Pecked and shaped artifacts

[Malus]

This artifact was found on a second trip to a point that used to be along a heavily used portage route in New Brunswick. This was found in the water only a few feet off shore. I think I see repeated pecking to make a bowl shape, and all around the edge of the upper surface has been ground. The overall pentagon shape looks like it was broken out purposefully, with one flake in the bottom corner really apparent. I would like to know what this may have been used for. Is this something that can be dated to any time period?

I'm also including a couple more detailed pictures of a hammerstone/mano I had already posted, found in the same location. Can anyone identify what type of stone it is? It weighs 22 oz.

I will add links to albums with more pictures of each, including bic lighter for scale.

More pictures: https://imgur.com/a/05ZP2F2

More pictures: https://imgur.com/a/su6JwAr

I would also like to thank Tdog and smokeythecat for help in the last thread. I appreciate all the knowledge on this forum!

 

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[Saguache]

Interesting that a topic came up that highlites aspects of a piece I recovered yesterday on my "walk". The grinding stone was held in hand with the curved flat surface down and the top was pecked extensively for grip. Rimnents of a polished venier show from its first usage, then pecked, then a flake was removed for a knife. Great example of reduction and reuse.

 

[Malus]

That is very interesting. So you found the two parts together at the same time? It looks like the knife was retouched at some point after being taken off. Could you tell me what venier means in the context of your artifact? I couldn't find a definition for it, but I am quite new to this hobby.

Thinking back, I wonder if the knife flake was removed by a secondary user. It seems like if someone had spent the time pecking to form the original grinding tool that they wouldn't then break it just to get themselves a knife. However, if one came across a grinding tool of good material and were in need of a knife immediately one likely wouldn't hesitate.

This is what I find so compelling about these artifacts. You can hold them in your hand and wonder for hours about how they were made and used, discarded, found again, and finally forgotten until today.

 

[southfork]

Nice find what I see is a small metate with a damaged base ? If that's all one piece ?

 

[Saguache]

The two pieces were found close together buried in the compact clay of a sand blow-out. The curved polished surface was upwards so it was easy to identify [even though mostly buried] as an artifact. The piece is very old.
The venier [orig cortex] was part of the stones original outer layer [it can be seen on the long edges of the stone] it was highly polished and smooth. That was its first use/condition, then later it was pecked and some reshaping, & ground some more, then the the next user needed a knife [and yes the flake has secondary work for use] the end shows the strike and reshaping too, the modifications could have taken hundreds of years to happen and the last one was hundreds of years ago.

 

[southfork]

The two pieces were found together buried in the compact clay of a sand blow-out. The curved polished surface was upwards so it was easy to identify [even though mostly buried] as an artifact. The piece is very old.
The venier [orig cortex] was part of the stones original outer layer [it can be seen on the long edges of the stone] it was highly polished and smooth. That was its first use/condition, then later it was pecked and some reshaping, & ground some more, then the the next user needed a knife [and yes the flake has secondary work for use] the end shows the strike and reshaping too, the modification could have happened over many hundreds of years.

Is the polished portion dished ? I guess I need to have it in hand . The end looks like it was used as a hammer and a piece broke off from the difference in color . I have large pestles that have a polished and dished area on one side and battered on the ends . Anyway that's just my view .

 

[Saguache]

Yes, the dish area has polish... having it in hand is best for seeing the details.

 

[DirtManicure]

Hi, I’m sorry if this is rude to post on such an old thread but I’m brand new here and can’t resist asking, did you ever ID the 5-sided piece? I have one incredibly similar and it’s been driving me mad, I can’t seem to find anything like it on google except one removed page! Apologies again, and thank you for humoring me!

RJ