found these today .area is very heavy with balck dirt....??? is this an artifact or not.will continue search in the next few days for any ramaining parts
i didn't think our ancestors knew how to make chocolate chip cookies? the heavy black dirt is a good sign.snails shell and lots of flint flakes and worked brokes is your ultimate surface goal.
Looks like a broken sandstone metate grinding plate. Most of mine came from West Texas sand hill areas.
so those nodules on the metate are a harder material and just wouldn't flaten when grinding? because i thought it had the look also but the chocolate chips that didn't flaten down with the rest of the stone is still what has me puzzled? please help shed some light on this because your opinion is highly prized in my book.and shannon if you found these today you need to work on the date on your camera oops am i bad its right.it looked like feb 8 must be military also
the nodules to me look like new growth.....will take it to an aercheologist(sp) and let him have a look at it, thanks for everyone opinions...the pieces came together pretty good, will go back out and see if we can find the rest of the pieces. when my arm is better. I thought the picture looked like fudge to me, hahahah!
Pat, well, being a geologist by trade, I noted the apparent sandstone, and all kinds of impurities can occur in sandstone. However, knowing artifacts well too, I noted that the center area of the plate appeared thinner, and the nodule impurities were worn down in what would have been the primary rubbing/ grinding surface area. Thats what made me think it was likely a grinding plate metate. Yes, I could be wrong, but from the photos, and especially her new cookie photos, this is the impression I got.I don't think that the nodules are new growth, but likely a mineral oxidation. It will be interesting to here what the Arcy has to say on it.