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Large grinding mortar and pestle
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Large grinding mortar and pestle
Is it yours.?
Yes. Got it in an auction. Know nothing about it. Probably will have to take it to a university. Weighs about 13 lbs!
Still has dark markings on the the pestle where the person held it......
Yeah, probably your best bet. Wonder what they ground up maybe corn...
Still in working order, I see. Get some dried corn and have at it! Have done so many years ago. The meal makes perfectly good cornbread, but with a little added gritiness.:thup:
I will tell my squaw that she must do it! If I did, I would be ducking the pestle!
Very nice.Quote:
Originally Posted by A. F Medic
Periodically when walking around the farm I will find a point, and once, what appears to be a hide scraper. Apparently, the locals did not have access to chert as all of the artifacts are made of milky quartz.
Milky quartz points are beautiful. Ours up here are flint unless the Indian traded with another tribe for a quartz or obsisian point(s)
After a good rain, walk the plowed fields, as you know That is when the points show up. Something about holding 2 to 3 thousand year old history in your hand plus it is a work of art. We wish our firearms could talk! I wish the Indian points could also converse!
How do you suppose they made the bowl? Grinding stone against stone? Must have taken a long time.
From what I could find out. That is exactly what they did. From small paint grinding stones to massive boulders with several grinding holes in them! They polished stone objects by "pecking" at them with a harder stone till they got the shape they wanted and then polished with gravel and sand
Women did all the work. If the woman dies, the bowls were "killed" (destroyed) as they were her personal property. I think mine was to big to kill and just left. That is a guess
Great find! :clap:
What kind of stone is it made from?
Not sure. Very hard mortar. A little grainy no pun intended Possibly a form of granite. The pestle appears to be a very hard shale with fossils
I used to hunt arrow heads when I was still in school. Haven't done so in many years. A lot of the places we used to go went to no till farming and without the fresh dirt, it's hard to find much.
I have a very small collection of points. My dad has a fairly extensive collection, several hundred along with half a dozen tomahawks and one stone necklace pendant which is really nice. He has scrapers, a couple of drills, no bowls though.
Creeks are an excellent place to look for such artifacts. Some of the best, undamaged points I found in the creek that runs thru this farm.Quote:
Originally Posted by Aragorn243
After a big rain when the water had gone down some, I would pull on the tall boots, grab my walking stick (leaning over, unaided, peering into the water for long periods can wear on your back muscles) and take a slow hike. :)
I will have to try. Never thought of that. Just spent 2 hours walking a newly rained on corn field and did not even find a chip. Lot of deer tracks though
Have a friend who has been collecting for many years. Most of the best areas in our part of the US are on Goverment controlled areas particulary resevoirs In recent years they have taken a dim view of removing arrowheads from the area surrounding the lakes at low water.
Most of my "hunting" is done on my property or by permission. If on permission property, I share the finds. Thanks for the "heads up" about the government controlled areas....
I am sure the fish appreciate historical artifacts as much as we do so I suppose it is a good idea to leave them rather than preserve them for later generations of humans.
Government control nearly wiped out the areas we used to hunt. Lake Raystown in Central PA is where I grew up and most of the fields we hunted are well below low water marks now. I remember as a kid the frantic hunting my Dad did to try to find those last arrowheads before they were covered by water. One very significant site is covered by the water, Sheep Rock Shelter produced over 80,000 native American artifacts.
Same thing happened when Kinzua dam (Warren County) was built. Wiped out small towns, cemeteries, Indian burial grounds
Maybe an acorn Motar. I am a member of the Mohawk Nation, and there are like Items in our Cultural Museum. Woodland Indians used acorns, more than corn, for flour...Interesting piece. You should contact Your Local Tribal Historian. They My be able to give you better insight...Looks VERY Pre Columbian..
I am going to a Veteran's Pow Wow next weekend in Salamanca New York and I am going to take it with me. I never thought about an acorn mortar. You are probably on the right track. We have two universities here and both have Anthro. departments. Thanks!!
White oak acorns seem to be the most palatable of any I've tried. But I understand that many varieties can be made somewhat more tasty with work.