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Back to Archaeological Sites Birdstones of North America
Source: from the collection of E.C. Townsend, Jr.
Proximate source: Townsend (1959)
A birdstone is a small, abstract stone carving that resembles a bird and is thought to have been used as a weight for an atlatl, or spear-throwing device. They are generally three to four inches long and less than two inches tall. They are found at archaic sites in midwestern and eastern North America, including the Great Lakes region and east of the Mississippi River.
They are small, abstract stone carvings created by prehistoric Native Americans, primarily found in the eastern region of the United States, that resemble birds and are thought to have been used as atlatl weights, a tool for throwing spears; most commonly discovered in states like New York, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Ontario, with the majority made from banded slate, particularly the greenish-grey Huronian variety, but other stones like porphyry have also been used. They are considered artefacts from the Archaic period of Native American history.
The features include a beak-like face, an arch-shaped cross-section to the body, a slightly raised head, and with two diagonal holes in the base.
They are used as a ceremonial weight for an atlatl, and may have been used as an emblem of prestige, a marker of coming of age, a supernatural talisman, or as a clan symbol.
There are several different types of birdstones, including the 'pop-eye' model and highly stylised and simplified silhouettes. All birdstones are pierced with bi-conical holes on the underside.
Text above: Various sources
Birdstone of the bust type, made from ferruginous limestone.
Michigan, 1 500 – 500 BC
Dimensions: 64 × 76 × 44 mm
Catalog: 2011.154.16
Credit Line: Ralph T. Coe Collection, Gift of Ralph T. Coe Foundation for the Arts, 2011
Permission: Public Domain
Pop-eyed birdstone with an unusual fantail, made from limestone.
North or South Dakota, 1 500 – 500 BC
Dimensions: 51 × 111 × 38 mm
Catalog: 2011.154.142
Credit Line: Ralph T. Coe Collection, Gift of Ralph T. Coe Foundation for the Arts, 2011
Permission: Public Domain
Do atlatl weights make any difference to launching a dart?
( My two cents worth is that it is undeniable that atlatls were a very important tool for hunting, and needed to be fit for purpose. Atlatl weights must not have had a significant deleterious effect on the use of the dart for bringing down game. If they had, the weights would not have been attached to atlatls. The fact that so many were used indicates the probability that they were advantageous, either in accuracy or distance thrown or both. - Don )
This is a typical North American atlatl. Note the slimness of the very hard wood used, the weight attached, and the loops for the thumb and finger, as well as the hook (rather than a socket) for the dart.
The dart is very thin and whippy, and is fletched, with a foreshaft which breaks away on impact, leaving the 'expensive' main shaft to drop away unharmed.
Photo and text: Raymond (1986)
Although hundreds of ground stone artefacts, described as atlatl weights, have been found in North America, only ten atlatls, all archaeological specimens, have been recovered with weights actually attached to them (Figure 11, left).
This number does not include the numerous alignments of socketed antler hooks, handles and drilled atlatl weights, essentially complete atlatls, except for the wood stave that connects the parts, which have been excavated in Kentucky. Many carved spearthrowers from the Palaeolithic of western Europe are in effect weighted atlatls.
Photo and text: Raymond (1986)
This superb replica of the Broken Roof Cave atlatl has both a small moonstone charm just above the loops, and larger, ground and polished weight attached above the mid-point of the shaft.
Replica by Devin Pettigrew
Photo: http://basketmakeratlatl.com/?page_id=418
Garrod (1955) discusses and illustrates several spear throwers that integrate an animal effigy with the spur (or hook) on the distal end of the spearthrower, and therefore may have functioned similarly to weights found attached to North American specimens. In western North America, all archaeologically recovered weighted atlatls share many features (Table 1). They all range from 40 cm. to 70 cm. in length and 2 cm. to 3.5 cm in width. Most western North American atlatls are very thin (less than 1 cm.) and are constructed of relatively hard wood such as mountain mahogany (Cercocarpus sp.) and scrub oak (Quercus gambellii).
