Expert: Ralph Salier - 2/15/2011

Question
QUESTION: I was given this as a gift from the owners of Orme Ranch here in AZ who say they have had it for 50+ years and it came from their grandfather in New Mexico who worked on RR. I had someone look at it and they say it appears authentic. Do you have any info on this? Age, type of rock, value?

ANSWER: Hi Dana,

What you have is a rather impressive pestle from a "mortar and pestle set", it is NOT a hammer.  This would have been used by Native Americans to grinds very fine materials into powder such as different colored sand for sand paintings or for making pigments for body art.  This was a finely crafted item and highly prized by its owner.  It was probably owned by the shaman of the tribe.  Sand paintings are still done by the Navajo as part of their religious and curing ceremonies and must be done with the correct colored sand and other pigments for the ceremony to work properly.  

It is thought that the Anasazi may have brought this art form to the Southwest from their origins.  Other Meso-American peoples prized brightly colored pigments as well.

As to value, I am sorry but as a Professional Archaeologist, I do not place values on these kinds of object as this creates an artificial demand which leads to the destruction of archaeological sites by "pot hunters".  A pot hunter digs in sites looking for sale-able materials and in the process destroys the integrity and scientific value of the site.  An archaeological site is like a book, each page has information that, with careful excavation reveals information about the site and the culture(s) that occupied the place. This is very carefully recorded to retain the integrity of the information much like one would copy the words on the page of a book before tearing t hat page out and burning it.  

Keep it as an heirloom in Arizona so that it is close to where it was found or donate it to a local museum that has a good Native American collection with the provenance you have.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Wow, now it is even more impressive to me now! My husband gave this as a Valentines Day gift and i have been "showing"everyone my rock!How old is it and what kind of stone is it made from? I noticed it also has a line going all the way around the sharper end (built in part of the stone) but its very interesting and i will keep it safe! Also was this simply held in the hand because it fits like a glove, or did they attach it to something? Is a mortar a bowl then? Thanks for your info!

Answer
Age is hard to define since it is out of context (was not found with in a layer of a known site).  It may be quite old (500 to 3000 years old)Although I suspect about 1500 years old.  From the photos, it is hard to determine the type of stone but these were generally made of an igneous rock like granite or basalt because of the density and heavy weight. ( the heavier the stone the easier the work of grinding). The line would be from the edge of the mortar (bowl) and the edge of the mortar would have "ground" into the upper end of  the pointy end of the pestle.

It would not have attached to anything and the nice round top, is designed to fit nicely into the hand.

The mortar (bowl) would have been made of the same material but may have been a bit rougher on the outside, and the "hole" on the inside would have been conical in shape to match the pestle.  This would very little room for the sand or other pigments from escaping the crushing action they were after.  The inside of the mortar would have been kept a bit rough to hold onto the particles to effectively mash them.