Rare and unique indian artifact

[Wallhangers]

Actually found this a few days ago and posted it on the forum for North American Indian Artifacts and had quite a few contact me telling me I should post it on this section too.
I was looking for arrowheads near a small river on a field that was just planted for potatoes. Since they usually dig deeper on those fields, I was fortunated enough to find a great artifact that hadn't been broken by the plow. It is made of banded slate and most agree that it is a bar weight that would have been attached to an Atlatl (spear thrower). If you look closely in the picture, you will see a small groove that wraps around the stone where it would have been attached to the atlatl. It is nearly 5" long and definitely tops my list of artifacts. There is more pics of it on the other forum if you would like to see them. Thanks for looking.

 

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[trapperart]

Very cool

 

[DownNDirty]

Awesome find-very rarely are they found intact. The grooves are cool

 

[DFW_THer]

Pretty sure the banner police will roll in shortly and get that thing on top where it belongs...

 

[romeo-1]

Very nice!!

 

[A2coins]

That is a great find I like to see people find this kind of stuff. I'm from Ann Arbor and love this hobby Great find!!!!!!!!!

 

[digger460]

Very nice! Congrats

 

[Gridwalker306]

That is a gorgeous artifact. Congratulations, you should be proud of that piece! I will check out your post on the artifact forum, I'm interested in learning about it, especially its age.

Nice to see someone post an Indian stone artifact that really IS an Indian artifact!

As much as I hate to push my buttons further down the banner (lol), I have to vote for this item going up top on the banner.

 

[highnam]

Really cool, love those grooves...a plow would have done a number on soft slate. Great save

 

[jeff of pa]

Nice Find ! but moved to Best Finds.
does Not qualify as a Today's Find once it has been on another
forum the day before http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/today-s-finds/403755-todays-finds-not-todays-posts.html
members should not be telling members to do this.

 

[Calabash Digger]

cool find!

 

[SorenCoins]

Wow Great Find!!!

 

[flyadive]

So you think you found a Bannerstone?
Im not sure, recently I made my own Atlatl. ( I will post a picture when I get home).
I'm not sure ? Maybe too lite? I think the Bannerstone was used for added weight to the Atlatl . Kind of like dry firing a bow without the arrow. Or pitching a baseball without the ball. Hurt like heck!

https://www.google.com/search?q=ban...v2avNAhXI2yYKHUBPAf0Q_AUIBygB&biw=414&bih=628

 

[flyadive]

White oak , Indian ink berry for color, an "L" shaped stone for the dart knock , Bow string handle , and Bow glue Bannerstone molded around in tin foil mold.
I have dart shafts that I need to fletch.
Just for the heck of it!

 

[Wallhangers]

From what I have learned from a few sources, bar weights were made a little earlier than bannerstones. Bar weights were attached to the atlatl, bannerstones were mostly drilled so they they could slide on the wood (atlatl). I have also had a few opinions of these bar weights, and also bannerstones, used as decorations to a peace pipe. Hard to say unless a time machine gets invented. Interesting atlatl you built there. Any accuracy to your attempts? Tempted to make one myself and test the theories.

 

[flyadive]

From what I have learned from a few sources, bar weights were made a little earlier than bannerstones. Bar weights were attached to the atlatl, bannerstones were mostly drilled so they they could slide on the wood (atlatl). I have also had a few opinions of these bar weights, and also bannerstones, used as decorations to a peace pipe. Hard to say unless a time machine gets invented. Interesting atlatl you built there. Any accuracy to your attempts? Tempted to make one myself and test the theories.

BAR WEIGHT! Just learned something ! Thanks you wallhangers !
It works great! Better since I added the weight. At first I used 6 foot metal garden stakes from a home improvement store as the Dart. Looks like rebar with a plastic coating . Duck tape fletching . Without Bannerstone , the darts would fly acutely. As I switched the dart to Rivercane witch is much lighter than the garden stake. It would hurt my shoulder because the Rivercane is so light! That is when I decided to make a Bannerstone! I searched for a " bar weight" but didn't find one that I liked! It is fun for me as I always was into bows and arrows shooting/hunting!

 

[tonykidd]

We've found quite a few of those in one area, along with some very decorative bannerstones. View attachment 1388603 View attachment 1388604