Birdstone   Save
Undocumented Artifacts from the First Ohioans Exhibit
Description: This birdstone is a painted plaster cast of a prehistoric artifact. Its base is flat and the sides curve slightly along the top to form a ridge in the midline. One end is shaped to form a stylized head and neck, possibly of a bird. The head is nearly the same length as the body and opposite the head is a slightly fan-shaped tail. There is a drilled hole at either end of the base, one of which goes through to the base of the tail, the other through to the base of the neck. Birdstones are perhaps the most puzzling of all prehistoric American Indian objects. Although they are usually linked with the Glacial Kame people, they have also been found in Late Archaic sites in New York and Pennsylvania. The specific function of birdstones is unknown, but they might have served as highly-decorative spearthrower weights. This particular birdstone is a product of Glacial Kame Culture. The Glacial Kame people are noted for their emphasis on ceremony, but their daily lives were much like those of other Archaic cultures. They hunted with spears aided by spear throwers. Deer, their major source of meat, also provided antler tines that were made into tools for pressure flaking flint knives and spear points, or into harpoons for fishing. Deer leg bones were cut and ground into sharp-pointed awls for sewing and basket making. Slate and coal from glacial deposits were made into ornaments, perhaps for "everyday" use. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: A4786_000099_1
Subjects: Effigies; Prehistoric peoples;
Places: Undocumented Artifacts from the First Ohioans Exhibit