ID Help

[romeo-1]

I found this large red hard stone piece yesterday afternoon. At first I thought it was just a rock and was about to toss it but it is not like any other rock in this area. My pictures are really misleading but to me this looks like an artifiact. There appears to be pecking all around the edge and it looks like it has been shaped. It almost looks like a small (dull) axe. One end is bitted but not as sharp as I would expect from an axe. Any ideas?

I also found this base...It's a good thing I got out yesterday because we got 6 inches of snow overnight...

 

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[Hill Billy]

Not sure about the stone piece,may have been a tool for something, kinda hard to tell.The broken piece looks to be a broken preform snapped in the making. HB

 

[dustintimmons_83]

how can you tell it was broke in the making?

 

[Cannonman17]

It could have been broken in the making... or in use.... or while on/in the ground. The top piece is definitely a hammer stone, distinct wear patterns around the edges and the little circular area of peck marks, for some reason I have yet to figure out, is also pretty common on hammerstones. Cool stuff, good spot-

 

[stryker-one]

Yeah, I agree with that being a hammer stone and the preform. Bummer it is broken.

Keep it and go back to the site. Look around any flat areas where rabbits or other game are found today--they would have been hunting areas back then, also. I've done that in AZ and found several broken points--ones that I attribute to being broken when used for food gathering. I have even found the broken off part of a preform (that is why I keep all broken points I find).

Good hunting.

Stryker