My best find

[skeeterd]

Since I'm new here, I wanted to post a pic of one of my best finds. Found it about 10 years ago after a local creek flooded and people were hunting buffalo skulls that washed up. (There are several buffalo jumps upstream). I saw a piece of horn sticking out of the mud and pulled it out. Turned out to be a stick. But as luck would have it, this came out of the bank to! Anybody tell me what it was used for? The pocket knife is for size reference, about three inches.

 

[Twitch]

Looks like a grooved maul. Used for (probably) the same things as it would be used for today. Really cool piece. Nice find.

 

[rock]

Welcome to Tnet and thank you for showing your artifact. I am still looking for one like that.

 

[skeeterd]

Thanks. I'm pretty sure its not a maul. That type of rock would break to easily if someone hit something hard with it. I have been told two different uses. First: a grind stone. A piece of wet rawhide was wrapped around the groove then twisted. When the hide dried, it tightened up and became stiff. The twisted part made a solid handle. Second: a hobble stone. Leather was tied around the groove and then tied to a horses leg with about 8 inches of slack. If the horse moved slowly, it didn't bother him. But if he moved to fast, the rock banged on his legs. Both of these ideas seem logical to me. I was wondering if someone knew more about this than my friends and nieghbors theories.

 

[11KBP]

Since I'm new here, I wanted to post a pic of one of my best finds.
Found it about 10 years ago after a local creek flooded and people were hunting buffalo skulls
that washed up. (There are several buffalo jumps upstream).

Very nice maul skeeterd and could have very well been used to break up bones associated with
the upstream bison kill sites.

11KBP

 

[GatorBoy]

Agree

 

[skeeterd]

Ok. Thanks guys. When I thought of a maul, I was thinking of a serious hammer. But crushing bones or even pounding meat would have been great with this.

 

[GatorBoy]

Its a great find by the way.

 

[larson1951]

Thanks. I'm pretty sure its not a maul. That type of rock would break to easily if someone hit something hard with it. I have been told two different uses. First: a grind stone. A piece of wet rawhide was wrapped around the groove then twisted. When the hide dried, it tightened up and became stiff. The twisted part made a solid handle. Second: a hobble stone. Leather was tied around the groove and then tied to a horses leg with about 8 inches of slack. If the horse moved slowly, it didn't bother him. But if he moved to fast, the rock banged on his legs. Both of these ideas seem logical to me. I was wondering if someone knew more about this than my friends and nieghbors theories.

i see i was not the only one with knowledge of horse tethers
however i don't think this one was since the big end is showing use wear like impact wear
anyway it is nice

 

[skeeterd]

My grandpa has several of these. He only found one himself and the others were given to him years ago. He is the one who explained the hobble stone to me. But the ones he has are twice the size of this one and the grooves aren't as deep. I know this method of hobbleing horses works well. Alot of the old time cowboys in this part of the state did the same thing with a piece of irion or board.

 

[larson1951]

i did not here of tying it to thier leg
they used iron tethers when i was a kid they were tied to the bridal with about 8 feet of rope
the old sioux indian lady from the church at fort yates res had at least fifty of them
some were hammers and some were horse tethers
she said they would tie about a 20 foot cord and it would go around the horses neck and keep it close by
she showed me and bruce that the ones with damage on the ends were hammers and the ones that were smooth on the ends were horse tethers
they were all made of granite
it was very interesting
glad you brought this up skeeterd

 

[natchitoches]

that item look very new, the pecking is not old,its still white.
like it was done last week.
if it was old the peck area would be the color of the stone. and not white

 

[11KBP]

that item look very new, the pecking is not old,its still white.
like it was done last week.
if it was old the peck area would be the color of the stone. and not white

I can agree that the pecking looks new but it is very hard to tell on these
Late Prehistoric Plains mauls. It most likely will fall in a date range of about
1200 AD up to the 1700's ...not a lot of time for a stone to change colors.

11KBP

 

[skeeterd]

I will try to post better pics this evening from different angles. The other side has a red tint to it. I have no idea how long it had been buried and if that protected the pecking or not. The stones my granddad have, do look to be older by looking at the color of the pecking. I'm not an expert on these things but I do know the area where I found this has alot of teepee rings, buffalo jumps, rock carvings and alot of other signs of early indians.

 

[11KBP]

I have no idea how long it had been buried and if that protected the pecking or not.
The stones my granddad have, do look to be older by looking at the color of the pecking.

There will be differences in the various stones as well, some will not exhibit
such contrasting colors between the original surface and the newer surface.

 

[skeeterd]

Sorry these aren't better pictures. My only camera is a tablet and it's also my internet access.

 

[skeeterd]

View attachment 687610

 

[scotto]

Almost looks like it was done on a modern grinder.

 

[skeeterd]

Haha! Definatly not a made with a grinder. I'm not much of a photographer, so it's hard to see alot of detail in the pictures. The pecking is very visable and plain to see in person. At any rate, I'm not trying to con anybody. Just showing off something that I found and asking for information on what this tool may have been used for. I have been given some ideas before and after discovering this site, thought somebody here would have better information for me. I would like to thank those that have taken the time to answer my questions.

 

[hotrod]

verry ccoollllll