3D Scans Galore: Ground Stone

Here are some more scans we made from the Collins Collection. Thank you again to our Mustangs Give Back Donors for making this possible!

All of these models are ground stones. Ground stone are different than flintknapped stone, because they were made using different methods. As you might guess, flintknapped tools were made by flintknapping, a process in which a stone is chipped away or flaked by another stone to create a tool, like a projectile point. A ground stone is produced through abrasion: either grinding or pecking, to form the shape that the crafter wanted.

Here is a grooved axe, SMU 92.1.278.20.

92.1.278.20 Axe by SMUMaterialScience on Sketchfab

This example is a full grooved axe. It's called "full grooved," because the groove wraps all the way around the stone. The groove could have been used to mount the axe by placing it between a split stick. some axes are half or three-quarter grooved, meaning that the groove does not completely wrap around the axe.

This is a Chunkey Circle Roller, SMU 92.1.278.10. Rollers like this were used in Chunkey, a game played by southeastern Native American groups.

92.1.278.10 Chunkey Circle Roller by SMUMaterialScience on Sketchfab

Chunkey Rollers usually have a smoother surface, and concave sides. Sometimes they have a hole through the center.

The last ground stone we scanned was Birdstone SMU 92.1.126.3. Birdstones are a type of bannerstone, which were used as weights on atlatls, a prehistoric dart throwing device.

Birdstone 92.1.126.3 by SMUMaterialScience on Sketchfab

Most bannerstones have a butterfly shape. An alternative is a boat stone, which was used for the same purpose. Boatstones, like birdstones, are named for their shape, which is a hollowed out "cup" (think paper-boat shape).

When attached to an atlatl, these bannerstones would have added more leverage, giving the dart-thrower greater propulsion.  Here is an example of how they were attached: