Description: This birdstone is made from banded slate in the shape of a stylized bird. Its base is ground flat with two holes drilled diagonally through each corner, presumably for attachment to some other surface. The bird effigy has a thin, elongated body in the shape of an equilateral triangle, which turns up slightly at the tail. The beak is narrow and tapering, flattened at the tip. The underside of the head is flat. The birdstone is gray with very dark gray bands. Birdstones are perhaps the most puzzling of all prehistoric American Indian objects. Although they are usually linked with the Glacial Kame people, birdstones have also been found in Late Archaic sites in New York and Pennsylvania. The specific function of birdstones is unknown, but they may have served as highly-decorative spearthrower weights. This particular birdstone is a product of Glacial Kame Culture. 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_000062_1
Subjects: Effigies; Prehistoric peoples;
Places: Undocumented Artifacts from the First Ohioans Exhibit