Indian jewelry? ID requested

[1320]

My late grandfather found this artifact in Kentucky about 35 years ago. He always thought that it was a necklace. It is triangular in shape and made of rock. If you look close on the bottom, there's a small hole filled with silver. It was verified as silver by the University of Kentucky. Could this piece be a necklace or something else? Any why the silver? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated, even abstract ones!

[savant365]

Very nice looking piece, sorry I can't help with any info but I am sure someone here will be able to tell you what it is. Thanks for posting it.

HH Charlie

[Twitch]

1320 - I'm sure this is going to be an interesting thread. I'm way, way outside of my expertise on this one but what you have basically a humpback gorget or an unscooped, drilled boat stone. The etching on it is a little unusual but not highly problematic in my mind. The silver spot is obviously very unusual. It's not unheard of for silver to be worked by Indians, but in this context I have no idea what to make of it. Really an interesting piece and I'm excited to see what the others here have to say. Your grandfather assembled what must be a very good collection of artifacts. Do you know if they were all personal finds or purchases?

[1320]

Thank you Twitch, I appreciate your feedback. My grandfathers entire collection are his personal finds, most if not all were found in the Cave Run Lake area (Kentucky). He was very knowledgeable in regard to artifacts in this area but he was never entirely certain about this one artifact, primarily because of the silver. My grandfather had two large containers for what he found.....
"keepers" and "culls". His cull collection is pretty awesome! Matter of fact, the limestone axe that I posted about a few days ago was part of his cull collection.

[pickaway]

Great artifact, the material looks like pipestone?

[jeff a]

lokks like a nice pipestone boatstone

[The Grim Reaper]

It looks to me to an Adena Humpback Gorget. I'm not sure about the engravings or the silver though. Both may have been added after it was found. Some old time collectors were infamous for "fixing up" some of their finds. The drilling though is classic Adena style with it being drilled almost completely through from the bottom and then just barely tapped on the top.

A very nice and rare find.

[joshuaream]

How big is it?

The Hopewell used both pipestone and silver, but I've never seen that combo before... Cool piece.

[Americus]

Very interesting artifact. Thanks for sharing.