| This excerpt from "Discoidal Typology
            from West Central Illinois" published
            in the 2025 Central States Archaeological Societies 2025
            October Journal  Read the complete column in the Central States
            Archaeological Societies 2025
            October Journal which can be purchased on-line after March 2026 | 
    
      |   | 
    
      |     Figure 2. Jersey Bluff discoidals. | 
  
  
    I was recently reading the April 2025 of CSAJ and saw a stunning puddingstone
      discoidal on the back of the cover page and it struck me how often collectors
      like to describe discoidals by stone type rather than typology and cultural
      affiliation. A lot has also been written about discoidals in the context
      of the game of Chunkee as played by the Native Americans; it’s much
      harder to find information about discoidals in the archaeology context
      and their typology. 
  The history of Chunkee begins in the area adjacent to Cahokia and spreads
    to the surrounding geographic areas and with time, into the historic era
    as documented by the early Spanish during the initial contact period. Many
    have been pictured and displayed in various journals and books since collectors
    love the aesthetic, overall beauty and rarity of the chunkee stone. 
  This article focuses primarily on the typology and timeline of the discoidal
    and is based on Gregory Perino’s classification in 1971 as described
    in the Illinois Archeology Survey Bulletin No 8. (Ref.1) 
  In my close to 30 years of walking campsites, I have only found one. I know
    many local collectors that have found many rare and wonderful things but
    never had the thrill of finding a discoidal. To hold a well-made discoidal
    is to hold a piece of Native American art and history. At its essence is
    a chunk of stone pecked , shaped, ground and polished into a universally
    appreciated piece of art. The quality of work, selection of fine stone and
    its depiction on Mississippian art suggests that the Native American also
    appreciated it as much as a work of art as we do today. 
  This article will discuss the typology and timeline of the discoidal or
    chunkee stone in west central Illinois, specifically Pike and Calhoun counties.
    This area is sandwiched between the lower Illinois valley and the Mississippi
    Bottom flood plain, west of the Jersey Bluffs and Green County, with Missouri
    to the west and extending down south to the vicinity around Cahokia, Illinois.
    The area is considered to be the birthplace and epicenter for the discoidal.
    Although there are other types of discoidals, it is thought they all initially
    developed around Cahokia and then later were traded from the Cahokia area,
    subsequently developing their unique style locally-such as the Tennessee
    and Georgia style discoidals. 
  Gregory Perino classified the discoidal in four types as illustrated...
     
    Read other great columns in the Central States Archaeological Societies 2025
      October Journal which can be purchased on-line after March 2026