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"The workmanship on the stone tips (from
Mound 72) was above the norm for arrowheads found in residential
sections of the Cahokia site. There is no evidence that they were ever
used. These "gems" were undoubtedly a display of wealth and prestige."---------1999,
Melvin L. Fowler, Jerome Rose, Barbara Vander Leest & Steven R. Ahler, "A
Commemoration of Chiefly Power and Sacred Space, chap. 14," The
Mound 72 Area: Dedicated and Sacred Space in Early Cahokia," p. 170.
Cahokia "gem points" have been impressing people for as long as farmers have been picking them up in their cultivated fields on the Cahokia Mounds site. Their bright colors set them apart from other arrow points found in this area in southern Illinois. Cahokia "gem points" have been highly regarded by collectors for eighty years or more. People have been acquiring them from farmers and by surface collecting on the Cahokia Mounds site long before the site became a state park. No other group of arrow points have been illustrated in so many books, postcards, posters, brochures and documentaries than the approximately 130 known "gem points" from Cahokia that are still in private collections. In some ways, they have become a local legend, even to the point of giving some of them names, like "Old Redtop" or the "Barber Pole point." |
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Cahokia points were named by Edward G. Scully after the Cahokia site in Madison and St. Clair Counties in southern Illinois. An estimated date for the Cahokia Mounds site and the Mississippian people who lived there is between A.D. 900 and A.D. 1300. Many different styles of arrow points were produced at Cahokia during this time period. Multi-notched Cahokia points, including triple-notched points, were made during the early period at Cahokia. Double-notched Cahokia points were made during the middle period and the latest period arrow points made at Cahokia are un-notched. |
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What is a Cahokia "gem point?" The precise definition can vary from person to person or in this case, collector to collector and it's obviously a collector's definition. "Gem points" are not a single type or style because they were made in a variety of styles. Triple-notched Cahokia "gem points" are the most common form. The rarer types are triple-notched serrated, serrated and various multi-notched forms. There is no doubt that the more colorful points are what people think of as "gem points." But since the majority of all Cahokia points are thick and fairly crude, the term "gem point" may also include all of the very finely made Cahokia points, since they are so rare. There are actually many more Cahokia "gem points" in collections across the country if you consider all the "modern-made" examples. Some flintknappers can make them as well or even better than the old points. Gary Merlie is one of these very skilled replicators of Cahokia "gem points." |
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For some reason only a very few Cahokia points were made of colorful materials like Kaolin or heat treated Mill Creek and Burlington cherts and were flaked better than average. A good example of just how rare these points were to find is a statement by Greg Perino "I walked my butt off for 25 years at Cahokia and only found two "gem points." The people who have been collecting them in the Cahokia area for the last 80 years know they represent only a small percentage of the total number of points found. It is a mystery why only a few Cahokia points were made from highly colorful cherts. One obvious use for them was revealed when Mound 72 was excavated and hundreds of the best examples of Cahokia "gem points" were discovered in separate caches. So it's apparent that one use for them was as offerings to the dead. Another reason, since so many have been found without a connection to burials, may have simply been to make fine arrows for other special occasions, such as gifts, etc. |
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"REFERENCES"
1929,
Moorehead, Warren K., "General Observations of the Cahokia Group,"
"The Cahokia Mounds," pp. 102-103. |
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