An unusual, incised ground stone artefact from southwestern Victoria, Australia: its function and potential symbolic significance

Spry, Caroline; Hayes, Elspeth; Fullagar, Richard; Tuechler, Anna; Schell, Petra; Goulding, Megan

doi:10.1080/03122417.2019.1595906

Cited by 2 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…The pestle ends have use-wear most like that on experimental hammers, with uneven freshly fractured grains and hardly any polish development. Use-wear on the sides of the pestle is similar to use-wear found on experimental wood files [51] and shows less polish on lower than upper micro-topography, but more rounding than is found on small, hard seed grinding tools. This polish differs from that caused by weathering and suggests a combination of human handling and working or hitting woody material.…”

Section: Quandong Stones: a Provisional New Categorymentioning

confidence: 52%

“…Santalum acuminatum (the desert quandong) diverged from other species 13 million years ago [62]. Quandongs display low genetic diversity and limited but distinct differentiation between populations [51]. This low genetic differentiation, a poor relationship to geography (lack of geographical structure), and scattered dispersal pattern related to human movement suggests movement of plants mediated by people.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Quandong stones: A specialised Australian nut-cracking tool

2019

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The quandong or native peach (Santalum acuminatum R.Br.) has been recognised as an important and tasty food resource among Aboriginal Australians in arid and semi-arid areas of southern Australia. It is valued for its fruit that is consumed raw or dried, and for its kernel, which is eaten raw or ground into paste for medicinal and skin care purposes. This paper reports on a study of ground stone implements within the Murray Darling Basin that has identified quandong stones as a distinct type of implement made specifically for the efficient cracking of quandong nuts. Data are presented on 1,327 ground stone implements from collections in 12 different locations in the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB), an area almost completely devoid of stone sources. Given the paucity of stone, multi-purpose use of implements is widely documented. Although it was common to find pits present in mortars and other ground stone tools demonstrating multiple functions, including use as anvils, a class of single purpose stones with multiple pits and distinctive form was identified. Most of these were found in areas known for groves of quandong and four were analysed for use-wear and residues along with two other ground stone items from the MDB. The results support their identification as specialised anvil stones for cracking quandong nuts.

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Section: Quandong Stones: a Provisional New Categorymentioning

confidence: 52%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quandong stones: A specialised Australian nut-cracking tool

2019

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“…In this paper, we describe a ground stone artefact, identified during an archaeological salvage program undertaken in Bannockburn, southwestern Victoria (Spry et al 2019;Tuechler & Spry 2015) (Figure 1). The artefact is an abrasively smoothed, tabular fragment of sandstone with 14 evenly spaced grooves (eight on one side and six on the other).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tool-use experiments to determine the function of an incised ground stone artefact with potential symbolic significance

Hayes

Spry

Fullagar

et al. 2020

JLS

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Ground stone implements are found across most Australian landscapes and are often regarded as Aboriginal tools that were used for processing or modifying other items such as plant foods, plant fibres, resins, bone points, pigments and ground-stone axes and knives. Less common are ground stones modified for non-utilitarian, symbolic purposes; for example, polished and carved stone ornaments; ritual implements such as cylcons and tjuringa sacred stones; and unused, well-crafted ground-stone axes. In this paper, we report on the function and potential significance of an unusual ground stone artefact from a site near Bannockburn, southwestern Australia. A set of regularly spaced, shallow grooves has been cut into the surface of each side of the stone. Use-wear, residues and experimental replica tools indicate that the grooves were probably made with a stone flake and then used to shape or sharpen wooden implements such as spear points or the edges of boomerangs or other weapons. The microscopic wear outside the grooves indicates contact with soft wood or other plant material, possibly a soft plant fibre bag. We suggest that the Bannockburn artefact primarily functioned as a woodworking tool, but the even spacing of the incisions suggests that they were intentionally placed, perhaps to convey a special meaning, perhaps as a tally system or other form of communication.

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An unusual, incised ground stone artefact from southwestern Victoria, Australia: its function and potential symbolic significance

Cited by 2 publications

References 14 publications

Quandong stones: A specialised Australian nut-cracking tool

Quandong stones: A specialised Australian nut-cracking tool

Tool-use experiments to determine the function of an incised ground stone artefact with potential symbolic significance

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