Detail View: The AMICA Library: Bannerstone

AMICA ID: 
MMA_.1979.206.403
AMICA Library Year: 
2002
Object Type: 
Decorative Arts and Utilitarian Objects
Description: 
Bannerstones are weights for spear-throwers, the long shafts that propelled the actual darts, thus extending the thrower's reach. In use in North America for some 3,000 years beginning in the fourth millennium B.C., bannerstones took many and varied forms. The form of the present example is known as a double-notched butterfly. It is made of banded slate, a material frequently used in bannerstone manufacture. While bannerstones are functionally utilitarian, the consistent selection of materials and their careful, balanced workmanship distinguish them and indicate their worth as esteemed objects as well as tools. Many have been discovered in burials and funerary mounds in the Ohio and Illinois valleys, for instance, further evidence of their value in ancient times. Bannerstones were out of favor by about 1000 B.C., but spear-throwers persisted in use in a few areas of North America until the sixteenth century. However, by that time spear-throwers had largely been supplanted by bows and arrows.
Creator Nationality: 
North American; Native American; Archaic
Creator Name-CRT: 
Archaic peoples
Title: 
Bannerstone
View: 
Principal view
Creation Date: 
ca. 2000 B.C.
Creation Start Date: 
-2002
Creation End Date: 
-1998
Materials and Techniques: 
Banded slate
Style or Period: 
Archaic
Creation Place: 
United States, Ohio
Dimensions: 
H. 2 5/16 in. (5.9 cm)
AMICA Contributor: 
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Owner Location: 
New York, New York
ID Number: 
1979.206.403
Credit Line: 
The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Bequest of Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1979
Copyright: 
Copyright ? 2002 The Metropolitan Museum of Art. All rights reserved.
Rights: 
Related Image Identifier Link: 
MMA_.h1_1979.206.403.tif