooves, the result would be what we might see as the "ground bases", on some projectile points, but I believe that process was probably accomplished the way it is with modern knappers, using a coarse stone, across the base of a point in all directions.
Tedyoh's item may be a pre historic human artifact of some purpose, but I am having trouble understanding how it could have been used to sharpen anything, or even straighten anything as in a "shaft straightener".
? HH

Abrading stones are the coarse, gritty stones used in the knapping process. They are used to dull & strengthen the edges of the stone platform before removing a flake. Almost any coarse stone will suffice as an abrader and the marks left on that stone are identical to what the OP is showing. After they are used extensively the abrading channels turn into deep grooves. If those shallow grooves on the OP's item are not the direct result of agricultural implement strikes, it's most likely an abrading stone that wasn't used much.

Here's an image of some abrading stones that were completely used to exhaustion and then discarded. They came from a quarry site and were much larger at one time.

 

[gunsil]

I have a few friends who are excellent arrowhead knappers and none use any such abrading stones. Flint, jasper, etc are very hard stones and will not be abraded by softer stones. I just don't buy the idea that such things were used in the making of knapped points. All preforms I have ever seen were made by knapping, not abrasion. Perhaps they may have been used in polishing the edges of such implements as celts or axes which are made by pecking and polishing, but not for making flaked or knapped items. The ones shown by Neanderthal look like fairly soft stone, and are very coarse like they would have been made for sanding wood rather than stone. I still doubt that the PO's rock is anything other than a rock which shows glacial abrasions. Another thing is that flint is harder than steel, and any rock that gets grooved by a plow would not abrade flint. You can scratch steel with flint, but you cannot scratch flint with steel.

 

[redbeardrelics]

Abrading stones are the coarse, gritty stones used in the knapping process. They are used to dull & strengthen the edges of the stone platform before removing a flake. Almost any coarse stone will suffice as an abrader and the marks left on that stone are identical to what the OP is showing. After they are used extensively the abrading channels turn into deep grooves. If those shallow grooves on the OP's item are not the direct result of agricultural implement strikes, it's most likely an abrading stone that wasn't used much.

Here's an image of some abrading stones that were completely used to exhaustion and then discarded. They came from a quarry site and were much larger at one time.

View attachment 1038984

Thanks for the info and photos Neanderthal. I guess I was thinking that an "abrader" was more like a "shaft straightener", my bad, and I am glad to have been "straightened" out on that. So would it be accurate to say that an abrader is really a dulling stone, rather than a sharpening stone? HH

 

[theviking]

I have a few friends who are excellent arrowhead knappers and none use any such abrading stones. Flint, jasper, etc are very hard stones and will not be abraded by softer stones. I just don't buy the idea that such things were used in the making of knapped points. All preforms I have ever seen were made by knapping, not abrasion. Perhaps they may have been used in polishing the edges of such implements as celts or axes which are made by pecking and polishing, but not for making flaked or knapped items. The ones shown by Neanderthal look like fairly soft stone, and are very coarse like they would have been made for sanding wood rather than stone. I still doubt that the PO's rock is anything other than a rock which shows glacial abrasions. Another thing is that flint is harder than steel, and any rock that gets grooved by a plow would not abrade flint. You can scratch steel with flint, but you cannot scratch flint with steel.

You might want to check with your Knapping friends again, abrading is not a theory, its a proven fact. Sure, any decent knapper can whack-out something that resembles a point in 5-10 minuets, but to make quality pieces abrading is a must. I hunt a reduction site, or tool making area, here on my property and abrading stones similar to the ones shown here are found right next to hammerstones of different size, large anvil stones, and buckets of flakes.

 

[Tedyoh]

Well I went back to this area to metal detect and I found an old Coulter / Plow disc about 50 yards away from where I dug the rock - there are trees back there that 3 grown men could not wrap their arms around, I never would have thought that area was once plowed.

