NOTES ON THE BANNER STONE, WITH SOME 

 INQUIRIES AS TO ITS PURPOSE 1 



BY ARTHUR C. PARKER, ArcheologiSt 



Among the many interesting objects of stone which the American 

 Indian has left as a legacy to the archeologist, few appear more 

 interesting than that which has been sometimes called the " banner 

 stone." Objects of this character, with the gorget, the bird and 

 boat-shaped stones, and a number of other forms, have been 

 classed as " ceremonial objects." 



The " banner stone " is peculiar to North America. Its range 

 is approximately the United States east of the Mississippi valley, 

 and southeastern Canada, (see figure i). The material of which 

 these objects are made varies greatly according to locality. They 

 are, however, nearly always made from soft and easily worked 

 stone, such as steatite, talc, pagodite, slate and marble. Some have 

 been found, chiefly in southern New York and New England, 

 made from bluestone and granite pecked into shape. These are 

 not perforated, but have grooved sides. Most of the heavier 

 granites have an incomplete perforation. 



The forms of " banner stones " are many, some fantastic in the 

 extreme and others severely plain and crude. 



The principal classes are, first, those specimens having two thin, 

 flattened wings extending in the same plane from a common cen- 

 trum. This center may be socketed or it may be notched or 

 grooved on either side. A comparison of these types is shown 

 in plate I. 



The second form comprises the more solid varieties of the horn 

 or " pick " shape and analogous forms. This class is represented 

 in plate 2. 



The third class consists of the one-armed or geniculate variety. 

 This form is generally of a solid pattern and has a larger hole 

 than the other forms. Unlike the cylindrical holes of all other 

 drilled banner stones the geniculate form has an elliptical hole 

 (see figure i, plate 3). The elliptically socketed banner stone may or 

 may not have an arm or " thumb." The form of this class suggests a 

 closed fist, with or without the thumb held upright. 



Banner stones belong to the period preceding and immediately 

 following the era of the white man in America. They are found 



'A paper read before the July 1916 field meeting of Morgan Chapter, 

 N. Y. S. A. A., held on the John Dann farm, Honeove Falls. 



[165] 



