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Diamond Shaped Stone Gorget or Gauge Tool [154164]

Currency:USD Category:American Indian Art Start Price:300.00 USD Estimated At:600.00 - 1,000.00 USD
Diamond Shaped Stone Gorget or Gauge Tool   [154164]

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This diamond shaped stone is 2.75 in./ 70 mm X 1.675 in./ 41 mm in width. The stone is uncataloged from the Bracken collection but likely from Kay County, Oklahoma, in the Arkansas River basin (speculation). This stone has similar characteristics of a stone gorget with two holes 13/16 in. apart (ref. Oklahoma Indian Artifacts, Bell, 1980, pp. 52,53). Robert Bell considers these artifacts "a rare find in Oklahoma and more prevalently found in the Great Lakes states and associated with the Archaic and Woodland periods. Oklahoma appears to lie on the western periphery for the distribution of these artifacts", p.53). This stone has four sides similar to a Harahey knife; no matter how you hold it -it works. The stone has been polished but not to perfection with divots and pockets; it's not beautiful to look at. The edges, all four, have been scribed with a line or groove (similar to a boatstone) and with graduated hash marks at roughly .250 in. on all four sides (measured with a machinist's scale). This researcher believes that this may have been more than a gorget but a tool kept around the neck and not to be lost (conjecture). Similar artifacts with two holes often show signs of wear at those holes implicating a function rather than personal decoration. (ref. Prehistoric Implements, Moorehead, 1983, p.222). Little is known of archaic period fishing with lines being used at 2000 B.P. It is speculated that this tool was possibly used for making cordage from two lines twisted (through the two holes) and later knotted at the intervals of the graduated hash marks while laid into the groove to make a fishing net. This theory would be supported by the round cornered gorget stones found in this auction and the plummet stones as net weights, sold in an earlier auction of Bracken artifacts. (ref. Indian Artifacts, Russell, 1974,pp. 66, 68, 69). Please see photos for details. (KAW)


State: Oklahoma Oklahoma