Ground stone implements are found across most Australian landscapes and are often regarded as Aboriginal tools that were used for processing or modifying other items. Less common are ground stones modified for non-utilitarian, symbolic purposes (e.g., polished and carved stone ornaments; ritual implements such as cylcons and tjuringa sacred stones; and unused, well-crafted ground-stone axes). In this paper, we report on the function and potential significance of an unusual ground stone artefact from a site near Bannockburn, southwestern Victoria. A set of regularly spaced, shallow grooves has been cut into the surface of each side of the stone. Usewear, residues and experimental replica tools indicate that the grooves were probably made with a stone flake and then used to shape or sharpen wooden implements (e.g., spear points or the edges of boomerangs). We suggest that the Bannockburn artefact functioned as a woodworking tool. Nevertheless, the even spacing of the incisions suggests that they were intentionally placed, perhaps to convey meaning (e.g., as a tally system or other form of communication).

中文翻译：

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用工具进行的实验来确定具有潜在象征意义的切磨石材假象的功能

在大多数澳大利亚风景中都可以找到磨石工具，这些工具通常被认为是用于处理或修饰其他物品的原住民工具。较不常见的是为非功利性，象征性目的而修改的磨石（例如，抛光和雕刻的石材装饰物；礼仪，例如圆柱柱和图林根神圣石；以及未使用的，精心制作的磨石轴）。在本文中，我们报告了维多利亚西南部Bannockburn附近某地的不寻常的地面人造石的功能和潜在意义。一组规则间隔的浅槽已切入石材两面的表面。使用磨损，残留物和实验性仿制工具表明，这些凹槽可能是用石片制成的，然后用于塑造或磨锐木制工具（例如，矛尖或回旋镖的边缘）。我们建议把Bannockburn的文物用作木工工具。然而，切口的均匀间距表明它们是有意放置的，可能是为了传达含义（例如，作为提示系统或其他形式的交流）。