Thanks again to Everyone - I learned a lot from Everyone on these NA items.

 

[rock]

Yes its possible even with the trees. They do grow fast some of them. I was talking to a guy yesterday about a hay field and he said if you let it go for more than 2 yrs you will have to use a bobcat to clear it. To me that was a good example for you. It still was a interesting rock and yes farmers did run over artifacts with the plow. It could still be a artifact with plow scars.

 

[redbeardrelics]

I visited some friends in Charleston, SC last summer, and in their back yard was a Spanish moss covered oak tree that would probably take three men to grasp its girth. I love large trees and commented that the tree must have been hundreds of years old. My friend stated that the person they bought the home from said that he planted that tree about 50-60 years ago. I still find that hard to believe, but haven't bothered researching yet to see if such growth is possible?

 

[Tnmountains]

I have a few friends who are excellent arrowhead knappers and none use any such abrading stones. Flint, jasper, etc are very hard stones and will not be abraded by softer stones. I just don't buy the idea that such things were used in the making of knapped points. All preforms I have ever seen were made by knapping, not abrasion. Perhaps they may have been used in polishing the edges of such implements as celts or axes which are made by pecking and polishing, but not for making flaked or knapped items. The ones shown by Neanderthal look like fairly soft stone, and are very coarse like they would have been made for sanding wood rather than stone. I still doubt that the PO's rock is anything other than a rock which shows glacial abrasions. Another thing is that flint is harder than steel, and any rock that gets grooved by a plow would not abrade flint. You can scratch steel with flint, but you cannot scratch flint with steel.

The stones like Matt said were used to dull the edges of the artifact so the next blow or strike gets a grip on the stone. Sometimes they would use the cortex off a spall which is rough and sandy to grind the edges of a point. Most modern day knappers understand this process. It also why modern day flint workers use materials such as copper which is a soft metal and can get a grip on the stone instead on a billet. Ancient man used abrading stones and then an antler to get his strike. Pretty ingenious technique but they had thousand upon thousands of years to perfect.

 

[monsterrack]

I have a few friends who are excellent arrowhead knappers and none use any such abrading stones. Flint, jasper, etc are very hard stones and will not be abraded by softer stones. I just don't buy the idea that such things were used in the making of knapped points. All preforms I have ever seen were made by knapping, not abrasion. Perhaps they may have been used in polishing the edges of such implements as celts or axes which are made by pecking and polishing, but not for making flaked or knapped items. The ones shown by Neanderthal look like fairly soft stone, and are very coarse like they would have been made for sanding wood rather than stone. I still doubt that the PO's rock is anything other than a rock which shows glacial abrasions. Another thing is that flint is harder than steel, and any rock that gets grooved by a plow would not abrade flint. You can scratch steel with flint, but you cannot scratch flint with steel.

The whole idea of using an abrader stone is to remove the thin edge so when you make your next strike it does not crumble and you end up with step fractures. It is a basic rule of flintknapping to take off a flake or a row of flakes abrade the edge , flip the stone over and take off a flake or more from the other side. Clovis man did it this way and all after him, show me a flintknapper that does not abrade his edge and I'll show you someone that is having a problem working stone.

 

[monsterrack]

I visited some friends in Charleston, SC last summer, and in their back yard was a Spanish moss covered oak tree that would probably take three men to grasp its girth. I love large trees and commented that the tree must have been hundreds of years old. My friend stated that the person they bought the home from said that he planted that tree about 50-60 years ago. I still find that hard to believe, but haven't bothered researching yet to see if such growth is possible?

It depends on the type of Oak tree, if it was a Live oak they don't grow that fast, if it was a water oak, saw tooth, pen oak or something like that I would say yes it could happen, with the right condition. Where I live we have the large Live Oak most where brought in by the whites and some of them are 200 yrs old and it would take 6 men to reach around them and they have limbs that are so long they have grown back down to the ground and back up again.