Pop-eyed Birdstone

Pop-eyed Birdstone

Pop-eyed Birdstone

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Introduction

This ancestor has a pointed beak, angular fan-shaped tail, and a trapezoidal base that is perforated at both ends. Medium grey in colour with thin black laminations, this birdstone has a flat base and a long body with a raised head and tail. The eyes are protruding stemmed discs and the right eye has concentric circles formed by the stone’s laminations. This ancestor’s beak appears to have broken at the neck angle and to have been reshaped. Scars and striations are present on the base of the birdstone, and there are many scars on the top neck slope, as well as minor scratches along the body. Currently, this ancestor resides at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. 

The term birdstone is a legacy of earlier archaeological work and does not consider the full variety in shape and functionality these relatives may have had within Indigenous communities. We invite Great Lakes nations to help us improve our understanding of how to identify and name these relatives. Birdstones have been found and collected from various contexts including hearths inside houses, in fields, and burial contexts. To the best of our knowledge, none of the birdstones in GRASAC’s Knowledge Sharing Platform come from burial contexts.

Nation of Maker: Unknown
Reasons for connecting this relative with particular nation(s)

It is difficult to know the cultural origin of this ancestor due to the unknown context of its collection, its age and the fact that birdstones have been found throughout the American northeast. It may have travelled long distances, making its origin unknown.

Place of Origin: Nbisiing (Nipissing), Ontario
Date Made or Date Range: Ca. 2900-2400 BP
Summary of Source(s) for this Relative

Information from this entry comes from the ROM's catalogue alongside Dr. Tiziana Gallo's research on Birdstones.

Materials

Ground stone, meta-rhythmite

Other Notes

Weight: 64g

Dimensions: 155 × 22 × 36 mm
Current Location: Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, ON, Canada
Catalogue, Accession or Reference Number: NS41452
Link to Institution's Collections Database: https://collections.rom.on.ca/objects/46156/birdstone?ctx=bd994422-1337-4b7c-83d5-450653d16ae5&idx=0
Who the Institution Acquired the Relative or Heritage Item From: Source: Walter B. Clark, Odessa, ON, 1923
Date Relative was First Removed or Collected from its Community Context: 1923
Source for Provenance information

Royal Ontario Museum records

Sources to Learn More

Tiziana Gallo & Craig N. Cipolla (07 Nov 2023): Three Little Birds: Reassembling Typological Thought, Norwegian Archaeological Review, DOI: 10.1080/00293652.2023.2261945

GKS Reference Number: 59153
How to Cite this Item

Unknown Maker. "Pop-eyed Birdstone", GKS ID 59153. Currently located in the Royal Ontario Museum, catalogue number NS41452.

Record Creation Context

This record was created by Natasha Fares and Kara Annett on March 25th, 2023. Information from this entry comes from the ROM's catalogue alongside Dr. Tiziana Gallo's research on Birdstones.

Approximate Place of Origin

46.34408362925, -79.481987954642

Source of Information about Places

Royal Ontario Museum records list Nipissing, Ontario - it is unclear to GRASAC where in the region the birdstone was found.

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