Hammerstone
Object number2017.51.25
OriginHickory, PA
MediumStone
Credit LineGift of Robert Mungai
DescriptionStone hammerstone or possibly a bolo-stone or a hafted hammer. Generally rectangular shape with one flatter side and all others sides, edges, and corners rounded. Variegated red-brown, brown, and gray stone with black/dark-gray diagonal striations. Two black adhesions. White surface deposits.DimensionsLength x Width x Depth: 3.25 × 2.375 × 2.125 in. (8.3 × 6 × 5.4 cm)Historical NotesPossibly a hammerstone, but might also be a bolo-stone (thrown at small game for hunting) or a hafted hammer. Part of a collection of surface-collected lithics that was acquired after the death of the collector, Nello Mungai of Hickory, Pennsylvania, through a donation by his son Robert Mungai also of Hickory. Nello Mungai (1920-2012) was a farmer and a friend of Meadowcroft founder Albert Miller. According to his son Robert, Nello had a particular skill in spotting lithic artifacts that had surfaced while working his farm fields. He was frequently observed stopping his tractor, getting off, and picking up a projectile point he spotted while driving across the field. This collection was assembled from artifacts he found on his farm. It includes two Miller Lanceolate points following the original Miller point recovered at the Meadowcroft Rockshelter in 1976. In 1978, during the University of Pittsburgh’s summer field school excavations in the Cross Creek drainage, excavations were conducted on the Mungai farm.
Collector
Nello Mungai
(1920 - 2012)
On View
Not on view
