The Best Banner & Boat Stones You Will Ever See
Posted on 01. May, 2009 by Shannon Graham in Archeological Excavations, Artifact Finds, Bannerstone, Ohio
If you haven’t already, be sure to check out the Ohio Historical Society’s (OHS) video series ‘Living in Society’. These video clips capture some of Ohio’s best artifacts recorded.
The first video available here focuses on boatstones. These are the most elaborate ever found and represent various mammal and bird forms. Each are hollowed out which is not immediately obvious in the video. The hollowed-out portion lends itself to the artifact being called a ‘boatstone’ as often times these resemble canoes.
Boatstones in Ohio span the Archaic timeframe including the Adena, Hopewell, and Late Woodland cultures. The video shows a duck, owl, woodpecker and beaver effigy forms as well as an elaborately carved symmetrical piece thought to represent a beetle.
Examples are from the Site and Tremper Mounds in Ross County, Ohio.
The second video highlights bannerstones of which some of the finest examples hail from Ohio. Bannerstones are mysterious objects and there is much conjecture regarding their function. Early reports speculated that these pieces were symbolic in nature conveying social status. More recent research commonly lists them as atlatl weights.
While there are many different forms, they are all drilled and extremely symmetrical in nature.
Take a look at this video series from the OHS. You won’t be disappointed.
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