These attributes, manifest in my replicated atlatls, result in an extremely flexible weapon. Several researchers and experimenters have postulated that atlatl weights serve to increase the performance of the weapon, and several similar, yet independent, experiments have been conducted to test this. In all cases, performance has been measured by comparing the distances achieved by darts launched by weighted and unweighted atlatls. Dart distance is an indirect measure of dart velocity and force of impact. However, the experiments of dart distances conducted with weighted and unweighted atlatls are not conclusive. Another line of research concerns the placement of weights along the shaft of atlatls.
Webb & Haag (1957) conclude that a marksman will obtain greatest dart velocity and distance when they attaches the weight close to the distal end of the weapon.
Dart distance
This experiment was designed to compare the maximum distance obtained by the same darts thrown by a weighted atlatl and by the same atlatl without its weight. Three separate tests were conducted in different locations and weather conditions. Sixty throws, thirty with a weighted atlatl and thirty with an unweighted atlatl, comprised each test. In each case, I launched the darts at approximately a 40 degree angle with as much force as possible. The results of these tests (Figure 13) indicate that darts thrown by the weighted atlatl achieve average distances that are two to seven metres farther than achieved with the unweighted atlatl. Put another way, weighted atlatls can propel darts 5 per cent to 11 per cent farther than non-weighted atlatls. However, in two of the three tests, the mean distance of darts thrown with a weighted atlatl falls within 1 standard deviation of the mean dart distance obtained with an unweighted atlatl.
Images and text above: Raymond (1986)
Propulseur 'au faon' (moulage) Le Mas d'Azil (Ariège), Magdalénien supérieur.
This atlatl or spearthrower or propulseur appears to have been carved from a single piece of antler.
It shows a young ibex or chamois with an emerging turd (or possibly a birth sac) on which two birds are perched, found around 1940 in the cave of Le Mas d'Azil, Ariege.
Note the difference in weight provided by the decoration of an ibex or chamois, mimicking the weight of a birdstone.
Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008
Source: Facsimile on display at Le Musée National de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies-de-Tayac
A North American atlatl and dart. Note the loops for thumb and finger on the atlatl.
Photo: Don Hitchcock 2012
Source: Display at Regina Museum, Saskatchewan, Canada
At Laugerie Basse in France you sign up for a tour, which is quite informative, though pretty much only in French. After the tour, the guide allowed all who wished a try with throwing a spear, or dart, using an atlatl, at a target he had set up.
The photograph on the right shows the hook or crochet or spur on the propulseur, made of bone or reindeer antler.
Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008
Carvings from La Madeleine in the Dordogne. These stunning pieces of art were used as decorations on propulseurs. A bison licking its shoulder on the left, a hyena in the centre, bison on the right.
Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008
Source: Originals (? the hyena looks like a facsimile) on display at Le Musée National de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies-de-Tayac
Another version of the hyena above:
This is a large, high quality, in focus version of this very important work, and I am grateful to the uploader of the image. I have flipped it horizontally to agree with reality.
Wikipedia text: Part of a spear thrower made of reindeer antler, found in the Abri La Madeleine (Tursac in the Dordogne, France). Exhibit of the National Prehistoric Museum in Eyzies-de-Tayac.
Photo: Klaus D. Peter, Wiehl, Germany
Permission: Creative Commons License Attribution 3.0 Germany
This is an excellent recreation of what the propulseur with the hyena above as a part of the atlatl may have looked like, by Michael R. Frank.
Note that the craftsman has used the hyena as a decoration, with the hook below. This is the best and most believable recreation of these sorts of propulseurs or atlatls that I have seen.
Photo: http://www.occpaleo.com/atlatls/atlatldesigns.html
Les Trois-frères - two Ibex fighting, with the hook of the propulseur still attached.
Photo: http://www.studyblue.com/notes/note/n/arth-1450-exam-1/deck/2128191
Birdstone made from slate.
