Preparing food has always been man's top priority and having useful tools to process the raw material would have been very important, as it is today. A number of items gathered were grains, nuts, tubers, berries,  meat, and fish. Before pottery, wood and stone were the only available items to craft cooking items with and on this page I hope to show different items and what I believe they could have been used for.  A Native American would use any natural item they found and would not walk away from something useful nature had provided. I think some were naturally made, others were fashioned or enhanced.

These items are what I believe they used for grinding different materials. It is really hard to say what they did every single day for food, medicine, religion, and general day to day items. We must always remember, there weren't grocery stores or pharmacies so they had to provide for themselves.

 As I clean each item, I examine it to see if it has been worked, is it better suited for a right handed or left handed person, and if the grips make it easier to hold the item. I am showing the bottom of some items so you can see the original stone before it was worked.

I think the U shaped opening would help the user empty the contents.

What's interesting about this item is the angled sides you can see in photo # 2. When you place it in your lap, the wings fit perfectly on your thighs, which would make it easier to handle and make it stable. The underside of the wings are smoother and I think they were ground down.

Notice on the pestle the patina on the end.

You can see the lines where the piece has been ground down for smoothness, which required a lot of time and effort.

The two photos directly above is what it looked like when I found it, before flipping it over, which is great fun and even after many years, every time you see the round stone, you never what you will find underneath.

The far right shows how the bottom had been shaped so the item sits upright better. These are the item directly above.

As it was coming out of the backpack, after cleaning, after drying, and how the grips show it works best.

Left pinkie fits, left index and middle finger grips, left thumb. Notice the patina and the smoothness.

Another U shaped opening which seems to be used quite a bit.

Notice the flat rim, smooth cavity, and the darken area on far right photo is for gripping better.

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The item has been worked and the far right shows the bottom providing a better brip.

The far right photo is the original stone and an amazing amount has been put into smoothing the item.

The smoothness makes holding this a lot of fun.

These are small grinding pieces and or nutting stones.

The flattened area in photo three gives you a better grip.

The flaking around the rim gives a better grip.

This is another very flat rim around the cavity.

I moved to a new apartment over a year ago and the small grinding stones were in the landscaping rocks.

This is one of my favorite items, even though I am not really sure of it's main purpose, but you can clearly see where it's been worked.

These are small grinding pieces and my thought is they were used by children with small hands. 

I really like trying to figure out all the uses items could have.