Paint Stone

[BobTheBaitFish]

My favorite paint stone found in St Clair County, Illinois while the land was under developement. Piece was found displaced from it's context but was found in association with woodland points. So I assume it to be from the woodland period. Site had been occupied on and off from the late paleo to terminal late woodland .

Pieces of hematite were utilized by the indians to produce pigment. The stone was abraded to reduce the material into a powder. This powder was used to make ocher or red colored paint. The powder was either used directly or combined with grease for later use. The surface of a utilized piece of raw material will show evidence of having been abraded or rubbed.

 

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[Rege-PA]

Right on...they are fairly common on Monongahela sites here in PA. Often taking on the shape of cones, pyramids and thin rectangles. Wonder which periods used them the most?

 

[badandy]

Nice! I'm still looking for a piece of hematite, maybe one day!
badandy

 

[Michael Karr]

SUPER NICE RUB STONE,,,,,MIKE

 

[MEinWV]

Nice to see other items besides points! Love points, but there are plenty of other items to be found. Many people probably look right past these rub/paint stones. I have picked up some of them along the river and it is neat to see the scratches on the surfaces and knowing they were done by someone from long ago.....

"When the wild majestic mountains stood alone against the sun. Long before the white man and long before the wheel. When the green dark forest was to silent to be real" - Gordon Lightfoot

...............HH

 

[Adena_man]

Nice find! I'm always on the lookout for anything indian made. Hopefully, I might find a rub stone like that some day. A friend of mine called me last night all excited. I asked him what was going on and he told me that the old Ft. Ancient site that we used to hunt near my house is no longer a hayfield. It is now a PLOWED field! Then I got all excited. I don't know why they decided to plow the field again, but I'm glad they did! Hopefully I'll have some pics to post this weekend.

Good luck!

Brian

 

[Copperhead]

Nice find and great pics...thanks for the explaination of it...