Ohio, 1 500 – 500 BC
Dimensions: 44 × 25 × 76 mm
Catalog: 1979.206.1345
Credit Line: The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Bequest of Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1979
Permission: Public Domain
This simple, abstracted bird shaped stone appears contemporary, yet was made thousands of years ago by a Native American artist in North America. Smooth and graceful, this delicate-looking Bird Stone was used as a ceremonial weight for a hunter’s atlatl. The beauty embodied in this tool may have been carved as an emblem of prestige, a marker of coming of age, a supernatural talisman or as a clan symbol in addition to its utilitarian purpose. These stones were often made from materials far from their place of discovery, another indicator of their importance.
Date 1500 BC - 500 BC
Dimensions 40 x 130 x 21 mm.
Catalog: slate, Minneapolis Institute of Art Collection, 2001.63
Permission: Public Domain
Source: Gift of Beverly N. Grossman
This popeyed birdstone was found in 1926 by J. D. Alspach in Hancock, County near Vanlue, Ohio. It represents one of the more artistic forms and has the more rarely seen addition of 'feet'. Most birdstones do not have any projection on the bottom but instead have smooth flat undersides. They are also drilled on the front and back corners indicating they were once attached to some object. This birdstone is drilled through both 'feet'. The hole in front can be seen in this picture. This birdstone is made of porphyry and measures 82 mm long.
The extra effort that is applied by the sculptor to enhance the eyes of these types of birdstones would seem to suggest an intention to convey strength in vision. One interpretative concept of this train of thought might be, the more powerful the eye sight the more knowledge that can be possessed, delivered or conveyed.
Image and text: www.lithiccastinglab.com, © May 31, 2009, Peter A. Bostrom
Three ferruginous slates and a porphyry
This red and green ferruginous slate birdstone from northern Indiana, county unknown, was first illustrated by Moorehead in his 'The Bird-Stone Ceremonial' in 1899, when it was in the A. C. Gruhlke Collection. After the original bridge across the rear perforation broke, the maker sank a new vertical hole further forward and bored the horizontal hole deeper to meet it. The overall length was reduced by some polishing down of the tail. Formerly in the W. A. Holmes Collection in Chicago. See Moorehead (1917) p. 91, and Moorehead (1910) Volume II, p. 7.
Photo and text: Townsend (1959)
Source: From the collection of Dr T. Hugh Young, Nashville Tennessee
Additional references:
Moorehead (1899),
Moorehead (1910),
Moorehead (1917)
Drawing of the birdstone above from Moorehead (1899)
This ferruginous black and green slate birdstone from Joseph Ringeisen, Jr.'s collection is one of the most elaborate birdstones ever found, in that it has a ridged base and large oval pop eyes.
Found in 1894 in Huron County, Ohio.
The side view shown below it is from Plate 246, Fig. C
Both images and the text are from Townsend (1959).
Source: From the collection of Dr T. Hugh Young, Nashville Tennessee
This beautiful tan ferruginous slate specimen from Auglaize County, Ohio, went practically unnoticed until it was given a soap and water bath in 1955 which brought out its hidden glamour. It is shown with Huronian slate birdstones of its class at plate 270, Fig. B.
Image and text: Townsend (1959)
Source: From the collection of Dr T. Hugh Young, Nashville Tennessee
This fantailed porphyry with large oval nodular pop eyes was collected in Ingham County, Michigan, shortly before the turn of the century by Leslie M. Hills of Fort Wayne, Indiana. From him it passed to Albert L. Addis of Wolf Lake, Indiana, and then to Dr. Rollin H. Bunch of Muncie, Indiana, before going to Nashville, Tennessee. See also Plate 171, Fig. C.
Image and text: Townsend (1959).
Source: From the collection of Dr T. Hugh Young, Nashville Tennessee
Anthropomorphic 'pop eye' bird form.
With an old label reading 'pop-eyed Birdstone Hale County Alabama' H2 1/2" W4 3/8" P
Height 2.5 inches, width 4.375 inches, height 63.5 mm, width 111 mm.
