Native American Grinding Stone?

ANTIQUARIAN · Dec 9, 2017

I found this on the periphery of an archeological site that was dug in the 1980's and I'm wondering if it's a Native American Grinding Stone. :dontknow:

It looks to be broken in half and is clearly 'dished' in the middle with a flat bottom.
Has this shape occurred naturally due to being in a stream or is it a grinding stone? :icon_scratch:

Any theories would be appreciated.

Thank you in advance,
David

rock · Dec 9, 2017

Sometimes there isnt enough left to know so for me its that time

ANTIQUARIAN · Dec 9, 2017

rock said:
Sometimes there isnt enough left to know so for me its that time

I hear you rock... I just have a feeling about this piece though. :icon_scratch:

Dave

rock · Dec 10, 2017

ANTIQUARIAN said:
I hear you rock... I just have a feeling about this piece though.
Dave

One time a friend of mine gave me something he found as a gift. I took it back to him and said nice rock and he got mad and said he saw something in it and didnt want to throw it away. I thought he was playing a joke on me but he was serious so if you think you see something in it just keep it and maybe later have another look at it and make a decision.

NCPeaches · Dec 10, 2017

From the pics it looks more like part of a bowl but not smooth like soapstone once it's been worked, is it slippery when it's wet? Maybe go to the museum or where they displayed what they found before, see if the material matches their dig finds. The other 2 pieces are interesting, I've never seen that type of rock with the blue center and the quartz looks worked to me. Since it's a site of a past dig I'll bet there's other things around also, check for run off areas and creeks and search them. Good luck and keep hunting, I'm sure there's something really cool around there or it wouldn't have been excavated.

coosakid · Dec 10, 2017

Not sure but I'd say definitely not natural

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ANTIQUARIAN · Dec 10, 2017

rock said:
One time a friend of mine gave me something he found as a gift. I took it back to him and said nice rock and he got mad and said he saw something in it and didnt want to throw it away. I thought he was playing a joke on me but he was serious so if you think you see something in it just keep it and maybe later have another look at it and make a decision.

Thanks very much for the great story and for the advice to check for run off areas and creeks rock. :thumbsup:

This is definitely a piece that I wouldn't put into the garden until an expert has had a chance to look it over.
Dave

NCPeaches said:
From the pics it looks more like part of a bowl but not smooth like soapstone once it's been worked, is it slippery when it's wet? Maybe go to the museum or where they displayed what they found before, see if the material matches their dig finds. The other 2 pieces are interesting, I've never seen that type of rock with the blue center and the quartz looks worked to me. Since it's a site of a past dig I'll bet there's other things around also, check for run off areas and creeks and search them. Good luck and keep hunting, I'm sure there's something really cool around there or it wouldn't have been excavated.

This is an interesting theory that it might be food bowl as opposed to a grinding bowl NCP.
The bowl looks to have been hand worked but it doesn't have the look of being worn smooth by grinding grains.
The bowl is also lighter then I think it should be, so your theory might hold water... or in this case food! :laughing7:

The blue rock is definitely a mystery, I might have to take it to a rock expert for a closer examination.

Thanks again for your assistance,
Dave

coosakid said:
Not sure but I'd say definitely not natural

Thanks very much for your post coosa.
Dave

crj1968 · Dec 10, 2017

Interesting- I have something very similar that I found in a place that had no other stones of same material quite like it... :icon_scratch:

Looks like same stuff as yours eh?

ANTIQUARIAN · Dec 12, 2017

crj1968 said:
Interesting- I have something very similar that I found in a place that had no other stones of same material quite like it...
Looks like same stuff as yours eh?

They do look to be of a similar type of stone, although I doubt very much that you're located in my part of Canada crj. :dontknow:

The fact that NCPeaches mentioned that my find might be a bowl to eat from makes perfect sense due to it's lack of weight.

Thanks for sharing the pic of the piece you found, wish mine looked as nice as yours! :laughing7:

Dave

Goldfinger450 · Dec 12, 2017

Well, I'm sorry but I see No Human rubbed surface on the indentation, I'll call it natural, I used to find some superb grinding stones, for wheat or corn alw
ays amazed at how "worked" they looked.

ANTIQUARIAN · Dec 12, 2017

Goldfinger450 said:
Well, I'm sorry but I see No Human rubbed surface on the indentation, I'll call it natural, I used to find some superb grinding stones, for wheat or corn alw
ays amazed at how "worked" they looked.

I sincerely appreciate your insight into my find Goldfinger. :thumbsup:

Of course, I'm not an expert and we all tend to see what we want to see when it comes to Native American objects found in a farm field or in a creek bed.

It very well might be a stone that has naturally occurred over millions of years... all I can hope in the end, is to get a definitive answer.

Thanks again,
Dave