Nutting Stone? Can I get your help on this one?

[jeramme]

Hey all, found this on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi river in an area where I have found other stone tools . Hoping I can get your help on the ID. Thanks for your help

 

[MT_Joe]

Palm protector for use with a fire starting pump drill?

 

[rock]

Could be natural.

 

[quito]

Is the bottom of the hole polished smooth? I have lots of stones with holes very similar that are natural.

 

[bsit1361]

Could be a "nutter" or one of many other tools or could be natural. I have almost the exact same one and I consider it to be natural but I also kept it because it was found in a known campsite. I assume they used it.

 

[unclemac]

...and I think that is key too...I would have used it if I had found it too....

Could be a "nutter" or one of many other tools or could be natural. I have almost the exact same one and I consider it to be natural but I also kept it because it was found in a known campsite. I assume they used it.

 

[NC field hunter]

Seems to me like visible wear along the top edge of the cupped out spot. I'm not thinking natural. Is it as small as the fire puck or palm protector?

 

[jeramme]

Thanks for your input all...I thought maybe it was worked because it does fit nicely in the hand...and everything seems too consistently rounded including around the indention to be natural...but my knowledge is a candle beside the sun round here

 

[rginn]

Could be natural, but yeah I would have picked it up. I would have wanted a large heavy flat stone anchor as a base for cracking walnuts or hickory nuts. I can break nuts on a flat stone pretty easy without meticulously carved depressions to hold the nut shell, but spending several hours grinding out formed depressions to hold the nutshells would add a certain feng shui to the campsite. Sorry to sound facetious, but I have started to question the designation 'nutting stone'. Is there some documentation for this type of artifact or just an archaeologist's guess?

 

[quito]

Is the bottom of the hole polished smooth?

Never mind, after zooming in, it appears to be very coarse, and not very concave. I'm gonna say natural, but thats not saying it wasn't put to use.