Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Does anyone know what the flint stone is? Indian tool? Need indian history buffs...
River gravel | 3 December 2021 | Mene Mene Tekel Upharsin

Posted on 12/03/2021 3:32:40 PM PST by MeneMeneTekelUpharsin

Anyone know for what this stone was used? It's flint, and that hole did not get put there by water. A friend thinks it's either a fire starter or grain/herb pestle. Anyone able to help? Thanks in advance.


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; History; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: flint; flintstones; godsgravesglyphs; indian; stone; tool
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-84 next last
To: Tilted Irish Kilt

Banner stones were mounted on the Atlatyl shaft, not the projectile Dart shaft.


41 posted on 12/03/2021 4:40:33 PM PST by Openurmind (The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world it leaves to its children. ~ D. Bonhoeffer)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 27 | View Replies]

To: MeneMeneTekelUpharsin

That doesn’t look like any of the flint on my ranch. Should be more glass-like. I’ve never seen a flint artifact with a hole in it. I think that would be very hard to do without breaking the piece. My dad found thousands of arrowheads in his lifetime. Even 2 eagle arrowheads. But he has nothing that resembles that type of stone.


42 posted on 12/03/2021 4:47:44 PM PST by texas_mrs (Who says "Cheaters never win"? )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MeneMeneTekelUpharsin
Doesn't look much like flint to me, at least from these photos. Flint is not polycrystalline like sedimentatary rock (limestone, shale, sandstone) or marble (metamorphic) or granite (igneous) rocks.

Flint is silica, glassy in nature, exhibiting conchoidal fracture like glass. The wear surfaces of the stone in your photos look grainy, and if so, probably not flint. Maybe it is something similar to flint, namely a weathered stone broken off from the aa (pronounced ah^ah) form of basaltic lava, which is suddenly cooled and might be similar in nature to flint.

Think of what arrowheads look like. They are most always made of flint and have very sharp edges, like broken glass does. they are shaped by carefully breaking off tiny shards of glassy flakes by pressing at a point, with a circular fracture front spreading sort of circularly away from the pressure point where initial deliberately induced breaking occurred to relieve the stress.

Your stone is interesting in that it has a cup with a hole formed at the bottom of it. That was quite likely done by design; to what usage I can't guess at this moment.

43 posted on 12/03/2021 4:49:42 PM PST by imardmd1 (Fiat Lux)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: algore

I can’t believe it took 39 posts for Fred Flintstone to show up.

LOL!!


44 posted on 12/03/2021 4:50:51 PM PST by Joann37
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 39 | View Replies]

To: dfwgator

You sir are a true tooner.


45 posted on 12/03/2021 4:54:43 PM PST by The MAGA-Deplorian (. Democrats are lawless because Republicans are ball-less!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Craftmore

starter, maybe, if it is hand size. If it is big and heavy , an anchor stone for a boat, maybe.


46 posted on 12/03/2021 4:59:12 PM PST by arthurus (COVFEFE)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: MeneMeneTekelUpharsin

That doesn’t look like flint. Flint is smooth, chips sharply and is greasy feeling.


47 posted on 12/03/2021 5:02:24 PM PST by SaxxonWoods
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Openurmind

Well, may it was a drunkard’s firestarter (the asymmetrical thing).


48 posted on 12/03/2021 5:02:42 PM PST by CatHerd (Whoever said "all's fair in love and war" probably never participated in either.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: CatHerd

Lol, could be... :)


49 posted on 12/03/2021 5:05:38 PM PST by Openurmind (The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world it leaves to its children. ~ D. Bonhoeffer)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 48 | View Replies]

To: Openurmind

I worked in my university’s archaeology lab sorting and labelling stuff from digs, got to go on a few digs myself way back in my college days. It does look like a firestarter, but the asymmetrical thing, and the wear looks more “gentle” like water rather than “sharp” like on a firestarter. Hmm.


50 posted on 12/03/2021 5:10:22 PM PST by CatHerd (Whoever said "all's fair in love and war" probably never participated in either.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 49 | View Replies]

To: MeneMeneTekelUpharsin

Unless it was carved out with flint, I have no idea why it would have flint in the name.


