Indian Hammerstone?

[Masquay]

My husband found this huge stone on the Blue Earth river near our home. The river was quite low because of dry spell and we find many items that otherwise would be below many feet of water. I had already put my camera away and was packing up our supplies when came across this, though I will never forget the look on his face with excitement over this find....like a little boy on Christmas morning who just got his most wanted gift!!! This is the reason for me finding this site, but I really would like more information on who would have made this, what it was used for and how old it might be. Any information would be appreciated!! It is 17 1/2" diam. in length and 15 5/8" diam. in width. The smallest point of groove is 1 1/8" wide and 1 3/8" at widest point, it weighs aprox. 7 1/4 pounds!

 

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[SouthernGirl]

Nice grooved ax!! Welcome to Tnet

 

[hbrown22]

That's on the top of my husbands list Great find!

 

[NC field hunter]

I have found a 3/4 grooved axe/maul like yours. The one I found weighs about 1 pound. Tiny, in comparison to yours. I found it along with the small black axe. Both were found the same day about 5 feet from each other. They are mid archaic or about 6,000 years old. Nice find!!

 

[rock]

Nice hand maul/ grooved hammer.

 

[GaRebel1861]

Very nice find indeed! I bet he was happy to have found that.

 

[quito]

Welcome neighbor!
That's a great example of a full grooved maul. I have one very similar.

 

[rock]

Welcome neighbor!
That's a great example of a full grooved maul. I have one very similar.

How old would it be is one of her questions? Id like to know also even though I dont think we have them here.

 

[bci101tractors]

Early woodland.
That is a great find, congrats.
Thanks for posting.

 

[Tnmountains]

Wow !!! Welcome to T-Net.

 

[old digger]

Welcome to TNET!

Very Nice hammer! I can appreciate your husbands joy in finding it, still waiting for that opportunity.

 

[Charl]

Great find. Yep, instant Christmas morning! Full Groove hammerstones or mauls date Late Archaic though the Woodland.

 

[NC field hunter]

Great find. Yep, instant Christmas morning! Full Groove hammerstones or mauls date Late Archaic though the Woodland.

Not to argue, but, I was under the impression that full grooved artifacts were mid to late archaic. That may only stand true in NC, being that our archaic period was longer. I have never associated the groove with woodland. I also rarely read about any artifacts outside of NC and VA. Is it a location deal?

 

[rock]

I havent seen many grooved ones found here in GA. A few but mostly Celts here.

 

[creekhunter]

Wow super nice find!

 

[catherine1]

Cool grooved maul find!! Thanks for sharing on T-Net.

 

[Buckleberry]

Nice full grooved maul!

Hardstone, is more difficult to date, as many cultures over long time spans used them and they tend towards more generic types, for the most part...although it is my undestanding that most grooved hardstone artifacts are archaic.

May have been used for anything from pounding posts to preparing dried meat, extracting marrow from bones, pulping vegetable matter or use as a weapon.

 

[monsterrack]

A very nice maul stone

 

[Masquay]

Thank-you all for your comments and likes....my husband was quite impressed by all the feedback and wants me to post more pics of some of our other finds that we have questions about!!! Great Site!!!

 

[rock]

Thank-you all for your comments and likes....my husband was quite impressed by all the feedback and wants me to post more pics of some of our other finds that we have questions about!!! Great Site!!!

Sounds good we like seeing other peoples finds. Gives some of hopes, like me. I look and look but just cant seem to find that many GREAT artifacts.