spot
Jr. Member
Afternoon,
I have a few plummets and this is a crudely made or unfinished one.
Item: Plummet
Material: Hematite
Recovery: Poverty Point
Length: 4 "
Some of the more crudely made plummets are not only incompletely polished but are also undrilled. Not only is there crude finish work here, from the side views, you can see the symetry is poor also. The material is very high grade hematite. From the same site, there are some plummets of excellent manufacture.
From the hours of labor invested in these artifacts, crude or not, I doubt they were bolo weights as some may postulate. I certainly wouldn't have thrown my set of three connected by hide strings or braids off into the woods to try to entangle some dinner. I'd have lost them!
The earthworks at Poverty Point are huge, some of the biggest in the Western Hemisphere. These plummets might have been used to establish plumb lines used in the building of the earthworks. When you see a really nicely made one, it leaves you thinking that no one would take too much of a chance loosing something like that throwing it at game.
Not all are fabricated from hematite; some are made from beautiful varigated red jasper and some from sandstone. The reader should keep in mind that the Poverty Point culture (late archaic) was the seat of the lapidary industry at the time. Many finely made beads and other items have come from this place. Some are made like owls and others like parakeets. Though no longer found in this area, Louisiana had a parakeet population even in very early historic times.
Thanks for looking,
spot
I have a few plummets and this is a crudely made or unfinished one.
Item: Plummet
Material: Hematite
Recovery: Poverty Point
Length: 4 "
Some of the more crudely made plummets are not only incompletely polished but are also undrilled. Not only is there crude finish work here, from the side views, you can see the symetry is poor also. The material is very high grade hematite. From the same site, there are some plummets of excellent manufacture.
From the hours of labor invested in these artifacts, crude or not, I doubt they were bolo weights as some may postulate. I certainly wouldn't have thrown my set of three connected by hide strings or braids off into the woods to try to entangle some dinner. I'd have lost them!
The earthworks at Poverty Point are huge, some of the biggest in the Western Hemisphere. These plummets might have been used to establish plumb lines used in the building of the earthworks. When you see a really nicely made one, it leaves you thinking that no one would take too much of a chance loosing something like that throwing it at game.
Not all are fabricated from hematite; some are made from beautiful varigated red jasper and some from sandstone. The reader should keep in mind that the Poverty Point culture (late archaic) was the seat of the lapidary industry at the time. Many finely made beads and other items have come from this place. Some are made like owls and others like parakeets. Though no longer found in this area, Louisiana had a parakeet population even in very early historic times.
Thanks for looking,
spot
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Thanks for sharing. 
