Material · lithic
Basalt
North America — Southwest, North America — Great Basin & Plateau, Mesoamerica, Near East & Mesopotamia
Basalt is the dark volcanic rock used for ground-stone axes, manos and metates, and for chipped tools in the Southwest, Great Basin, Mesoamerica and the Near East, where Natufian mortars and Olmec colossal heads are basalt. Southwestern three-quarter-grooved axes are often basalt. It is heavy and durable.
| Kind | lithic |
|---|---|
| Regions | North America — Southwest, North America — Great Basin & Plateau, Mesoamerica, Near East & Mesopotamia |
Sources
Basalt flows cover large parts of the Southwest, the Columbia Plateau, the Great Basin, central Mexico, the Golan and the Levantine Hauran, and Ethiopia; tools were made from cobbles and outcrops. Tool-quality basalt was selected for fine grain and freedom from vesicles.
Identification
Basalt is dark grey to black, fine-grained, sometimes vesicular, with a dull surface and a rough fracture; it takes a smooth polish when ground. Weathering produces a brown or grey rind. It is distinguished from greenstone by colour and from diorite by grain.
Substitutes and fakes
Basalt ground-stone is reproduced in Mexico and the Near East on power tools; genuine pieces show pecking under the polish and use wear. Aztec-style basalt sculpture is a major forgery category.
Elsewhere
- Wikidata: Q43338
- Wikipedia: basalt
Cite this article
Stratum Study. "Basalt" (Material). Stratum Study pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-21. https://stratum.black/study/materials/basalt. Accessed 2026-09-21.
@misc{stratum-basalt,
title = {Basalt},
author = {{Stratum Study}},
howpublished = {\url{https://stratum.black/study/materials/basalt}},
year = {2026},
note = {Material article, Stratum Study pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-21; sources: stratum, wikidata, commons. Accessed 2026-09-21.}
} Citations carry the pack version and the article's as-of date so they resolve to the same text later. The facts themselves belong to the sources listed below; cite those for the science.