GEOARCHAEOLOGY OF HAMMERSTONES AND SOUTH MOUNTAIN

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