Took a stroll at lunch yesterday. No rock piles (except for field clearing ones) but I thought this rock looked suspiciously like some stones said to have been used for sharpening stone tools. I see pictures of such things online. There also seems to be a "7" inscribed above the right hand hollow.
Saturday, April 08, 2006
A sharpening stone?
Took a stroll at lunch yesterday. No rock piles (except for field clearing ones) but I thought this rock looked suspiciously like some stones said to have been used for sharpening stone tools. I see pictures of such things online. There also seems to be a "7" inscribed above the right hand hollow.
"Reversed capital gamma"=7 [doh!]
ReplyDeleteThe holes look like solution cavities or areas where softer and more soluble stone has been eroded out, and not tool grooves, which are much narrower and much more distinctive in shape.
ReplyDeleteI read somewhere yesterday that some stones considered particularly 'sacred' or medicinal because of shape or location, particularly in the western U.S., have similar holes in them. People would grind out powder of the stone itself and drink it in water or take it back to their sick relatives who couldn't come to the stone themselves. Norman may be right about this one--I don't know--but your picture reminded me of that story. I've also heard that some depressions in stones in high places are thought to be places where medicinal herbs were ground in hopes that the specialness of the place would make the medicine stronger. Hmmm . . . I may have a picture somewhere.
ReplyDeleteGeophile is referring to cupules, which were generally made by pounding and grinding a spot on a ledge or boulder with a stone pestle until a round hole was formed. Women were usually responsible for making cupules, particularly in California, and the resulting powder was then ingested or placed on the body to ensure fertility.
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