Native or Pioneer?

[unclemac]

So years ago I found this at my village site...(my mother and I argue about who found it but she is WRONG it was ME)...anyway...is this a native made maul type hammer or a settler potato masher? Either way it is pretty darn cool.

 

[rock]

Looks like the tool end of a buttermilk maker to me. But then again I really wouldnt know. Interesting looking

 

[old digger]

Very interesting find! I take it that it is made of wood, and if it is I would presume that it would be a wooden maul/mallet. I wouldn't be used in processing buttermilk. To make buttermilk you need churning paddles.
As a mallet, it may have been used in mashing berries for pemican.

 

[unclemac]

Very interesting find! I take it that it is made of wood, and if it is I would presume that it would be a wooden maul/mallet. I wouldn't be used in processing buttermilk. To make buttermilk you need churning paddles.
As a mallet, it may have been used in mashing berries for pemican.

yes wooden...I just can't decide ....mallet/maul or pestle/masher.....

 

[GatorBoy]

Here is an antique meat tenderizer
Made in 1890.

 

[unclemac]

yeah...i know and here is a maul....see my confusion?

 

[rock]

And I saw a min ago online one somebody was holding and they used it as a tool in knapping stone some how.

 

[GatorBoy]

It's hard to judge in a photo.. but does it at all appear to have been made on a lathe and just swolen and worn by moisture and the elements ?..or does it appear totally handmade and those grooves just natural? Is there a small hole in the center of the bottom or top of the handle?

 

[lostlake88]

Where do you live? A few of these were found in Oregon and in Nevada caves. This is why I ask.

 

[GatorBoy]

There has been wooden pestles recovered from submerged sites here in Florida that are very similar also.

 

[unclemac]

Where do you live? A few of these were found in Oregon and in Nevada caves. This is why I ask.

coastal southern Washington very close to the mouth of the Columbia