38 D5. Contributions from Paleontology, Paleoclimatology, and Geoarchaeology (Posters)

Sunday, 30 March 2025
8:30 AM - 2:30 PM
North Great Hall

GEOARCHAEOLOGY OF HAMMERSTONES AND SOUTH MOUNTAIN

Paper number: 38-21
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 8:30 AM – 2:30 PM

Authors

Abstract

Hammerstones are rocks that have become naturally rounded from erosion or rounded from heavy repeated use to create other tools. The remnants left behind by the Native Americans passing through South Mountain suggest the possibility of finding hammerstones in the creeks at the base of the mountain and carrying them to the top to create the tools needed to survive. The hammerstones found in Carbaugh and Marsh Run prove this but not as we were suspecting. Mainly the data collected was not as well rounded as we thought and was very scarce, alluding to the fact that though it was possible they carried rocks from downstream they could have carried rocks from further places. The stones collected were all quartzite of varying sizes between 45 to 128 on the Wolman scale. The rocks roundness did not change much from the starting point at the top of the stream to the bottom of the stream

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 57, No. 3

doi: 10.1130/abs/2025NE-409015

© Copyright 2025 The Geological Society of America (GSA), all rights reserved. Permission is hereby granted to the author(s) of this abstract to reproduce and distribute it freely, for noncommercial purposes. Permission is hereby granted to any individual scientist to download a single copy of this electronic file and reproduce up to 20 paper copies for noncommercial purposes advancing science and education, including classroom use, providing all reproductions include the complete content shown here, including the author information. All other forms of reproduction and/or transmittal are prohibited without written permission from GSA Copyright Permissions.