Points and Effigy stone

[georgia flatlander]

These points are nearly 1,000 years old, yet look like they were knapped yesterday. It’s amazing what the native artisans could do with a rock and an antler. Not my find, but just marveling at the workmanship and thought I’d share.

 

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[arrow86]

Talk about eye candy !

 

[Saguache]

yummmm...

 

[gilmerman]

These are prime examples of the skills the ancients had and insured their survival. They must be acknowledged as ultimate survivors.

 

[Twitch]

Those artifacts can be viewed for free, 7 days a week at the Cahokia Mounds interpretive center in Collinsville IL. Excellent place to visit.

 

[fyrffytr1]

OK. I don't want to step on anyone's toes but to my very untrained eye these just don't look right. Can you tell us where you got the picture? And, if I am wrong about them I do apologize.

 

[Twitch]

OK. I don't want to step on anyone's toes but to my very untrained eye these just don't look right. Can you tell us where you got the picture? And, if I am wrong about them I do apologize.

The points in the picture are all good, old and authentic points. They were dug out of mound #72 at Cahokia mounds in Illinois. Mound 72 is a fascinating mound well worth googling for more information and absolutely ridiculous photographs of artifacts, burials and sacrifices.

The sandstone tablet is called the 'Birdman Tablet' and was excavated off the side of Monks mound, also at Cahokia. There have been a number of other similar tablets found, but none as complete. It is the most iconic image from Cahokia artifacts and graces many a bridge, building etc. in the area.

Google mound 72. Trust me, you'll like it.

 

[fyrffytr1]

The points in the picture are all good, old and authentic points. They were dug out of mound #72 at Cahokia mounds in Illinois. Mound 72 is a fascinating mound well worth googling for more information and absolutely ridiculous photographs of artifacts, burials and sacrifices.

The sandstone tablet is called the 'Birdman Tablet' and was excavated off the side of Monks mound, also at Cahokia. There have been a number of other similar tablets found, but none as complete. It is the most iconic image from Cahokia artifacts and graces many a bridge, building etc. in the area.

Google mound 72. Trust me, you'll like it.

Thank you for setting me straight. I have not seen any thing like some of them.

 

[joshuaream]

Thank you for setting me straight. I have not seen any thing like some of them.

Twitch is absolute right, Mound 72 is a bit like an episode of Life Styles of the Rich and Famous or MTV's Cribs, just an over the top accumulation of wealth and riches.

The interesting thing is that Mound 72 escaped excavation for a very, very long time because it's not really big or impressive and it's kind of on the fringe of the site. When early collectors, amateur archaeologists, and professionals wanted to explore the site they never even bothered to explore some of the small, boring looking features. They were looking for central log tombs like the famous one from Spiro Mounds, and then tunneled into the big mounds. If memory serves me someone did dig into #72, hit a massive bed of shells and just tagged it as a shell trash midden. That fortunate accident allowed the mound to sit ignored.

 

[Twitch]

Twitch is absolute right, Mound 72 is a bit like an episode of Life Styles of the Rich and Famous or MTV's Cribs, just an over the top accumulation of wealth and riches.

The interesting thing is that Mound 72 escaped excavation for a very, very long time because it's not really big or impressive and it's kind of on the fringe of the site. When early collectors, amateur archaeologists, and professionals wanted to explore the site they never even bothered to explore some of the small, boring looking features. They were looking for central log tombs like the famous one from Spiro Mounds, and then tunneled into the big mounds. If memory serves me someone did dig into #72, hit a massive bed of shells and just tagged it as a shell trash midden. That fortunate accident allowed the mound to sit ignored.

The central figure in mound 72 was laid out on a bed of 20,000 shell beads in the shape of a falcon. Further ‘Birdman’ type iconography.

 

[sandchip]

Your picture reminds me of this 72 burial that had hundreds of points around the skeleton. What an amazing sight.



Not the best pictures, but one could easily miss the pile of black points at right in the first picture.

 

[georgia flatlander]

OK. I don't want to step on anyone's toes but to my very untrained eye these just don't look right. Can you tell us where you got the picture? And, if I am wrong about them I do apologize.

You are not the first to look at those and raise an eyebrow. Many of them look as if they were bought by the dozen for a coupe of dollars on EBay.



They were wrapped in some sort of protective shroud, if I recall correctly, and preserved with little or no patina of any sort. I spoke with an archaeologist there who is from South Georgia, and he remarked on the abilities of the artisans there, regarding all artifacts. He likened it to Florence, Italy, where talented people would travel to learn as well as become part of the culture. The different influences shown by the found artifacts supports the theory of migration from other parts of the country.
If they had kept records through a written language, Cahokia may have been a great example of how a civilization can crumble due to overpopulation, deforestation and the reliance some have on an overarching government. In any case, it’s amazing that the existence of this place is virtually unknown outside of our circle.

 

[ToddsPoint]

I've been to Cahokia many times since I was a kid. I viewed the triangle arrowpoints shown in the first pic made out of heated Kaolin flint from So.IL. I learned knapping, found the source of the Kaolin and have made many hundreds of them until I quit knapping in 2007. Cahokia gem points are by far my favorite artifact. I made the 3 points below from the same Kaolin flint used at Cahokia and also shown in the OP's first pic. Kaolin provides an incredible range of colors and gets super glossy upon heating. Gary

 

[A2coins]

Those are the nicest ones I have seen wow

 

[SIartifacts]

The statements here are close to accurate, but not entirely. That image of the birdman tablet with the gem points around it is a cibachrome print taken by Pete Bostrom, of lithics casting lab. Pete has been allowed access to some of the finest artifacts ever found in the United States to both photograph and to to cast. Plenty of very high quality gem points were found in Cahokia proper decades before the state of Illinois owned the land, and I think most, if not all, of the points in this photo were surface finds, not Mound 72. I have a handful of friends who only collect Cahokia artifacts, as they truly are the finest artifacts in existence. One of my friends owns a few of the points featured in this photo. Truly beautiful gem points. I clearly recognize the one in the 3 oclock position as one of his. The white one with the red base. Outside of my region pretty much all Cahokia points are reproductions as us local collectors cherish them. We will be at the Collinsville show in a couple of weeks and those points will be viewable there.

 

[RGINN]

I thought at first they were Spiro Mound artifacts. Same culture, different area though.

 

[SIartifacts]

I thought at first they were Spiro Mound artifacts. Same culture, different area though.

Correct. Checked with my gem point friend. He said 4 of those points are from mound 72 in that pic.

 

[SIartifacts]

The point in my profile picture is a true Cahokia point. Though not a gem point, serrated double notched Cahokia points are quiet rare. The point is ex Dr Titterington and ex Bill Fecht. Very important names in collecting Cahokia points. It can be IDed in photos of some of their frames. It’s also been tagged by Pete Bostrom. It’s a killer G-10 point. We assume Walta found it, as he was the most prolific hunter of Cahokia points.