open to all suggestions

[chong2]

This is a slab metate, with thousands of peck marks in the center area. again, slab, so there was no need to do any pecking, so why did they do this? its on both sides and one side has alot weathering . It seems a shotgun blasted it, but there are too many pecks for a load. and with such a tight patteren at that range would have blown the rock to smithereens. nothing amazing, but its a damn interesting relic. so open to all ideas

 

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[Neogeo]

Very cool artifact...Mayhaps they were shapeing another stone on that one,or shapeing bone or something......super cool artifact!

 

[WV sifter]

Man thats an oddball ,it has eraser size pock/peck marks all over it! ,like said possibly to shape out bone or antlers,for example a broken stag from a deer or any antlered animal,they may have been using the stone to shape or round out certian parts of it by pecking and/or firmly rubbing and turning the end of the stag/horn against it,just a long shot guess?... ...

 

[WhiteCountyPaleo]

Looks like they were trying to make it concave?
So grain would not spill, but hold on top the stone?

 

[joshuaream]

In Latin America if the metate is too smooth, they scratch, score or peck the surface so the grain catches on something vs rolling/sliding in front of the mano. But in this case it looks like they might have been trying to make a little concave area, normally that comes from just using the mano in the same spot a bunch of times.

Cool piece, I would have carried it back to the truck.

 

[chong2]

thats a good idea on holding the grain,it makes good sense, this one is slightly concave and has been smoothed as like the hundreds of others i have seen. but the first pecked , which is why it got hauled

 

[natchitoches]

woot great to have you back chong2
that one dose not look to have much of a concave to it.
maybe its a new one just being made.
and there picking out a bigger concave .

 

[chong2]

thanks! these are slabs, not like your typical metates, found at camps, usually a inch thick or less, just a quick fix, not many are very concave, smoothed and a little concavity, but nothing like the basin metates, just a quick fix