( I would label the width dimension (above) as the length - Don )
Image and text: LiveAuctioneers, www.liveauctioneers.com
These six exceptional examples of birdstones were photographed in a private collection. All but one have the knobbed or 'pop' eyes that add so much to their style. All of them are made of various types of hard stones. The two examples at lower right are made of porphyry. The one at top left appears to be made of quartz. The largest example in this picture, at centre right, was found Chittenden County, Vermont and it measures 4 1/2 inches (114 mm) long. The popeyed birdstone at lower right was found in Hancock County, Ohio.
Image and text: www.lithiccastinglab.com, © May 31, 2009, Peter A. Bostrom
Glacial Kame birdstone, Ohio
( A glacial kame is a mound-shaped hill or knob that forms when a glacier melts and deposits sand, gravel, and till on the land surface. Kames are a type of glacial landform, and are often found in areas where continental glaciers have receded - Don )
Glacial Kame Birdstone in green banded Slate, 149 mm, Ohio.
Image and text: www.liveauctioneers.com
Source: Ex Bruce Miller. Jackson COA.
( This piece has been superbly photographed by a master of the art - Don )
Glacial Kame Culture, Late Archaic Period, 3 000 - 500 BC.
DeKalb County, Indiana
length 102 mm, width 44 mm.
Formed of porphyry, a hard, granitic material, having a rare, bluish hue with large, cream phenocrysts 'floating' on the matrix. It retains its original polish.
This Porphyry Popeye Fantail is one of the finest of its type. Large button shaped eyes expand from the beak, to their greatest diameter. The body expands dramatically from the neck, and then contracts back, before flaring once again into a beautiful fantail. The top of the tail has a slight upturn, which has been noted on only a couple other highly developed examples. A sharp central ridge extends from the front tip of the beak to the top of the tail. The lower ridges which hold the two perforations, are highly developed, with the rear much larger than the front.
Also known as the Cameron Parks Birdstone, this rare find was unexpectedly discovered in October of 1950. Wellington Young, a young farmer working on Floyd Meyer’s farm, which is located between the towns of Waterloo and Butler in DeKalb County, Indiana, was trailing behind a potato digger, collecting potatoes, when the birdstone was unearthed.
After the find, Wellington sold it to Ralph Staley, a DeKalb County local. Staley who knew of Cameron Park’s interest in prehistoric stone artefacts, contacted and sold the birdstone to Cameron's wife Mabel. Cameron received this birdstone as a Christmas present, in 1950.
It should be noted that the farm on which this piece was found is located near the centre of the greatest concentration of discovered birdstones. This area includes the far northeast counties in Indiana, the adjacent far northwest counties of Ohio, and the adjacent counties of southern Michigan.
Image and text: www.bidsquare.com, online auctioneers
Source: Sold by Cowan's Auctions, 6270 Este Ave. Cincinnati, OH 45232, United States.
Ferruginous slate and porphyry examples
This striped specimen was collected by Dr. Rollin H. Bunch of Muncie, Indiana, near Alamo in Kalamazoo County, Michigan. He traded it to Raymond C. Vietzen of Elyria, Ohio, for other relics. The streak at the head and neck juncture is a mark in the stone—not a crack.
Image and text: Townsend (1959)
Source: Dr. T. Hugh Young Collection, Nashville, Tennessee
Glamour in stone art certainly is personified by this ferruginous slate specimen which was found in November of 1945 by a farmer digging vegetables near Delta in Fulton County, Ohio. It stayed with Mr. Vietzen at Elyri for eleven years before migrating.
Source: Dr. T. Hugh Young Collection, Nashville, Tennessee
Image and text: Townsend (1959)
Source: Dr. T. Hugh Young Collection, Nashville, Tennessee
This finest of all the porphyry fantails was dug up in 1846, one mile north of Burlington, Vermont, by S. H. Baker. The tail is 1 3/4 inches in width. The red ochre accompanying the burial with which it doubtless was associated still gives it a pinkish tinge. Formerly in the Robert Hull Fleming Museum at the University of Vermont.
