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Glite Dictionary
hammerstone

hammerstone

1 9.5
A stone early people used to hit and shape other stones into tools
  • noun
  • /ˈhæmərˌstoʊn/
  • Specialized
translation icon : piedra de martillo
  • If it fell on a rooftop, it's called a "hammerstone."
  • using a hammerstone

Examples

  • And here's the hammerstone!

    Fiction book (1990)

  • These primary flakes he quickly thinned with practiced strokes of his hammerstone.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • "For some reason, hammerstones are worth a lot more to collectors than ones that fall to the ground.

    Blog text (32)

  • Jay Fox: "Hammerstone"?

    Blog text (32)

  • Anthropologist colleagues of mine have told me that the discovery that some chimpanzees are accomplished users of hammerstones forces them to look with a fresh eye at stone tools turned up at excavation sites.

    Academic text (1991)

  • Archaeologists found evidence that ancient humans used a hammerstone to shape tools from flint.

  • He struck the stone with a hammerstone to obtain sharp flakes for his primitive tool-making.

  • The museum displayed a hammerstone alongside other artifacts from prehistoric civilization.

Surface Forms

hammerstone singular
hammerstones plural

Morphology

hammerstone = hammer + stone (semi-transparent) = hammer + stone

While the components 'hammer' and 'stone' are clear, the specific prehistoric tool use is not immediately obvious.

Etymology

Hammerstone combines hammer, meaning the tool 'hammer', and stone, meaning 'stone', so it makes a clear image of a rock used like a hammer to hit or shape other stones.