The smashed margins are smooth...so appeared to have been done on an
anvil...or similar metal...not on an uneven surface.  Cant say that I
see individual hammer head blows tho.  Perhaps the one with the mashed
head was done so in a vice. ??  But how hard would this be for a
kid...or teen...to do (strength)?

What's the fun in it. ???  I'm thinking as an escape from boredom. ??

Why do kids smash on unburied ordance they find on old military
bases...and go Boom?

As a kid, my bike pedalling brother aimed the front tire for a ketchup
packet on the asphalt of a parking lot...to see if he could hit it.
Well, he succeeded...and the HOT SAUCE hit him in the eyes!  Stupid
things kids do..

>-----Original Message-----
>From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On 
>Behalf Of Ron May
>Sent: Sunday, August 05, 2007 2:30 PM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: the Kid Factor influence on artifacts (etc)
>
>The answer to your question about flattened bullet shells lies 
>in the forensics of your artifacts and the context from which 
>they were recovered. If  you have hammer marks, then you have 
>the answer. What is the shape of the underside of the shell? 
>Bullet shells crushed between vehicles (tractors and  farm 
>vehicles, trucks, and old autos) and gravel pavement should 
>exhibit small indents from the harder rock fragments (quartz, 
>for example). If the kid  hammered the shells on a blacksmith 
>anvil or piece of a railroad tie, the  underside might be 
>smooth. But how much fun is there is hammering bullet shells  
>flat? It sounds kind of boring to me. Then again, I once 
>examined a 1918 vintage  cabin in Libby, Montana in which 
>cowboys hammered .22 caliber bullet shells into the log ends 
>just for the fun of it. But just maybe someone cleaned up the 
>litter on a gravel road and dumped it in the pit (a secondary 
>deposit with no contextual connection to the shape of the shells). 
> 
>Ron May
>Legacy 106, Inc.
>
>
>
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