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PERFORATED
PEBBLE PENDANTS
ARCHAIC
ILLINOIS

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COPYRIGHT NOVEMBER 30, 2007 PETER A. BOSTROM
Pebble pendant from Madison County, Illinois.
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PERFORATED PEBBLE PENDANT
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS
PRIVATE COLLECTION

   This small pebble pendant was found on a site in the American Bottoms not far from the Cahokia Mounds site. It could be either a Woodland or Mississippian culture artifact. The colorful red material is unidentified. It measures 3/4 inch (1.8 cm) long, 3/8 inch (9 mm) wide and 2.5 mm thick.

    Pebble pendants have been found on Archaic sites. Both the Riverton and the Olive Branch sites, in southern Illinois, each produced a pebble pendant but not in a datable context. However, the Eva site in Tennessee and Modoc Rock Shelter in southern Illinois both produced pebble pendants from Archaic features.

Edge view of five pebble pendants.
PERFORATED PEBBLE PENDANTS
EDGE VIEWS
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS
PRIVATE COLLECTION

     Pebble pendants are typically made from small thin flat natural pebbles. The pendants in this picture are all fairly thin in cross-section.

    Most of the pebble pendants illustrated in this report were drilled from both sides. The holes are biconical in cross-section. They were probably drilled with a stone drill bit that was hafted onto the end of a stick or reed. Simple drilling could have been accomplished by rotating the shaft between the palms or by simply twisting the drill between the fingers. Water and fine grained sand for an abrasive is all that would have been needed to drill these small holes.

Pebble pendant from Illinois.
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PERFORATED PEBBLE PENDANT
ILLINOIS
PRIVATE COLLECTION

   This pebble pendant was made on a thin flat unmodified pebble. The hole is drilled from both sides and is biconical in cross-section. This pendant measures 1 1/2 inches (3.8 cm) long, 1 1/8 inches (2.8 cm) wide and 3/16 inch (5 mm) thick.

   The majority of the pebble pendants described here were made on unmodified natural pebbles. However, one triangular shaped pendant was ground into shape. Some pendants have been reported to have been engraved with simple lines that, along with the color of the stone, add a little more of a decorative appearance.

Pebble pendant ground into a triangular shape.
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PERFORATED PEBBLE PENDANT
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS
PRIVATE COLLECTION

      This pendant was made from a small natural pebble that was ground into the shape of a triangle. The hole was drilled from both sides an is biconical in cross section. It measures 13/16 inch (2.1 cm) long, 7/8 inch (2.2 cm) wide and 4 mm thick.

    Most of the pebble pendants in this article were made from granite or slate. One example is made of soft clay stone and two other examples are soft materials that are unidentified.

Small pendant made of hematite.
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SMALL HEMATITE PENDANT
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS
PRIVATE COLLECTION

     This pendant was not made from a natural pebble. It was made from a small piece of hematite. It's similar in size and shape to a small pebble pendant. The hole is drilled from both sides. It measures 1 1/8 inches (2.8 cm) long, 13/16 inch (2.1 cm) wide and 1/8 inch (3 mm) thick.

    Pebble pendants have been found on prehistoric sites around the world. They represent some of the simplest types of stone jewelry. In North America, these pendants seem to date to the Early Archaic period and later. Although they aren't pretty to look at like today's modern jewelry, pebble pendants probably represent North America's earliest type of stone pendant. Their simplicity is impressive.

"REFERENCES"

1910, Moorehead, Warren K., "The Stone Age In North America," p. 329.
1912
, Hodge, Frederick Webb, "Handbook Of American Indian North Of Mexico, Part I," Adornment, p. 16.
1959
, Fowler, Melvin L., "Modoc Rock Shelter," pp. 32 & 35.
1961
, Lewis, Thomas M. N., Lewis, Madeline Kneberg, "Eva An Archaic Site," pp. 67 & 69.
1969
, Howard, Dalton Winters, "The Riverton Culture," p. 67.
1978
, Jernigan, E. Wesley , "Jewelry Of The Prehistoric Southwest," pp. 44 & 99.
1986
, Shreeve, James, "The Neandertal Enigma," p. 320.

1988,Tattersall, Ian, Delson, Eric & Couvering, John Van, "Encyclopedia Of Human Evolution And Prehistory," Jewelry, pp. 290-291.

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