Image and text: Townsend (1959)
Source: from the collection of E.C. Townsend, Jr.
The shape of this black and tan porphyry specimen seems to blend features of the bust-type birdstone with those of the elongated specimens or even of the bar amulets. It reportedly came from Porter County, Indiana, and was acquired by Eli Lilly from the Thomas A. Hendricks Collection. Hendricks may have obtained it from the C. E. Tribbett Collection at Darlington, Indiana.
Catalogue No. 14/218
Image and text: Townsend (1959)
Source: The Indiana Historical Society Collection, Indianapolis
Birdstone in banded slate, from Brantford, Ontario.
30 mm x 45 mm x 120 mm
Catalog: NS107
Image and text: collections.rom.on.ca/objects/46260/birdstone
Source: Royal Ontario Museum
Pop-eyed birdstone from Trafalgar, Ontario.
1 500 BC - 800 AD
74mm x 36mm x 24mm
Catalog: Ground silicified mudstone, HD726
Image and text: collections.rom.on.ca/objects/8008/birdstone-popeyed
Source: Royal Ontario Museum
Pop-eyed, fantailed birdstone, 1500 BC - 800 AD
Norfolk County, Ontario
Ground stone, felsic extrusive
( Felsic extrusive igneous rocks are volcanic rocks that are formed from lava that cools quickly at the surface of the Earth. They are made up of minerals that are high in silica, such as quartz, feldspar, and mica, and are typically lighter in color - Don )
111 mm x 40 mm x 37 mm.
Catalog: NS12816
Image and text: collections.rom.on.ca/search/birdstone#filters
Source: Royal Ontario Museum
Birdstone made of greenstone.
Height 57 mm, width 22 mm, length 116 mm, weight 80 gm.
Catalog: Greenstone, USA, Am, S.344
Photo: © Trustees of the British Museum, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Source: Original, British Museum
Text: www.britishmuseum.org/, © Trustees of the British Museum, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Birdstone made of whetslate, Ohio.
( Whetslate is a type of slate used to sharpen cutting tools - Don )
Length 130 mm.
Catalog: Whetslate, Ohio, USA, Am, S.343
Photo: © Trustees of the British Museum, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Source: Original, British Museum
Text: www.britishmuseum.org/, © Trustees of the British Museum, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Flecked granite birdstone with large popeyes.
2 500 BC - 2 000 BC
Dimensions: 70 × 114 × 60 mm
Catalog: Granite, Southern Michigan and Northern Indiana Tribes M1999.122.002
Photo and text: © LINEJKM Collection, National Museum of Wildlife Art
Slate birdstone with fantail and a long beak.
2 500 BC - 2 000 BC
Dimensions: 44 × 143 × 54 mm
Catalog: Slate, Southern Michigan and Northern Indiana Tribes, M1999.122.001
Photo and text: © LINEJKM Collection, National Museum of Wildlife Art
Three fine porphyries
This beautiful black and white porphyry with pink tinges has weathered to a creamy white and black. This bust-type specimen with tapering 'cylinder' eyes reportedly is from Greene County, Indiana. The lower image is Plate 130, Fig. E.
Catalogue No. 7/27
Image and text: Townsend (1959)
Source: The Indiana Historical Society Collection, Indianapolis
The grey matrix doubtless is faded somewhat from weathering. This superb button-eyed fantail with ridged base was collected in Michigan.
Formerly in the Professor W. O. Emery Collection. Illustrated, Moorehead (1917), Fig. 76.
Image below, Plate 167, Figs. A and B. Catalogue No. 10/7
Image and text: Townsend (1959)
Source: The Indiana Historical Society Collection, Indianapolis
( These images may be of the same specimen despite minor differences in the drawings - Don )
(upper image):
FIG. 63. (S. 3-5.) This specimen is from western New York. It is made in the form of a bird which from the number of similar specimens have given the name to this class.
