The Fred Bartol Collection	by Dr. Jeff Pyle
Central States Archaeological Societies 2025 October Journal	North Manchester, Indiana

This excerpt from "The Fred Bartol Collection" 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 1. (left to right) - Dovetail 5 7/8" found in Ross County, Ohio. Broken in half and glued. Adena blade 6 3/16" Ohio. Tip restoration. Dovetail 6 1/4" Ohio. Slight restoration to the base. Dovetail 5 11/16" Drake County, Ohio. Slight restoration on base and tip. Blades that are whole without any damage were as rare then as they are today.

In January 2008, while studying the bookThe Birdstones of the North American Indian by Earl Townsend, I noticed a birdstone from Kosciusko County, Indiana, that had been found by a Mr. Lozier, a relative of mine. The provenance read that this birdstone was in the Fred Bartol collection. Shortly thereafter, while talking to fellow collector and friend Jim Felke, I mentioned the birdstone I had seen in Earl Townsend’s book and asked if he knew what happened to the Bartol collection. He said a grandson whose first name was Bart had inherited the collection. Jim thought Bart lived in Colorado.

My search had started in earnest to find out what had happened to this collection and two phone calls later Fred Bartol’s son was located. Upon asking Mr. Bartol about the collection, he confirmed that his nephew and Fred Bartol’s grandson Bart Elliott had the collection in Colorado. After receiving Bart Elliott’s phone number, I called him and he agreed to meet with me while I was attending a Colorado veterinary conference in June 2008.

When Bart and I finally met for the first time, he said the artifacts had been boxed and unopened since the 1970s. When we started to unbox the artifacts I could see he was excited in seeing them again. After unboxing most of the birdstones and some of the bannerstones, Bart shared that the collection was a “burden” to him. His grandfathers’ dying wish was that the collection was to be sold so that it could be enjoyed by future generations of collectors. One stipulation was that it was to be sold only to Indiana collectors. At that point, I offered to relieve him of his burden which he thankfully accepted. We agreed to meet again the following spring to start the purchasing process.

On May 5, 2009 I met Bart at his home, picked out and purchased the first 99 pieces, one of which was the birdstone that started it all, JP1008, with plans to return the next year for the second phase of the purchase. In August 2010, I returned to Colorado and acquired most of the flint and hardstone plus a few more birdstones, some bannerstones and a large quantity of books. This trip netted over 600 pieces of good quality artifacts, including a number of flint ridge dovetails. My next trip was toward the end of October, 2011. I picked up another 600+ pieces of material, including over 60 ball bannerstones, nearly 30 plummets, some pottery, more flint, more hardstone material, pipes and many pieces of flat slate. This trip cleared the material stored in Bart’s basement. The balance of the collection was at that time displayed in his home office and he had plans to enjoy it for a while longer. It included 35 birdstones, about 75 to 80 other pieces including bannerstones, flat slate, a lizard and five frames of very nice flint.

In April 2019, I received a note from Bart Elliot that he was ready to part with the rest of the collection. I called Bart to discuss our next meeting to visit and acquire the rest of the collection. I traveled to Bart’s’ house on June 20, 2019. I acquired the...

 

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