CAHOKIA
POINTS
CAHOKIA MOUNDS STATE
HISTORIC SITE
MADISON/ST. CLAIR COUNTIES ILLINOIS |
MOUND
72
POINTS
The picture below shows a large number of some of the best examples of Cahokia
points ever found on the Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site. Most of the
points in this picture were excavated from Mound 72 in 1967 through 1971.
Approximately two thirds of this mound was excavated and at least 1200
arrow points were discovered. Most of them were Cahokia points of various
types. But a large number of them were styles originating from other areas
outside the immediate
Cahokia complex. Approximately 115 were made of translucent red, orange
and yellow Kaolin chert. Most of the classic Cahokia point types found
there were made of white Burlington chert. Many of the points were very
stylized versions of standard Cahokia types and similar examples have not
been found outside of this excavation.
The excavation of mound 72 was one of the most
extraordinary excavations in this part of the country. The mound itself
was complicated. Originally it was a single mound. Then two that were
incorporated into one large mound. Originally the site was an alignment
point where a large post three feet in diameter had once stood. The site
became an important burial mound where bizarre interments had taken place.
Approximately 300 burials were eventually found, many of which were
sacrificial victims. Some had heads and hands cut off. There were four
mass burials of females. One had 53 victims with estimated ages of 15 to
25 years. One group of individuals were laid out in a row then another
group of individuals who were placed on cedar stretchers were laid on top
of the first row.
The two rare bone points in this picture were not found
in the mound. One of them is an effigy of a sharks tooth. A few of the
other points in this group were surfaced collected finds in farm fields at
Cahokia long before the land was incorporated into the state park it is
today. Greg Perino found one of the points in this picture. |
CLICK
ON THIS PICTURE FOR A VERY LARGE IMAGE
(98 sec.)
THE MAJORITY OF THESE
POINTS WERE EXCAVATED FROM
MOUND 72
ON THE CAHOKIA MOUNDS STATE HISTORIC
SITE
CAHOKIA
POINTS
Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site
Southern Illinois
PRIVATE
COLLECTION
This is one of the best collections of documented Cahokia points in a
private collection. Almost all of these points are pictured in various
publications going all the way back to Mooreheads "The Cahokia
Mounds" in 1929. There are only about 100 very well made and complete
Cahokia points that are known to local collectors in the area around
Cahokia. These are the ones that have been tracked through time since
before much of the Cahokia Mounds state park of today was purchased by the
state of Illinois and early surface collectors like Joe Walta surface
collected in the fields around the mounds.----The point in the center is
made of bone. |
CAHOKIA POINTS MADE TO
LOOK LIKE SHARKS TEETH
SHARKS TEETH EFFIGIES
These four Cahokia points were found on or near the Cahokia Mounds State
Historic Site. To take this picture these points were borrowed from four
different collections. The white point to the left is in the Southern
Illinois University of Edwardsville museum's collection. The other three
are in private collections. The two examples on the right are made of
bone. Bone arrow points from this site are very rare. There are probably
only two or three dozen examples known to exist.
|
"CLAY BALL
CACHE" CAHOKIA POINTS
"THE CLAY BALL
CACHE"
This cache of double and triple notched Cahokia points were discovered
sometime in the fifties or sixties. They were found by a Mr. Hampton who
dug a hole for a septic tank in a subdivision on the Cahokia Mounds Site.
These houses have since been torn down and the subdivision land is now
part of the state park. In a shovel of clay he found a cache of 33 Cahokia
points. According to Bill Fecht who purchased the unbroken points there
were only about a dozen or so that were not broken. Bill said that some of
the damage was caused by the neighborhood kids playing with them. Most of
the points in this cache were thin and of the finest workmanship.
All the points in the cache were made of white Burlington
chert. At least three of them were made of heat treated Burlington chert.
There was no mention of a burial but since these points do not at all
compare with normal utilitarian arrow points they must have been meant for
some type of ceremonial purpose like similar examples that were found with the
burials in mound 72.
|
TYPICAL CAHOKIA POINTS
THE
AVERAGE CAHOKIA
POINT
This group of 96 Cahokia points were picked up over the years by Ed Rouch
on his farm before it became part of the Cahokia Mounds State Historic
Site. They represent typical examples of Cahokia points from this area.
Large numbers of these more crudely made points were picked up before one
of the so called "Gempoints" were found. The best Cahokia point
Ed found is located on the bottom row and eighth from the left. It's made
of a beautiful red Kaolin chert from southern Illinois. |
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