Archaic to early Woodlands period, circa 6000 BCE to 500CE stone multi tool. A hefty stone tool or nutting stone of a thick, discoidal form incised with vertical ridges around the periphery, a hemispherical identation at the center, and a cross on the opposite side. The purpose of tools like this example is still debated, but it is probable they were used as lightweight and portable mortars, that could have been used to grind food such as nuts, hence the name "nutting stone," as well as shaping or polishing other tools, or as friction starters. Cup stones have been discovered in human settlements on nearly every inhabited continent. 6.3"D x 4"H
PERIOD: Prehistoric
ORIGIN: Unknown, Native American