Tips for Identifying Hammerstones. Is this one?

[GrouseMan]

Hey all. I just posted a point I found in upstate SC. Near that point I found this. What stood out to me was that the one side is slightly concave, and that two of the sides of the rock look abraded as shown in the photos below. In person, the color of the abraded edges stand out more. I should mention this was found among a sea of chips and flakes too.

Hammer stones seem super hard to identify to me. I took this one home in hopes that you guys could shed some light. Is this a hammerstone? What are the telltale signs?

These are the abraded edges





This is the whole rock and concave side

 

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[Up-North]

Telltale sign of a hammerstone, it will show signs
of” battering” on the ends... here’s a pic. of one, hope it helps.

 

[quito]

Both ends of this rock show use as a hammer stone. They don’t necessarily need to be large, and I think they are often overlooked by many artifact hunters.

 

[quito]

Here’s another example next to the previous example.
tbe only two hammer stones in my display case.

 

[quito]

Yours has more of the traits of an abrading stone.
This stone has wear all the way around the edge.
our late great friend Steve Larson thought a stone like this was used to put the grooves in mauls and axes.
pecking and grinding

 

[GrouseMan]

Wow, thanks for the responses all! This has been hugely educational. I’m now wondering about all the stones I’ve walked by this past year. On my next hunt, I’ll be looking for more than quartz!

So that leads me to question the stone I found. The abraded edges still have me a bit confused. Quito, your suggestion of maybe an abrading stone seems like a good candidate. Further research showed me that most abrading stones have those distinct abrading lines. In my first photo you can see two such cuts in the stone.

What do you all think of the one I found? Is it worth keeping as a hammer stone/ abrading stone? Or is it simply a geofact?

 

[Tdog]

Keep it in your rock garden!