Pages: 1 2 
Send Topic Print
Artifact i found. ID needed. (Read 1870 times)
greencheapsk8
Descens
***


Just in it for the
fire!

Posts: 235
Gender: male
Artifact i found. ID needed.
May 31st, 2011, 5:47am
 
Hey guys i found this in my back paddock. Well actually my granpa found it ages ago, and its been in my shed for ages. I didnt know i had it untill my sister pointed it out to me. Unfortunately dear grandpa is deceased, so i dont know were the site was.  
There arent any tell tale signs of Maori occupation, no pa sites (earth wrok castles) or villages nearby.
Most likely this was an artefact dropped in transit.
So what is it, i think it could be a hammer or something?

Photo0005 by greencheapsk8, on Flickr
 

Photo0003 by greencheapsk8, on Flickr
 

Photo0004 by greencheapsk8, on Flickr
Back to top
 
 

Rivers of silver, that is my dream.
Glowing, twisting, snaking, flowing.
Cooling and burning, shrinking and melting.
View Profile   IP Logged
curious_aardvark
Slinging.org Administrator
*****


Taller than the
average Dwarf

Posts: 9049
Gender: male
Re: Artifact i found. ID needed.
Reply #1 - May 31st, 2011, 6:49am
 
definitely looks like either a hand axe or an axe head.  
 
Looks like quite soft stone though.  
ANy chance of a side on pic ?  
 
If it's thick enough could even be a grinding or pounding stone.
Back to top
 
 

Do All things with Honour and Generosity: Regret Nothing, Envy None, Apologise Seldom and Bow your head to No One - works for me Smiley
Email View Profile   IP Logged
Aussie
Past Moderator
*


Joined Nov. 1, 2006
 Luke 14:14

Posts: 3265
Gender: male
Re: Artifact i found. ID needed.
Reply #2 - May 31st, 2011, 7:22am
 
To me it looks like a pestle (as in mortar and pestle), a device for grinding grain or similar.
Back to top
 
 

Cranks are little things that make revolutions.
View Profile   IP Logged
Bill Skinner
Slinging.org Moderator
Forum Moderator
*****


Slinging Rocks!

Posts: 1363
Re: Artifact i found. ID needed.
Reply #3 - May 31st, 2011, 4:45pm
 
I agree with Aussie, it looks like some sort of pestle for mashing or grinding.  It may have been used with a wooden mortar, less grit than from stone on stone.  Bill
Back to top
 
 
Email View Profile   IP Logged
greencheapsk8
Descens
***


Just in it for the
fire!

Posts: 235
Gender: male
Re: Artifact i found. ID needed.
Reply #4 - Jun 1st, 2011, 4:51am
 
Quote from curious_aardvark on May 31st, 2011, 6:49am:
definitely looks like either a hand axe or an axe head.

Looks like quite soft stone though.
ANy chance of a side on pic ?

If it's thick enough could even be a grinding or pounding stone.

 
No chance of an axe head, its about as sharp as a big doorknob Tongue
Im going with a punding stone.  
Might take it to the local museum, see what the curator guy says
Back to top
 
 

Rivers of silver, that is my dream.
Glowing, twisting, snaking, flowing.
Cooling and burning, shrinking and melting.
View Profile   IP Logged
Bill Skinner
Slinging.org Moderator
Forum Moderator
*****


Slinging Rocks!

Posts: 1363
Re: Artifact i found. ID needed.
Reply #5 - Jun 1st, 2011, 9:01am
 
What are the laws concerning finds?  You may want to check before you go wandering into the museumn, other wise you might be in trouble.  In the US, each state has its own laws plus Federal laws and in the case of state laws, they vary wildly, some will just about let you dig up graves and some won't let you pick up something you find in a plowed field.  Bill
Back to top
 
 
Email View Profile   IP Logged
Thabet
Tiro
**


Slinging Rocks!

Posts: 60
Gender: male
Re: Artifact i found. ID needed.
Reply #6 - Jun 1st, 2011, 12:21pm
 
Is there taro root in that area (Hawiians mash taro root with coconut milk and call it poi) i dont know if Maori eat taro but there may be other fruits or vegetables they prepare that way also
Back to top
 
 

i tot i taw a tweety bird... I need a rock
View Profile   IP Logged
HurlinThom
Interfector Viris Spurii
*****


Leverage artillerist

Posts: 1390
Re: Artifact i found. ID needed.
Reply #7 - Jun 1st, 2011, 12:37pm
 
I doubt that there would be any legal repercussions, given the circumstances. Likely when the artifact was found there were no laws about it being part of a national patrimony or whatever, and (in the USA, anyhow) you can't be tried for something that was declared a crime after the fact. Plus the perpetrator is deceased.
Back to top
 
 

When all is said and done more will have been said than done.
Email View Profile   IP Logged
jlasud
Interfector Viris Spurii
*****


Programming stones

Posts: 1661
Gender: male
Re: Artifact i found. ID needed.
Reply #8 - Jun 2nd, 2011, 4:04am
 
Me thinks it's a pestle.I R pretty sure Wink the shape,size,and type of stone is just ideal for that purpose.
Back to top
 
 

Respect existance or expect resistance!
Email View Profile   IP Logged
greencheapsk8
Descens
***


Just in it for the
fire!

