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HAMMERSTONES
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS
PRIVATE COLLECTION
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These three hammerstones show obvious battering use
wear on one or
both ends. The smaller narrow example
on the left has heavy wear on
both ends. The two
hammerstones on the right also have abraded
finger holds
on both sides. These smaller size hammerstones would be
useful for making bifaces by hard hammer percussion
flaking. There
are a wide range of sizes of hammerstones.
Holmes (1919) writes
about the Flint Ridge quarries in Ohio:
---"many of the larger
specimens (hammerstones) used in
breaking up the flint weigh as much
as 50 pounds, while
the smaller, with which the finer shaping work
was done,
are not larger than walnuts." The smaller hammerstone on
the left measures 2 3/16 inches (5.5 cm) long.
COPYRIGHT
SEPTEMBER 30, 2006 PETER A. BOSTROM
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