BONE SHARK TOOTH
EFFIGY ARROW POINTS
MISSISSIPPIAN CULTURE
PRIVATE COLLECTIONS
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   This picture shows two very well crafted, still

intact, bone shark teeth effigy arrow points. At

least they appear to be effigies of shark teeth.

Their concave bases and serrated edges would

seem to suggest they were copied from any
one of a variety of different shapes of shark teeth.

Mississippian culture bone arrow points are very

rare. There may have been a lot more of them at

one time. But since they are made of an organic

material it would be difficult to know how common
they were when the ancient city of Cahokia

flourished. In Mound 72 we do know that hundreds

of barbed antler arrow pointswere found in a

cache. Both of these points are probably made
of deer bone.
    The bone point on the left is one of the thinnest

bone arrow points that has survived from this area.

It was originally in an old local collection and it's

believed that it is likely that it was found in one of

the fields at Cahokia. It measures 1 1/2 inches
(3.8 cm) long, 5/8 inch (1.5 cm) wide and 1.5 mm

thick.
    The bone point on the right is an other very

well preserved example. The shape of it would

also seem to clearly represent a shark tooth.

This one has one of the deepest concave bases
so far recorded from the Cahokia area. It was

found many years ago by a man who had stopped

his car along side the road near one of the cultivated

fields at Cahokia. He found it while walking
over to ask directions from a farmer working there.

This one measures 1 3/4 inches (4.5 cm) long and

(2 cm) wide.

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