The New Jersey State Museum in Trenton has a series of fascinating displays about New Jersey’s first inhabitants – the Lenape people. These indigenous people have left behind countless items in thousands of sites throughout the area that archaeologist use to interpret how people lived thousands of years ago. The item pictured here is a stone mortar and pestle. It is displayed as it would have been used by the Lenape to grind nuts. The Wicoff House Museum has several stone pestles that were found in Plainsboro and donated by local residents.  Seeing a pestle in the State Museum set up the way people would have used it thousands of years ago really helps to visualize its purpose and helps us to connect to the first residents of Plainsboro.