Native American Relics

I'm creating these pages as a way to catalogue my collection and learn about point typology.  It's also the place where I'll be recording the notes I take while doing research on ancient America.  These points are not for sale though I am occasionally interested in purchasing old collections especially if they are personal finds. Personal recollections by the finder about the finding of the artifacts are definitely of interest to me. Many times the story is more interesting than the point itself.

Rob Horne

Pendants & Gorgets

Native Americans are believed to have used gorgets for several different purposes. They were objects of importance that might have indicated tribal or clan membership, served as expressions of personal rank or social status, or perhaps served as charms that were believed to possess certain earthly and supernatural powers. The majority of them were made during the Late Archaic to the Late Woodland periods approximately 4,500 to 1,500 years ago.

Slate gorgets have often been reported from burials. But, Webb and Snow (1945) writes that "There seems to have been little or nothing observed in their actual occurrence in burial associations to justify the term gorget." They point out that some gorgets were found with burials in the region of the hips or lower extremities. They suggest that some of them could have been used as atlatl weights. They describe one burial that contained a well worked antler handle that was found in alignment with the stone gorget at the proper distance that suggested they were both part of an atlatl. But they also report that reel-shaped gorgets were found in positions around the necks of other individuals. In another source, Moorehead (1892) describes a burial where "On the head of the second skeleton was a fine slate gorget."

 "The term (gorget) applied to objects worn in some proximate relation with the gorge (throat) or throat. They may be suspended by a string or chain encircling the neck, or may be attached to the dress"----1912, by Frederick Webb Hodge, "Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico, part 1, p. 496.

"(Gorgets)---may be simple ornaments not differing materially in form or significance from those used to embellish the ears, hair, wrists, or they may have special significance as symbols, insignia, charms, etc."----1912, by Frederick Webb Hodge, "Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico, part 1, p. 496.

"Gorgets or "pierced tablets" constitute another class of polished "slates" of the problematical class, of considerable interest to the archaeologist."----1917, by Warren K. Moorehead, "Gorgets," Stone Ornaments Used By Indians In The United States And Canada, pp. 204-225.

"The difference between the gorget and pendant seems only to have been in the number and position of the holes,"----1896, by Thomas Wilson, "Prehistoric Art; of The Origin of Art As Manifested In The Works Of Prehistoric Man," Report Of The U.S. National Museum, p. 452.

"Most of them (gorgets) are made of slate, thin, not difficult to make, nor yet particularly beautiful when made"----1896, by Thomas Wilson, "Prehistoric Art; of The Origin of Art As Manifested In The Works Of Prehistoric Man," Report Of The U.S. National Museum, p. 452.

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