Regularjoes' unknown hammer

[regularjoe2]

Found this while strolling along the banks of the Rock River , in Rock Island , Illinois early 1970's .

Found along with two stone net sinkers from the same era , at the confluence of a small stream & the Rock River , in a piece of farmland near to ancient village of Saukenuk .

Probably Sauk tribe .

Also found a large amount of fresh-water clam shells underneath the stone items - this small patch had been 'cleaned off' by the floods of that year .

I suspect that this hammer was used to crack said clamshells , about two miles upstream from it's mouth ,  at the Mississippi River .

It fits the hand well in about 6 diff 'working positions' .

[talesofthesevenseas]

VERY cool! What a neat find!! Reminds me of the grinding holes that are in some of the big boulders around here, left behind by indigenous locals many moons ago.

 

[ironlord1963]

Best Hammer yet !   You Rock Regularjoe   

[KC]

I can see the hammer being used for that!

 We grew up clamming - we used a regular hammer and a putty knife  to pry open the shells.  This sucker would have worked much faster!

Now I am hungry for fried clams and New England style Clam Chowder!  YUM!!!!

[wendy177]

RJ really cool !! KC we have a local New England joint  right up the street from us that makes the best New England sea food fresh and everything homemade. They are just opening for the season. Usually you can find us there every Friday night. Come on over!!!

[waywardangler]

Very neat regularjoe!  Did you happen to take some pictures where you found them?  That would be a nice display.

[regularjoe2]

I'd found (& hunted for) about 18 stone tools within a half-mile of the area where this item was found , mainly war adz , 'tomahawks' & clubs .
The majority of the items , except this posted tool & net weights , were all grooved for fixing to handles .
I donated them to the Blackhawk Museum which was about a mile or so away (I kept this and one tomahawk) .

No pictures from the sites .

The main site was a gathering point for many groups of tribes , during it's heyday .
A long island in the center of the Rock River , which was described to me (by an elder of the Sauk tribe , descendant of Cheif Black Hawk) as 'paradise' , is now a gravel pit .
I found most of the stone tools on the banks of this island , often in piles of topsoil dross , scraped off by the gravel-pit folks .

There's still a Pow-Wow every year , attended by tribe members who historically came there in the past .


Images of  Cheif Black Hawk are below , one from a life-cast .

[waywardangler]

About 30-40 miles south of here near Desoto, Wisconsin is Blackhawk Memorial Park and Battle Island where Blackhawk and his people took their stand in the Battle of the Bad Axe.  I am familiar with that aspect of Blackhawk's tribe. Neat history.

[talesofthesevenseas]

Wow. Very cool. Thanks for sharing this one, its very interesting.

Very rarely, my neighbors and I have found really crude projectile points. Not finely made ones, very rough but with chipped edges. It's almost hard to tell what they are. Our houses are on what was once ancient riverbank (the river is now down below us). Strange thing is they are stone, but my metal detector picked one of them up. I'm not sure why.

 Love this kind of history!!! I'd love some of your other finds!

[KC]

regjoe, I found your story very sad.....from paradise to a gravel pit....and they still come there.

So many times we Americans have done more harm than good - like the old song said

"Don't know what you've got til it's gone...they paved paradise and put up a parking lot"

[regularjoe2]

Thanks for the comments & stories , folks .

Talesof - my edumicated guess is that not unlike other stone-age tools , your find had iron in it .
I also guess that there were good reasons why native Americans choose some rocks with iron in them .... my theory on this is that they'd carry a flint in conjunction with iron-bearing tool-stones (fire) .

KC - I've stood on the edges of the quarry a few times , trying to imagine the waterfall which once graced it .
You're right , many sad stories in this realm of history .

[talesofthesevenseas]

Interesting regularjoe2. Thank-you for that info.