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PLUMMETS
NORTH AMERICA
MIDDLE ARCHAIC TO LATE WOODLAND

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COPYRIGHT JULY 31, 2007 PETER A. BOSTROM
Cache of 28 Godar plummets.
CACHE OF GODAR PLUMMETS
CALHOUN COUNTY, ILLINOIS

   This cache of 28 Godar plummets was found by a farmer sometime in the early 1890's in Calhoun County, Illinois. This is one of the largest caches of plummets ever found. Over the years it has moved through many private collections.

      The largest number of plummets are found along the Pacific coast in California, in Florida and in the central Mississippi Valley. But they are also reported from many areas east of the Mississippi River, such as the Ohio  Valley, Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut and farther north into New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Some private collections such as the Whelpley collection which is now a part of the St. Louis Science Center's collection contains 457 plummets. One of the old time collectors, William Waters of Godfrey, Illinois put together the largest collection ever assembled. It contained over 1600 plummets, 80% of which were made of hematite.

A rare example of a repared plummet.
GILCREASE GROOVED PLUMMET
LATE ARCHAIC TO EARLY WOODLAND
PRIVATE COLLECTION

    This is a rare example of a hematite plummet that was evidently repaired or at least there was an attempt to repair it. It was found in two pieces. The two pieces have been glued together but the break can be seen between the two large grooves that was cut on either side of the broken area. The two grooves would have been the attachment area for the repair.

     Plummets were made of many different materials across the United States. They were made of hematite, granite, limestone, sandstone, schist, shell, slate, galena, steatite, copper, clay, alabaster, calcite, marble, crystal quartz, diorite and pyrite. Approximately two-thirds of the plummets found in the Mississippi Valley were made of hematite. The next most common material used was limestone. It's been suggested that hematite was a popular material because the byproduct from the manufacture of plummets would have been red ochre pigment. Limestone would have produced a white pigment.

Three examples of Godar plummets.
GODAR PLUMMETS
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS
 PRIVATE COLLECTIONS

   These three Godar plummets were found in southern Illinois on Middle to Late Archaic sites. The example on the left is a rare example that was made of granite and was found in 2007 during excavation by a team headed by Richard Michael Gramly from the American Society for Amateur Archaeology. It was found at the bottom of a pit approximately 3 feet (91.5cm) from the surface. It's very well made but the hole is drilled only half way. The two Godar plummets on the right were also surface collected on sites in southern Illinois. Both are made of hematite and fairly well made.

     Although no one can say for sure exactly how any one particular plummet was used, there are several facts that are known about them. They have been found on village sites located near large bodies of water and they have been found in burials that also contained fishhooks made of shell and copper. At least one Florida plummet was found that was carved with a head of a duck. In 1870 a plowed dry lake bed in Sonoma County California produced many hundreds of plummets. So the archaeological record does show a connection with plummets and water which can mean they have something to do with fishing and hunting water fowl.

A nice example of a Gilcrease plummet.
GILCREASE GROOVED PLUMMET
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS
PRIVATE COLLECTION

    This well made hematite plummet was found on a site in southern Illinois near the Mississippi River. Perino describes Gilcrease plummets as, "having straight or convex sides, tapered stem, and grooved very near the upper end which is truncated and has a slightly beveled or rounded edge. The body is tear-drop shaped with a rounded bottom. It is heavier in the lower half of its length and may be long or short, broad or narrow, or any combination of these shapes." This plummet measures 3 3/4 inches (9.5cm) long.

     Although it's clear that plummets were used in large numbers near large bodies of water it's still not clear how they were used. The most common and most logical theory is that they were used as weights on bola or net-like devices to net or snare waterfowl or on throwing nets for catching fish. In a 1933 Barrett and Gifford reference to the use of California plummets they suggest they were used as weights hung on a Sierra Miwok duck net. Some of the earliest suggested uses for plummets were as drag-line sinkers, fishing-line sinkers, net sinkers, sling-stones, black-jacks, bolas, twine or sinew twisters, spinning weights, netting-weights, weaving-weights, hand-pestles, paint-stones, rubbing-stones, hammers, ear ornaments, simple-pendants, amulets, charm-stones, lucky stones, drum rattles, as true plummets, game stones and in connection with phallic worship.

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"REFERENCES"

1896, Fowke, Gerard, "Stone Art, (Plummets)" Thirteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, pp. 110-114.
1912
, Hodge, Frederick Webb, "Plummets," Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico, part 2, pp. 267-268.
1912
, Moorehead, Warren K., "Plummet-Shaped tones," Stone Ornaments Used By Indians In The United States And Canada, pp. 157-169.
1930
, Shetrone, Henry Clyde, "The Mound Builders," pp. 379, 456,
1958
, Mandeack, Paul, "Figure 69 (Poverty Point engraved plummet)," Central States Archaeological Journal, No. 4, p. 128.
1961
, Perino, Gregory, "Tentative Classification Of Plummets In The Lower Illinois River Valley," Central States Archaeological Journal, No. 2, pp. 43-56.
1975
, Ben Thompson, "Plummets," Central States Archaeological Journal, No. 2, pp. 61-66.
1978
, Blake, Leonard W., Houser, James G., "The Whelpley Collection of Indian Artifacts," p. 5.
1983
, Morse, Dan F. & Phyllis A., "Archaeology of the Central Mississippi Valley," pp. 115-116
1984
, Moratto, Michael J., "California Archaeology," pp. 183-184, 221.
1996
, Fagan, Brian M., "Poverty Point," The Oxford Companion to Archaeology," p. 579.
2005
, Hector, Susan M., Foster, Daniel G., Pollack, Linda C., Fenenga, Gerrit L., Whatford, Charles J., "A Charmstone Discovery In The Redwood Forests Of Mendocino County, California," p. 9.
2007
, Personal communications with Kent Patterson (meteorites---as tear-drop shapes).
2007, Personal communications with Jim Marlin (duck hunting---ducks as tear-drop shapes).

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