hammerstone

noun ham·mer·stone \ ˈha-mər-ˌstōn \

Definition of hammerstone

: a prehistoric hammering implement consisting of a rounded stone

Recent Examples of hammerstone from the Web

The team also provided experimental evidence that hammerstones and anvils make similar fracture patterns in fresh elephant bones, suggesting by analogy that such a process could have been at work at the Cerutti site.

— National Geographic, "Humans in California 130,000 Years Ago? Get the Facts," 26 Apr. 2017
The cobbles that served as hammerstones and anvils, then, could not have entered the layer by natural means.

— alan burdick, The New Yorker, "Did Humans Arrive in America a Hundred Thousand Years Earlier Than We Thought?," 26 Apr. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'hammerstone.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.