The eyes are represented by great protuberances, which must have greatly increased the difficulty of manufacture. It is made from a boulder or large piece, and while the material is hard, it is not rough but rather fragile. It could not be chipped like flint nor whittled like soapstone, but must have been hammered or pecked into shape and afterwards ground to its present form, then polished until it is as smooth as glass. A consideration of the conditions demonstrates the difficulty of making this object and the dexterity and the
experienced working required.
Material: diorite with feldspar crystals.
Source: Smithsonian Report for 1896, p. 451. Dr. Thomas Wilson. Smithsonian collection. Otis M. Bigelow collection.
(lower image)
Pop-eyed fantailed birdstone made of diorite with feldspar crystals, found in New York.
Dr.Thomas Wilson says:
Figure 2 is from Western New York. It is made in the form of a bird, which from the number of similar specimens have given the name to this class. The eyes are represented by great protuberances which must have greatly increased the difficulty of manufacture.
( note that - also in Moorehead (1899) - exactly the same drawing shown here as Figure 2 is presented as Figure 23 and labelled as being from Seneca River, NY, New York State Museum Col. S 1_1 - Don )
It is made from a boulder or other large piece, and while the material is hard, it is not tough but rather fragile.
It could not be chiseled like flint nor whittled like soapstone, but must have been hammered (pecked into shape and afterwards ground to its present form, then polished until it is as smooth as glass. A consideration of the conditions demomstrates the difficulty of making this object and the dexterity and the experienced working required.
The Museum possesses many of these specimens. While they bear a greater resemblance to birds than anything else, yet scarcely any two of them are alike and they change in form through the whole gamut until it is difficult to determine whether it is a bird, a lizard or a turtle, and finally the series ends in a straight bar without pretence of presenting any animal.
Let us here observe that but few of these stones are found damaged or broken. They be rough, or fine, yet 80% of them are perfect, or nearly perfect, whereas the banner, or butterfly, and the tablet of unusual size, or the perforated ceremonial of pick or crescent shape, is frequently broken or damaged. Less than one half of such specimens are entire.
Image and text: Moorehead (1899)
Image and text: Moorehead (1917)
Figure 3 above is of green striped slate, from the Seneca River, and is 83 mm in length. There are no ears, but along the edges are 91 notches.
This feature often appears, but not to this extent.
Image and text: Moorehead (1899)
Figure 15 above is a remarkably fine bird amulet of green striped slate, the longest we have seen from New York.
It is 250 mm from tip to tip, and of moderate height and thickness. It was found at Dexter, near the mouth of the Black River, and although in three pieces, was not otherwise defaced.
The back is sharp, and it has projecting ears and a long neck. The head ends squarely.
Image and text: Moorehead (1899)
Figure 16 above is from Dresden, on Seneca Lake, and is of green striped slate. The ears are small. It is a fine article, and is 89 mm long and 38 mm high.
Image and text: Moorehead (1899)
Figs. 66 and 67 present views of an object from the Reverend William Beauchamp's collection, which is somewhat different from ordinary birdstones, although it is included under that class.
Image and text: Moorehead (1917)
Pop-eyed birdstone of slate, height 41.6 mm, length 95.0 mm, width 47.3 mm.
Catalog: Ontario, Norfolk County, Artifact Number VIII-F:5931, Accession Number 2642, Borden Number YyYy-0, Geo-Cultural Code VIII-F
Image and text: Canadian Museum of History, www.historymuseum.ca/collections/
Birdstone.
Catalog: Ontario, Elgin County, Artifact Number VIII-F:5943, Accession Number 2642, Borden Number YyYy-0, Geo-Cultural Code VIII-F
Image and text: Canadian Museum of History, www.historymuseum.ca/collections/
Pop-eyed birdstone in slate.
