NAVIGATION

A Prehistoric Native American Hopewell Mound Peoples Green Granitic Gneiss Bird Stone of Abstract Form Probably an Atlatl Weight
Reputedly from Indiana County, Ohio 
Circa 1500 - 1000 BC

Size: 5.5cm high, 10.5cm wide, 2cm deep - 2¼ ins high, 4 ins wide, ¾ ins deep

The ancient Hopewell culture was without obvious parallels in other parts of America. The people were agriculturalists who grew maize and tobacco and built great earthworks for military and ceremonial purposes. Archaic atlatl weights, banner stones and bird stones have been found from the Appalachians to Iowa and from Florida to the Great Lakes. The significance of these objects has not yet been conclusively proven, but made of subtly shaped and polished quartzes, granites, banded clay stones, and other colourful stone materials often imported from faraway sources, these minimal geometric forms were clearly highly valued. Functioning as weights for spear throwers, which was the primary weapon used for thousands of years before the bow and arrow, the quality of their craftsmanship suggests that they also served as emblems of prestige and status conferred on hunters coming of age and as magical talismans for increasing the spear thrower’s efficacy.

Ex Private London collection