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When is a Pestle not a Pestle?

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  • When is a Pestle not a Pestle?

    Very interesting video These guys are using a bell shaped Pestle as a hammer. So I wonder were the bell pestles of the SOuth East used in similar fashion? [YT]astU3VQwWx0[/YT]
    TN formerly CT Visit our store http://stores.arrowheads.com/store.p...m-Trading-Post

  • #2
    There is also some great footage on how an adze was used. The adze is modern but the hammer the guys use in the splitting segment may be quite old and handed down from the grandfathers.
    TN formerly CT Visit our store http://stores.arrowheads.com/store.p...m-Trading-Post

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    • #3
      Fascinating, I watched the whole thing.

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      • #4
        Hi Matt. I watched this very interesting video. Thanks for bringing it to our attention. The man is a very skilled craftsman and in spite of his using some modern tools of steel I can see how stone bits could be used in the same manner during prehistoric times. Regarding your comment about a bell shaped pestle: Perhaps my vision is failing me but the hammerstone the guy was using didn't look like the bell shaped pestles I had in my collection. Perhaps it was the poor lighting but I think I saw something that had a different shape. Having said this, I see no reason why the stones that we call pestles in the Southeast could not have been used as hammerstones and perhaps that was what some of them were used for instead of or in addition to pestles for grinding. I did have some stones that were kinda like pestles but we called them hammerstones as some of them seemed to have been more properly used for that purpose. I did have some small bell pestles that seemed to be used specifically for grinding.The Native Americans of the northwest coast were clearly superior craftsman in wood. The old skills and crafts are dying everywhere around the world. I remember when I was in grammar school in the late 1940's how our teacher taught us how to make pots of clay without a potters wheel probably much like the early folks did it. We made our little pots and then they were taken to a local business that made clay pots where the man fired them for us and gave them back to the teacher and we then were allowed to paint them or otherwise decorate them. I don't remember what ever happened to my little pot. But that was 65 or 70 years ago. Good thing we have people like Ron, Josh, and others who are keeping alive the skill of making pointy tools from chert. Probably not many Native Americans are doing that these days.

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        • Hoss
          Hoss commented
          Editing a comment
          You are absolutely right Joe I should have said Knobbed Pestle and not bell pestle. Thanks for sharing your pot story. That is pretty awesome.

      • #5
        Hey Matt, That is an interesting observation. The "Hoof Pestle" would work well for this purpose. Some of my pestles have use wear that would be consistent with heavy pounding: (big chips broken from the business end).
        Michigan Yooper
        If You Don’t Stand for Something, You’ll Fall for Anything

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        • #6
          This one is from KY. Not a personal find but a nice bell pestle. Click image for larger version

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          TN formerly CT Visit our store http://stores.arrowheads.com/store.p...m-Trading-Post

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