Stone Artifact - Archaeology in North America

Welcome to Stone Artifact

There have been thousands of books and articles written on North American Archaeology in the last century from the well-known to the relatively obscure. With this site, we hope to present an eclectic mixture of some of the most interesting subject matter of the golden age of North American Archaeology (United States and Canada). We are starting the population of this site with state specific information, as we believe that this will provide the most rounded initial collection, and then progress into subject specific articles.

Unfortunately, some of the sites and earthworks described in these pages were either damaged or destroyed in the last 100 years (see featured article: The Big Mound of St. Louis), but as long as the information is made readily available they will not be forgotten. We are going to be adding quite a bit of article content to this site over the next few months, so check back often.

Many of the articles are from books that are now being reprinted, please check our Archaeology Books Page for availability. Also, please check out our complete Article Index.

Please feel free to email me at info@stoneartifact.com with questions, comments or suggestions for the site.

Putnam Museum to Display Davenport Tablets and Elephant Pipes

"The Controversy About the Davenport Tablets"
Lynn Alex, Office of the State Archaeologist and Chris Kastell, Putnam Museum Curator of History will share information and you will be able to view the historic tablets.
Sunday, September 24, 2006, 2:00-3:30 pm
Putnam Museum of History and Natural Science
1717 West 12th Street, Davenport, Iowa 52804

I recently spoke with Chris Kastell of the Putnam and she indicated that the famous Elephant Pipes will be on display the 24th as well and two of the tablets will be going on permanent display.

RECENT & FEATURED ARTICLES

	Horned Serpent Monster of the Hopewell - Turner Group of Earthworks, Hamilton County Ohio	08/09/2006
	A remarkable effigy of a serpent-monster, part horned serpent and part quadruped, beautifully carved in red slate........read more

	Cultural Areas of Kentucky - Archaeological Survey of Kentucky Volume II - Archaeological Atlas of Kentucky	07/05/2006
	An archaeological survey of any large area such as a state should be expected to contribute much definite information as to the diversification of prehistoric cultures within the area, and should suggest the location of the boundaries of the areas occupied by the different cultures........read more

	Mound Builder Origins - Ancient Life in Kentucky	03/31/2006
	"Our people did not build them; they belong to a people whom our forefathers fought and drove from the territory, but whence these people came and whither they have gone, we do not know.".......read more

	Meteoric Iron - Usage by the Hopewell Culture of Ohio	02/02/2006
	Either the fall of meteorites was more frequent, or the Hopewell people had access to some good-sized meteoric iron deposit the location of which is at present unknown .......read more

	Archeological Atlas of Ohio - Indian Trails of Ohio Archaeological Atlas of Ohio	01/31/2006
	The importance of the aboriginal trails of Ohio to the settlement and development of the state, hardly can be overestimated. In many instances they determined the location of the early white settlements as well as the first forts and military roads, many of them later becoming permanent highways. They ranged in width from a mere trail threading the wilderness to paths of a few feet wide in the more open country and generally followed the high ground between the water courses or hills and ridges adjacent to the streams.........read more

	Hopewell Culture - Ear Spool Construction	01/15/2005
	Spool-shaped ear-ornaments of copper are common in the Ohio mounds, and I have estimated that there must have been originally four thousand of these objects deposited in the Hopewell group.........read more

	Ancient Pictographs - Inscribed Stones - Part 1	12/17/2005
	The discovery of certain inscribed stones in the presence of credible witnesses lends credence to their authenticity. Author Gates P. Thruston describes some of the best documented finds of the late 19th and early 20th centuries........read more