Pestle or Not?

[Indian Steve]

I found this rock today in the yard of an 1816 house in southwest Virginia. The house is sitting on a flat rise about 100 ft from a small creek. In other words, the house is sitting on a perfect place for a campsite around here. Do you great masters and gurus believe that this rock is a pestle or not. My pictures show the size and both ends. Thanks

 

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[sawmill man]

I want to say maby ,but it dont look the smoothest i have seen. im kinda on the fence.

 

[The Grim Reaper]

It could be and it could be natural. Really hard to say without holding it.

 

[Indian Steve]

I have gone back and forth on this. I have a couple that are very similar but show definite wear. That is why I asked the experts. Thanks

 

[old digger]

The shape does looks right, and it does look like it has been weather eroded down quite a bit.

 

[joshuaream]

In many places there wouldn't be a natural rock like that, so it would almost certainly be something (carried in, if nothing else.) In other places rocks like that are more normal, and it might be something, or might not be anything.

Most pestles/manos show a lot of smoothing and wear, even when eroded you should still see some flattened spots. I think I see those on the ends.

Is the material crumbly or particularly soft? Unless you want a lot of grit in your food, most pestles/manos are made of harder rocks or sandstone.

 

[DeepseekerADS]

Is the material crumbly or particularly soft? Unless you want a lot of grit in your food, most pestles/manos are made of harder rocks or sandstone.

No, it's hard and quite heavy, fits naturally in the hand.

 

[The Grim Reaper]

No, it's hard and quite heavy, fits naturally in the hand.

Im confused here. Is this Indian Steve's stone or yours or are you the same person?

 

[Indian Steve]

Deepseeker ADS and I were hunting this site together. The property and 1816 house is owned by a local historical site. Everything found is being donated to them.

 

[The Grim Reaper]

Gotcha

 

[RGINN]

Hard to say. A pestle is indicative of a village or extended camp site. You should also find some potsherds, chips, worked material in addition to that if that's the case. They would use some substandard materials for grinding materials if they couldn't get better, and there was a lot of grit in food, particularly in SW Oklahoma in the Plains Village era, where they had to use a lot of sandrock material. In burials you would see evidence of that on the teeth, appearing ground down smoothly, even to some extent on younger individuals.

 

[Indian Steve]

RGINN, This whole site is in grass. The "pestle" was found on top of the ground where they had just removed a porch from the old house. Around here if you find a flat spot near a creek, it is most likely a camp because we don't have many natural flat spots. I am looking forward to seeing the ground under the parts of the house that will be torn down.

 

[RGINN]

I see, that makes it difficult. Anyway, a pestle and your description of the location makes it pretty likely to be an occupation site, and I hope you're right on the scene when they tear that house down. HH!