Click to enlarge	A fine matched set of Mississippian limestone earspools from Meigs County, Tennessee. They measure 3” across and both still retain some of their original copper covering. These were found together by John Padgett in the mid 1970s. Both spools are perforated through the center and have a classic pulley attachment. They exhibit some decoration on the rims of their outer faces. Matched pairs of earspools are extremely rare. Earspools first appeared in the Woodland Period. During the Mississippian Period shell, fluorite and even pottery were also utilized for ear ornamentation. Collection of Phillip Helms, Decatur, Tennessee
Click to enlarge	An undamaged and exceptional orange-red ferruginous quartzite rectangular barreled banner from Georgia. This was found by Johnny Tomberlin in July, 1995 while he worked as a diver on the Flint River, near the town of Bainbridge. It measures 3 5/8 inches long by 2 1/2 inches wide. This style of banner came very late in the Archaic Period. It has a fine polish, concave wings and a full perforation.Collection of Dennis Bushey, Cullman, Alabama
Click to enlarge	This ferruginous quartz Hourglass type bannerstone is a distinct uniface style with a raised ridge on one side. It is made of orange, gray and white quartzite and measures 2 7/16 inches in length, and 2 inches in width, 13/16 inches in thickness. It features a tapered perforation drilled with a hollow reed that varies from 12.5 mm to 13.55 mm in diameter. The entrance of the perforation had a light pecked countersink on both entrances of the perforation to facilitate the seating of the drilling substance. The overall finish is finely polished with only tiny remnants of the pecking process remaining that was required to finish the artifact. Many years ago, it was acquired from John White, a professor of archaeology who with his family lived in a dirt floor shack without windows at Kampsville, Illinois archeological site while it was being excavated. Floyd Ritter acquired the artifact from White, then it was acquired by Bobby Onken and more recently by James Joe Kinker of Hermann, Missouri. It was twice illustrated in “Indian Life in the upper Great Lakes” published 1960 by Quimby. Provenance listed on the reverse side is Calhoun County, Illinois. Collection of Col. John F. Berner, Roswell,Georgia
Click to enlarge	A broken fragment of a monolithic axe found in 1937 near the Coosa River, in Alabama. It is highly polished, made of greenstone and measures ten inches long. There are less than thirty known examples of monolithic axes, and several are fragments like this one. Collection of Scott McCreary, Desoto, Missouri
Click to enlarge	Above are top and bottom views of a fabulous ceremonial Turtle flint effigy. It was discovered in 1977 in Stewart County Tennessee by Pinky Wafford. Measuring 8 1/2 inches in length, it is undamaged and very finely made from a dark brown Dover chert. It was laying in about six inches of water at the edge of Standing Rock Creek. There was a strap handle bowl sitting on top of it, which stained the turtle, as can be seen in the bottom photograph. Inside the bowl were four small clay effigy figurines, one of which was a duck. Large flint animal effigy figurines are extremely rare. It should be noted that two similar effigy turtle effigy ceremonials were found with the fabulous “Duck River Cache” in 1894, now housed in the McClung Museum at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Collection of Ronald K. Knight, Signal Mountain, Tennessee
Click to enlarge	Pictured above are both sides of a wonderful and colorful blade from Western Colorado. It was found during road construction in the town of Cortez, by Bob Leighton in 1964. It is made from a material locally known as “pigeon blood agate.” It is exceptionally thin and measures 4 1/4 inches long by 1 5/8 inches wide. These blades are sometimes referred to as a “Folsom ultra-thin”. It may be Paleo in origin, or possibly from the one of the Archaic “basket-maker” cultures that inhabited prehistoric Colorado. Collection of Jim Crawford, St. Louis, Missouri
Click to enlarge	This 4 ½ inch wide red sandstone tablet is known as “The Wilson Tablet.” A crosshatching design can be observed at the left side as well as a group of three parallel lines across the center. At the right is an undulating pattern which may be a snake or some other representation. This design is similar to those found on “Ramey-Insized” pottery. While damaged and showing some plow-marks from being found in a cultivated field, these kinds of tablets are very rare. This was found in Madison County, Illinois, and is one of the larger tablets known. It shows signs of once being in a very hot fire. It is unique from the other tablets in that the cross-hatching shares the same side as the design. Collection of Dennis Arbeiter, Godfrey, Illinois
Click to enlarge	An exceptionally large and finely made blade made from a pinkish white Burlington Chert. Measuring 8 inches long, this was found in 1924 near Clam Falls, in northwest Wisconsin. Collection of Dan Maas, Stoddard,Wisconsin