Catalog: Ontario, Norfolk County, Artifact Number VIII-F:5929, Accession Number 2642, Borden Number YyYy-0, Geo-Cultural Code VIII-F
Image and text: Canadian Museum of History, www.historymuseum.ca/collections/
Pop-eyed birdstone in slate.
Catalog: Ontario, Elgin County, Artifact Number VIII-F:5941, Accession Number 2642, Borden Number YyYy-0, Geo-Cultural Code VIII-F
Image and text: Canadian Museum of History, www.historymuseum.ca/collections/
Pop-eyed birdstone in slate.
Catalog: Ontario, Elgin County, Artifact Number VIII-F:1263, Accession Number 2642, Borden Number YyYy-0, Geo-Cultural Code VIII-F
Image and text: Canadian Museum of History, www.historymuseum.ca/collections/
Pop-eyed birdstone in slate.
Catalog: Ontario, Elgin County, Artifact Number VIII-F:5940, Accession Number 2642, Borden Number YyYy-0, Geo-Cultural Code VIII-F
Image and text: Canadian Museum of History, www.historymuseum.ca/collections/
Pop-eyed, fan-tailed birdstone in slate.
Length 111.5 mm, width 41 mm
Catalog: Ontario, Wentworth County, Artifact Number VIII-F:8318, Accession Number 2641, Borden Number YyYy-0, Geo-Cultural Code VIII-F
Image and text: Canadian Museum of History, www.historymuseum.ca/collections/
Left : Archaic birdstone, 3 000 – 1 000 BC.
Porphyry, 110 x 40 x 20 mm.
Catalog: Porphyry, 7/4409, Schenectady, Schenectady County, New York, collected by I. McGirk Mitchell
Right: Archaic popeyed birdstone, 3 000 – 1 000 BC
90 x 25 x 35 mm
Collected by E. M. Jackson
Catalog: Slate, 5/4385, Watertown, Jefferson County, New York, Collected by E. M. Jackson
Image and text: The National Museum of the American Indian | George Gustav Heye Center | New York, NY
Figure 24 is from Brewerton NY, where many have been found. It is quite thick and heavy. The material is a grey striped slate and the ears are small.
Image and text: Moorehead (1899)
The Wisconsin specimens are rather peculiar. Mr. H. P. Hamilton sends me drawings of three (Figs. 25, 26, and 27).
There is not much to remark in Figure 26 save that it is 'heavy' and not so graceful as the southern ones.
Figures 25 and 27 have bars or elevations around the perforations. In these two the elevations in which the perforations are made, would seem to interfere with their use as head ornaments. I do not believe that Figures 25 and 27 were worn as such. Dr Beauchamp and Professor Boyle note this in some New York and Canadian types. There is no elevated tail in either.
Figure 25 has enlarged eyes, a flat (not rounded) breast, and a peculiar rounded tail. It may be an animal rather than a bird effigy.
Image and text: Moorehead (1899)
General remarks from Moorehead (1899)
The making of any one of these ceremonial ornaments was no child's play and required a great deal of time. I take exceptions to the remarks of some observers, that most stone objects could be brought to perfection in a few hours.
Having selected a suitable stone, it was held in the left hand and pecked and hammered with a small hammerstone such as are common all over the United States and usually of a harder material than the object to be worked. They have been found made of feldspathic granite or diorite.
Having been given a rough outline of the desired shape (see Figure 13) it was further hammered or pecked with a smaller hand hammer stone and somewhat more reduced.
There was now danger of breaking by hammering and the specimen was either ground, rubbed or scraped with bits of sandstone, flint, or very rough pebbles until it assumed more nearly the desired form (see Figure 14 ). We have no positive information as to how it was completed, but guided by our knowledge of the manufacture of other implements it is safe to assume that this was the process. The rubbing, cutting and scraping must needs be very carefully applied toward the completion of the object.
