Hammer Stone and Lithic Flakes, Quartzite, and Quartz

This artifact is a quartzite hammerstone recovered from a prehistoric site located along the Suitland Parkway. Native Americans made a variety of stone tools, including projectile points, spear points, knives, drills, and dart points, to name a few. These stone tools required a lot of skill to make. Hammerstones are hard cobbles used in the lithic reduction/stone tool manufacturing process. Primary lithic flakes and cores associated with the hammerstone show that Native Americans were making tools from locally available quartz and quartzite.