Posts: 235
Gender: male
Re: Artifact i found. ID needed.
Reply #9 - Jun 2nd, 2011, 5:04am
 
The musuem curator was thrilled! Aparently they are quite rare,  
and not many other Maori tribes used stone for its purpose.
 
Drumroll please....... its a flax pounder!! or in Maori, a patu muka
 
http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/kohatu-maori-use-of-stone/3/4
Its used for pounding flax to release the fibres used for weaving and rope making (or sling making, with a tad of imagination)
 
So it has found a very happy home
Back to top
 
 

Rivers of silver, that is my dream.
Glowing, twisting, snaking, flowing.
Cooling and burning, shrinking and melting.
View Profile   IP Logged
jlasud
Interfector Viris Spurii
*****


Programming stones

Posts: 1661
Gender: male
Re: Artifact i found. ID needed.
Reply #10 - Jun 2nd, 2011, 7:56am
 
It's surely is a pounder,but how did the curator know that it's a flax pounder and not a pestle?A heavy,hard wood fibre pounder is much easier to make and at least as effective,but that stone tool would be much better for grinding,than one carved from wood.They surely wouldn't carve something from stone if wood works as good or better.
Back to top
 
 

Respect existance or expect resistance!
Email View Profile   IP Logged
wanderer
Interfector Viris Spurii
*****




Posts: 1266
Gender: male
Re: Artifact i found. ID needed.
Reply #11 - Jun 2nd, 2011, 8:45am
 
Quote from greencheapsk8 on Jun 2nd, 2011, 5:04am:
The musuem curator was thrilled! Aparently they are quite rare,
and not many other Maori tribes used stone for its purpose.

Drumroll please....... its a flax pounder!! or in Maori, a patu muka

http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/kohatu-maori-use-of-stone/3/4
Its used for pounding flax to release the fibres used for weaving and rope making (or sling making, with a tad of imagination)

So it has found a very happy home

Congratulations!
 
And I think that's "New Zealand Flax" which looks rather like a yucca or an agave rather than the flax that linen comes from.
Back to top
 
 
View Profile   IP Logged
greencheapsk8
Descens
***


Just in it for the
fire!

Posts: 235
Gender: male
Re: Artifact i found. ID needed.
Reply #12 - Jun 4th, 2011, 8:17pm
 
Oh yeah, i gorgot about you overseas guys embarrassed
New Zealand flax is like a thin flexable, more fiborous agave.
Back to top
 
 

Rivers of silver, that is my dream.
Glowing, twisting, snaking, flowing.
Cooling and burning, shrinking and melting.
View Profile   IP Logged
Kjev
Descens
***


Limits exist only in
your mind

Posts: 203
Re: Artifact i found. ID needed.
Reply #13 - Jun 11th, 2011, 8:37am
 
I'd say (in my completely uninformed opinion), that it's for grinding. But what I know about archaeology you could fit in a thimble with room to spare.
Back to top
 
 

K'Jev
Cool

"Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter"--Yoda
View Profile   IP Logged
LukeWebb
Funditor
****


Slinging Rocks!

Posts: 782
Gender: male
Re: Artifact i found. ID needed.
Reply #14 - Jun 12th, 2011, 6:12pm
 
 There is one problem with the pestle theory... there is no wear!!  If it was a pestle that had seen use it would be much smoother all around the large end from grinding against the mortar.
  It may have have been a fishing weight, net weight, anchor etc. as it looks to me exactly like stone plummets I have seen found in North America.  
   I don't know a lot about your area, but if my memory is correct there were also stone clubs that looked kind of like that, though I think they were commonly made of greenstone.  
 
  Recently I found these, a pecked and ground granite axe and a pecked granite maul.  They both have a groove all the way around meaning they are the oldest type.  They were made very much like your artifact, by taking a harder tennis ball sized of flint or quartz and hitting it against the granite, each time you hit it a piece the size of a b.b. comes out, that's why they call it pecking.  The axes blade was finished by grinding on a wet slab of sandstone.  
  Yours doesn't show any signs of being ground or of wear at all, just pecking.  It is also possible that it is unfinished, but darned if it doesn't look like a very large fishing plummet.
 

 
 
 
 
  Here are 3 photos of fishing plummets I pulled off of Google Images:



Back to top
 
 

See my work and friend me on Facebook!
https://www.facebook.com/luke.webb.56808
Email View Profile toonsbylaw@yahoo.ca   IP Logged
Pages: 1 2 
Send Topic Print