51 posted on 12/03/2021 5:15:35 PM PST by Bikkuri ("Anyone who trusts this government hasn't been paying attention." <Hat tip to DJ Macwow>)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MeneMeneTekelUpharsin

I’ve seen this in a nature documentary. The indentations are created by some small animal (can’t remember which) which smashes nuts or shells open on the stones, which, over long periods of time, wore away the stone. They had tons of video of this being done. Small critters of some sort. Super cool.


52 posted on 12/03/2021 5:16:12 PM PST by LanaTurnerOverdrive (Not your guinea pig)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MeneMeneTekelUpharsin

Wait. I take that back. It could be a firestarter, after looking more closely, it appears there is some “sharp” wear. The asymmetrical thing appears to be more in the upper area, perhaps from the shape of the overall stone. It may have been a somewhat wobbly firestarter, but ... could be what it is.

Could you take to the archaeology department at your local college and ask them?


53 posted on 12/03/2021 5:18:06 PM PST by CatHerd (Whoever said "all's fair in love and war" probably never participated in either.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MeneMeneTekelUpharsin

This can indeed occur naturally, as people who wade creeks do find similar stones with the culprit still inside the depression doing its work. It looks like a creek stone that had a pebble/cobble in a depression, and over time, with water running steadily over it making the pebble/cobble wobble around in the depression, gradually abrading the surface of the depression as well as the surface of the pebble/cobble. As a result, the depression was at first enlarged as the pebble/cobble became smaller. At some point the little cobble got small and light enough that the hole it was grinding in the depression also became smaller in diameter as it got deeper. The little stone eventually bore all the way through. That isn’t to say a person who needed a mortar or more likely a butting stone wouldn’t find such a stone useful too, and picked it up to take it to their shelter to use in food prep. It just looks like a naturally holed rock more than it does the mortars I have seen. Mortars usually have regular shaped depressions, but this has a very irregular shaped depression. Nutting stones can be more irregular since the depression is just used to hold the nut, not to grind them.


54 posted on 12/03/2021 5:21:34 PM PST by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MeneMeneTekelUpharsin

Real Flint






55 posted on 12/03/2021 5:22:05 PM PST by Bikkuri ("Anyone who trusts this government hasn't been paying attention." <Hat tip to DJ Macwow>)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SaxxonWoods

It is flint. If you could look at it up close, you can see why it is flint. If broke off a piece, you’d see it right away.


56 posted on 12/03/2021 5:22:24 PM PST by MeneMeneTekelUpharsin (Freedom is the freedom to discipline yourself so others don't have to do it for you.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 47 | View Replies]

To: arthurus

It is 5 3/8” by 4 1/2” and the hole is 5/8”. Hand size...hmmm...


57 posted on 12/03/2021 5:24:16 PM PST by MeneMeneTekelUpharsin (Freedom is the freedom to discipline yourself so others don't have to do it for you.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 46 | View Replies]

To: MeneMeneTekelUpharsin

Flint (chert) occurs in limestone.


58 posted on 12/03/2021 5:24:54 PM PST by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: Tilted Irish Kilt

This does not look even remotely like a bannerstone.


59 posted on 12/03/2021 5:26:19 PM PST by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 27 | View Replies]

To: Tilted Irish Kilt

Banner stones (as opposed to other types of nonperforated atlatl weights such as are seen out in the Southwest) were used in Eastern North America where whitetail deer in heavy cover (as opposed to the more open country of mule deer) were the choice prey, and not so much to make the spear go deeper or more forcefully as to steady the throwing arm of the hunter as he waited in position to make the throw. There has been a very good study of this benefit of the bannerstone conducted by live measured experiments in the St. Louis area. The weight of the stone steadied the atlatl-bearing arm and dramatically reduced strain and muscle tremor, enabling the throwers to remain comfortably in position quite a long time before the deer could spot them. This was very practical for white tails in their forested habitat, which would be alerted to anyone trying to get their atlatl in position to throw after spotting the deer.


60 posted on 12/03/2021 5:46:50 PM PST by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 27 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-84 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson