artifact or ?

[fmerg]

yesterday my son (fisher1) and i went to one of the local farmers to give them a shadow box of things we found in their fields.
the farmer asked if we have ever seen some thing like this and if we knew what it was.
being we do not do much in the lines of Indian artifacts i told him we have no idea but know were to get the answer

the thing was broke in two and has marks from the plow all over it he did manage to find both parts and used a glue to hold them together
it is about 16 inches long one end is pointed the other is rounded
any help please thanks

 

[oldgoat]

it looks like a pestle, for grinding grains and such....goat

 

[ohioaxeman]

I'd say pestle also. The plow really got ahold of that one!

 

[wtgwayne]

Yes it is a pestal here is one that i found in Texas.

 

[larson1951]

yup,
a roller pestle
which a few marks that look like farm machinery damage (probably from a disc)
farmer larson1951
very large, nice, and rare piece
way way cool man

 

[Twitch]

I believe that's a roller pedestle.

 

[joshuaream]

Yep, a very nice roller pestle.

The name is a bit of a misnomer. In the midwest roller pestles were not really rolled on a stone mano like they were in the Southwest. These were more than likely used in wooden or stone morters, and were used to grind corn & nuts into a flour or paste by pounding vertically. The size is because the extra weight helps do the work (lift & let fall vs lift and slam it down.) They will often have a lot of polish from repeated handling (the same way an old door knob can be polished from use over the years.)