Bird stone

Bird stone

Bird stones are prehistoric, abstract stone carvings made by Native Americans. The artifacts were a common inclusion in graves and thought to have ceremonial importance. They are noted for their distinctive simplicity and beauty.

The exact purpose of these artifacts is not known, but most have a small hole drilled at the base of the neck, presumably for mounting. Some theories suggest they were part of an atlatl (a short rod to hurl spears), in addition to their ceremonial uses [http://www.museum.state.il.us/muslink/nat_amer/pre/htmls/a_weapons.html] .

Bird stones were mostly made east of the Mississippi, and the thousands in existence have been found primarily in New York, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin. [ Encylopaedia Brittanica, Micropaedia, Vol II at p36] The stones range in length from 6 to 12 inches, and have unique variations in style. Most are ground from grayish green, banded slate [http://www.ohioarch.org/PastArticles4.htm] .

References

External links

* [http://www.cincinnatiartmuseum.org/greatart/tour_americas.shtml Bird stone example at the Cincinnati Art Museum]
* [http://www.google.com/u/csasi?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&domains=www.csasi.org&q=birdstone&btnG=Search&sitesearch=www.csasi.org Central States Archaeological Societies bird stone articles]


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