Reader Vickie Adkins asked whether this is a Native American artifact and, if so, what was its purpose.
Vickie Adkins
Q. I have a possible Indian artifact that was given to my husband by our next-door neighbor 40 years ago. If it is an artifact, I was wondering what it is and whether or not it’s worth anything. Can you help?
A. Vickie: I enjoy chasing down information about objects like yours, so forwarded your photos to a friend of mine, Robert Glotzhober, curator emeritus of natural history at the Ohio History Connection. He, in turn, forwarded the photos to Brad Lepper, current senior archaeologist at the Ohio History Connection. In Robert’s forwarding note to Brad he wrote:
“I’m not well acquainted with the variations, but to me it [the object] looks like a pestle, used with a bowl-like mortar to grind things like grains. Can you review the images and let Chip and me both know what you think?”
Brad Lepper responded, “I agree that it looks most like a pestle, but it’s not like any pestle I’ve ever seen, so I think we should entertain the possibility that it’s a naturally eroded rock that just happens to look a bit like a pestle.”
Emmy Sauder, Midwest Electric
Q. Hello, Chip: I was wondering where I could buy the Robert Griffing art books that you mentioned in the October 2024 issue of Ohio Cooperative Living print magazine in your article titled “A Glimpse of the Past” about Indian reenactor Roger Moore.
A. Hi, Emmy: I was able to find all three volumes of Robert Griffing’s spectacular books of Eastern Woodlands Indians culture for sale on Amazon, and below is the link to the site. The following three titles are listed in chronological order:
· The Art of Robert Griffing: His Journey into the Eastern Frontier (published 2000)
· The Narrative Art of Robert Griffing: The Journey Continues (published 2007)
· The Historical Art of Robert Griffing: An Amazing Journey (published 2018)
Mark Stoll, Holmes-Wayne Electric Cooperative
Q. I read your article titled “Homecoming?” in the December 2024 issue of Ohio Cooperative Living magazine about fishers returning to Ohio. Is there any fur or meat value to the fisher?
A. Mark: Being furbearers, fishers have been hunted and trapped for their pelts for many centuries, today mainly in Canada. But unlike a few other furbearers I can think of — beavers, raccoons, and muskrats — I have never heard of fishers being eaten by humans. My guess is that Native American Indians probably ate them years ago.
