A Unique Copper Bannerstone in the Milwaukee Public Museum	by Terry W. McGuire
Central States Archaeological Societies 2023 October Journal	Chicago, Illinois

This excerpt from "A Unique Copper Bannerstone in the Milwaukee Public Museum" published in the 2023 Central States Archaeological Societies 2023 October Journal Read the complete column in the Central States Archaeological Societies 2023 October Journal which can be purchased on-line after March 2024

Figure 1. Copper Double Crescent bannerstone, Catalog No. 43402/11996, Milwaukee Public Museum Photography - Terry McGuire

 

 

The Milwaukee Public Museum offers visitors a wide range of delights, from worldwide ethnographic collections to world class archaeological material. Chartered in 1882, the Museum traces its existence to 1851, from the German-English Academy in Milwaukee.Archaeological material from Pre-Columbian North America is particularly strong, with items excavated in 30 sites or mound groups within Wisconsin. The Museum has over 1,500 pieces of Old Copper Culture artifacts dating to 4,000 B.P., as well as the 516 piece George West Pipe Collection, begun by West in 1873.

Perhaps the most unique prehistoric North American archaeological object is a copper Double Crescent bannerstone. This was found in 1916 by John McCabe, a Milwaukee contractor who was installing a sewer through Clinton Street in the northwestern part of the City. It measures 4.87” long by 5.25” wide, and was found six feet below the surface on a sand lake shore that by 1916 had receded a mile from the site. The piece is in excellent condition and retains its metallic copper shine, with the center hole a quarter inch in diameter.

Purchased from John McCabe by G.R. Moore, it was then sold to Joseph Ringeisen, Jr., the ...

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