Birdstone ???

[Charles Prentice]

A buddy of mine I hunt with(WhiteBoy) found this about a year ago in southeastern SC, not to far from the Savannah River. His thoughts are that it is a Birdstone.. Any thoughts would be appreciated.. The Archeologist can seem to agree on what the hell it is. All I know is that it is way cool..
Thanks in advance.

 

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[NC field hunter]

I must say, Rock's theory sounds pretty dang solid. The piece is obviously ornamental, the tally mark like lines give us that info. It's museum quality certainly. Never have I seen a piece like this in life or in books. This may be one of those finds that is so rare that having it is simply a headache. Pieces that can't be matched by a similar documented find are kinda bitter sweet to own. Cool artifact!!

 

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[GatorBoy]

redbeardrelics said that.. rock repeated it.
I don't know how tally marks can make something ornamental they're commonly found on bone awls.
I don't know for sure what it is but keeping a tally on something that throws projectiles makes sense also

 

[fishstick]

To me the wear and patina from the holes to the tallies are different than the rest of the piece. jmo..

 

[mainejman]

Gatorboy any guess why they have tally marks on awls?Could these marks be both ornamental and or used as a tally system.

 

[Charl]

Here is a discussion of tally marks by Robert Converse. Interestingly, both Converse and Jim Bennett note tally marks are very often found on artifacts that have been salvaged:

http://kb.osu.edu/rest/bitstreams/297107/retrieve

Another interesting artifact with tally marks, analyzed by Bennett:

http://www.arrowheads.com/component...hp?view=article&id=141&tmpl=component&print=1

Tally marks might be best known from pendants and gorgets, but found on utilitarian artifacts as well, specifically atlatl weights or bannerstones...

From the Kennebec River, Maine, a tallied pendant:

 

[fishstick]

Here is a discussion of tally marks by Robert Converse. Interestingly, both Converse and Jim Bennett note tally marks are very often found on artifacts that have been salvaged:

http://kb.osu.edu/rest/bitstreams/297107/retrieve

Another interesting artifact with tally marks, analyzed by Bennett:

Broken Pick Bannerstone? OR ... Flintknapping Tool? | www.arrowheads.com

Tally marks might be best known from pendants and gorgets, but found on utilitarian artifacts as well, specifically atlatl weights or bannerstones...

From the Kennebec River, Maine, a tallied pendant:

That's a lil' BEAUT there Charl!!! Any idea's on time frame?

 

[GatorBoy]

Gatorboy any guess why they have tally marks on awls?Could these marks be both ornamental and or used as a tally system.

Just using the term literally.. My first thought would be to keep count.
I'm sure there are many possibilities but I would think keeping a count of how many hide you prepared how many articles of clothing you made something like that.
My first assumption would be that something ornamental just happened to be used to make the marks on not necessarily made to mark if you get my drift.
It also seems to make sense that if I needed something to make tallies on I would grab something that was already broken and repurpose it for the task rather than make something specifically to do that.

 

[NC field hunter]

Just using the term literally.. My first thought would be to keep count. I'm sure there are many possibilities but I would think keeping a count of how many hide you prepared how many articles of clothing you made something like that. My first assumption would be that something ornamental just happened to be used to make the marks on not necessarily made to mark if you get my drift. It also seems to make sense that if I needed something to make tallies on I would grab something that was already broken and repurpose it for the task rather than make something specifically to do that.

I said "tally mark like lines" for lack of better words. I suppose ornamental isn't the only reason for tally marks. They are still meant to be seen. In this case I think they are ornamental. Not asking for followers in my belief, simply my opinion. Cool artifact!!

 

[GatorBoy]

Easy NC.. Just giving my opinion and using your response in part of it.
Not trying to be the Pied Piper or anything.
I can only go by what you typed.. And you made a direct connection between those lines and an ornamental object in your response

 

[Charl]

That's a lil' BEAUT there Charl!!! Any idea's on time frame?

Thanks, Late Woodland or maybe even Contact Period. Several pendants from the site had images like meeting houses with a cross on top, etc., so it could be as late as 18th century. The area of Maine was frequented by French missionaries.

 

[Charl]

It is probably a telling fact, though I have no idea what it tells, that both Converse and Bennett claim it would be considered unusual if a salvaged artifact did not have tally marks on it. On an atlatl, it makes sense as a count of kills, though we're just guessing really, but that's a logical thought. Here are tally marks encircling the brim of a ceramic pipe from Ma., circa 1500AD. On pendants and other ornamental articles, it would seem to be a decorative element, as it may be on this pipe bowl. But there is almost surely more to tally marks then we can guess at the moment. That's my take anyway. The darn things are everywhere. Why did salvaged artifacts "require" tally marks? More questions then answers.

 

[NC field hunter]

Easy NC.. Just giving my opinion and using your response in part of it. Not trying to be the Pied Piper or anything. I can only go by what you typed.. And you made a direct connection between those lines and an ornamental object in your response

Lol! That reply was sort of hasty. I didn't mean to sound ill, it just fell on the screen like that. My bad! Sorry Gator! It's still a cool piece. The only thing I'm ill about is not being the finder of such a rare artifact! Lol!

 

[GatorBoy]

All good Rusty.
Ain't nothin

 

[monsterrack]

This is JMO the item in the post as I said before look like a nose ornament, if you look at the groove in the back it is made to sit on the bridge of the nose with it being flared at the end for the nose. I have never seen a North American native nose bridge only natives in the South American area. Here are some examplesThese next photos are of one that was found in HaitiI may be wrong but it has all the ear marks of a nose ornament as others have said. As for the marks I think they were used for all types of things, like the man that wrote about the odd artifact that they were for slip control, I can go with that, also we know they used them to count and for decoration. JMO it's like our words that are spelled the same but have different meaning. On the artifact in the post, I see why the arches can not agree it is something that is out of the box. It is a super great find and like others have said wished I had found it are it's cousin

 

[SCrocks]

That's one fine artifact! Definitely one of a kind.

 

[rock]

Another guess from me is the tally marks might be the amount of children the owner had (11) kids.

 

[fongu]

Excellent find, whatever it is.

 

[Charl]

Although we haven't yet nailed a purpose for certain, looking at it I can't help but wonder if it was not salvaged from another artifact? That would confirm Converse's observation that most salvaged artifacts show tally marks. The tally marks might have been placed right where the original piece broke off. Just a thought.....

 

[redbeardrelics]

Wouldn't a real beak be a lot easier?

Excellent point, I would think that most animal interpretations and rituals that the pre-historic peoples here practiced, involved the actual parts of the animals themselves. It was probably common to wear bear skins and claws, bird feathers, all manner of horns and antlers etc. I would think an actual bird beak would have been far easier to acquire and fashion in many parts of the Country than ones made of ground and polished stone, and would have probably had far more significant spiritual value to the peoples as well. If stone fashioned beaks did ever exist in any of the pre-historic North American cultures they were probably outnumbered by real examples by more than 100 to 1 ? But then again how well do real bird beaks preserve in the archeological record, and how long would one have been fit for use by the wearer before having to be replaced. Or, perhaps no matter how you boiled or prepared a real beak with their available technology, it just continued to smell really bad. lol ?? I'ze gots lots of real questions, and rarely have any real answers .lol

 

[GatorBoy]

Questions are good.
When they're put together logically like you just did there's lots of answers bouncing around in them lol