Doubtless the final rubbing and polishing and finishing touches were given with wood and lastly with buckskin. This latter would give gloss and finish to the specimen. Perforations at each end of the object may have been drilled just before it was completed or reserved until the last. That we do not know. Sometimes these perforations broke during the process of making, or they may have broken while in use subsequently. Quite a number of birdstones show a second perforation from the corner or end. Materials of which they are made need not have been carried any great distance and we usually find them made of stone occurring in the locality. However, finished objects may have been transported to the tribes who did not live in the region where shale or slate could be obtained. This was only in rare instances, as I am informed that shales and slates are very widely distributed.
Now as to the thick or short specimens, such as Figures 3, 4, 8 and several in Professor Emery’s exhibit, some of these are unfinished specimens and ready to be worked and perforated. Others are doubtless completed. Some were left in this form for convenience in trade (there being less danger of breakage) or, possibly, made by less skilled artisans in imitation of the more beautiful specimens and were worn by being tied by thongs over the back of the objects rather than through the perforations, for in many short and thick birdstones there are no perforations.
Figure 3 is of a thick or short specimen, as mentioned above.
Figure 3 is of green striped slate, from the Seneca River, and is 83 mm in length. There are no ears, but along the edges are 91 notches.
This feature often appears, but not to this extent.
Image and text: Moorehead (1899)
Figure 8 above is another example as mentioned above of a thick or short specimen.
Image and text: Moorehead (1899)
Sometimes these specimens show restoration to usefulness by being re-drilled. In many the back is very sharp or angular, others are rounded. The object is flat under the head and neck and down the breast in types like Figure 1. However, in Figures 2 and 11 the neck is curved and not flat underneath. Flattening ot the neck or breast (in front) prevails.
The shortest (well formed) bird-stone I have observed is two inches long. The average is three and one half to four inches Ones exceeding seven inches are rare and nine inches or more are very rare. The height is from two thirds to one and a half inches, with an average of one inch. While a general similarity of form is seen, the proportions vary. In one the head or the body is longer than in another. Short, thick heads and heavy short bodies naturally go together. While the proportions may not be true yet the specimens generally appear graceful and and pleasing to the eye.
While a series may be arranged in any large museum beginning with the most pronounced birdstones and ending in a straight bar, yet the line of demarkation is not difficult of establishment. I would not include in the birdstone class specimens in which the 'head' is not clearly defined. If the ends be alike (slight ridges) and the body long and slender, the specimen should be classed ns a bar amulet. An occasional specimen is found as near the bar amulet type as Figure 12, yet it appears to me that Figure 12 is a birdstone.
Figure 41
Typical bar amulet.
Image and text: Moorehead (1899)
The straight bar and the bar with enlarged ends are not to be considered birdstones, although they are in the ceremonial class. It will be observed that Figure 35 in Mr. Gruhlke’s collection is peculiar. It may not be a finished specimen, being yet unperforated, yet I am of that opinion because of the high polish and the slight evidences of use found on the bottom. In birdstones the perforations vary in size, usually being from one third to one fourth of an inch in diameter, wider at the (opening (or exterior) and narrower (or smaller) at their point of union. They seem to have been made with flint pointed drills. The reed or wooden perforators made a more even hole.
Text above: Moorehead (1899)
References
- Garrod, D., 1955: Palaeolithic spear-throwers Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, 21: 21-35
- Moorehead, W.K., 1899: The Birdstone Ceremonial, Saranac Lake [N.Y.] : A.I. Vosburgh
- Moorehead, W.K., 1910: The stone age in North America, Volumes I and II, Boston
- Moorehead, W.K., 1917: Stone ornaments used by Indians in the United States and Canada, Andover, Massachusetts
- Raymond, A., 1986: Experiments in the Function and Performance of the Weighted Atlatl, World Archaeology, Vol. 18, no. 2, 1986, pp. 153–77
- Townsend, E.C. Jr., 1959: Birdstones of the North American Indian, London Vista Books, 1962
- Webb, W., Haag, W., 1957: The development of the spearthrower, Occasional papers in Anthropology, No. 2, Lexington: Department of Anthropology, University of Kentucky
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