Ceremonial Blades?

And Other Questions

In the last post, I tried to use the shapes of artifacts called “blades” and “bifaces” to link Lone Tree Farm to the Oneota culture preserved at Good Earth/Blood Run. But, it did not go well! All of the blades and bifaces are made of the same distinctive material (called Bijou Hills Orthoquartzite). However, the Farm blades seem to be similar in shape to both the bigger, “clunky” bifaces from Blood Run and the smaller, elongate blades from another Oneota complex near Correctionville in northwestern Iowa. To add to that shape confusion, the archaeological features at Blood Run date to about 1600 AD, but the Correctionville complex is dated at 1300-1400 AD. And, on the Farm we’ve got bison bones with radiometric dates in both of those time periods.

In addition to the complication with artifact shapes, we’ve now got the possibility of two different ages. Maybe there’s an Oneota component on the Farm that’s from either around 1600 AD or 1350 AD. Plus, those two separate dates raise the possibility of another cultural group called the Great Oasis. People following both the Oneota and Great Oasis cultures lived near each other in the same valley (Little Sioux River) near Correctionville, IA. And, we have two pieces of pottery that suggest that the Great Oasis culture was also present on the Farm. Artifacts, dates, and cultural interpretations all point to a larger story beyond just the Farm and Blood Run and Correctionville, IA. In fact, the story may spread all the way from Wisconsin westward into South Dakota.

Figure 1----The unbroken blade from Lone Tree Farm made of Bijou Hills Orthoquartzite. A) View of the total blade. B) Microscopic view of the edge.

The complete blade from the Farm (Figure 1-A) has a unique pattern of flaking along the edges (Johnson, personal communication, 2024). Although it’s not easy to see on the photo, you can make out that the upper right edge has more distinct chipping than the other edges. In addition, the edges don’t show much evidence of extensive use so the blade is relatively pristine. That low use wear is based on preliminary microscopic examination (Figure 1-B), but it needs to be confirmed with more detailed, high-power magnification. The plans are to send both the complete and broken blades to the Archaeology Department at the University of Kansas where a former student of Dr. Johnson’s will do the analysis with higher magnification equipment.

Figure 2----The broken blade from Lone Tree Farm made of Bijou Hills Orthoquartzite. A) Overall view of the broken blade. B) Broken blade tips.

The broken blade from the Farm (Figure 2-A) also shows low use wear and in addition, the broken end shows “snap fractures” that suggest that it may have been broken intentionally (Johnson, personal communication, 2024). Collections from Blood Run housed at the Iowa Office of the State Archaeologist (OSA) have numerous broken tips (Figure 2-B) that may have similar snap fractures and low use wear. Note that the broken tips in the red circle are all about the same size and would appear to “fit” on the broken blade to make it “complete”. Dr. Johnson is currently analyzing a number of these blades/bifaces from Blood Run that are on loan from the OSA to the Augustana Archaeology Lab.

This thin, delicate broken blade may have been ritually broken as a part of a ceremony. However, a recent conversation with traditional knowledge keepers provided an alternative interpretation. Those two people suggested that maybe these small, pristine blades were used by children. That’s an interesting insight because Dr. Johnson commented that conventional archaeology does not commonly address the role of children in site interpretations. The traditional knowledge keepers probably offered the alternative interpretation because they seemed to be relatively noncommittal about the idea of the blades being a part of ceremonies.

Figure 3----Bijou Hills Orthoquartzite in South Dakota. A) Number of sites with Bijou Hills artifacts arranged by approximate relative age. B) Sizes and shapes of blades and bifaces made of Bijou Hills.

Last year the grad student who is now at Kansas, Makayla Williams, summarized several hundred site reports in South Dakota looking for mentions of Bijou Hills Orthoquartzite. That’s the material that both blades and bifaces are made of. She found the largest number of reports (Figure 3-A) were from Initial Middle Missouri cultural sites in central South Dakota and from Historic and Euro-American sites that would be about the same age as Blood Run, about 1600 AD. The central South Dakota sites all date to 1000 to 1300 AD. So, those two time periods generally correspond with the times represented at the Farm, Blood Run and Correctionville, IA. In addition, the blades and bifaces from South Dakota show a pattern of sizes and shapes (Figure 3-B) that’s very similar to Iowa. The blades from the Farm are shown as dark green dots that seem to fit more closely with the blade cluster from the Swanson Site. All of the South Dakota data come from sites along the Missouri River in central South Dakota, except Mitchell. Bifaces made of Bijou Hills from the Mitchell Site (shown by green circle in Figure 3-B) locate within the cluster of large, blunt bifaces similar to those from Blood Run.

Figure 4---- Mounds related to the Oneota culture fall into two distinct time periods (Betts and Henning, 2016). A) 1100-1400 AD B) 1600-1725 AD

In addition to large bifaces, the Mitchel Site has mound features that seem to be related to mounds as far east as Illinois and Wisconsin (Figure 4-A). The ages of these mounds broadly correspond with the sites along the Missouri River that lack mounds but do have blades and bifaces made of Bijou Hills. The mounds at Mitchell are older than the mounds at Blood Run and in the Okoboji area (Figure 4-B). So, Mitchell and Blood Run have both mounds and bifaces, but the Farm and Correctionville Area have blades but no mounds. I don’t know if the mounds in the Okoboji Area have Bijou Hills bifaces associated with them, but it might not be surprising to find the large blunt bifaces similar to those from Blood Run. The blades from the Correctionville Complex are long and slender and those sites have radiocarbon dates that are approximately the same as the sites along the Missouri River in central South Dakota (specifically, 1000 to 1300 AD).

Age differences in the mounds have been suggested (Betts and Henning, 2016) to reflect a resurgence of specific ceremonial practices. The Blood Run activity around 1600 AD might have been a revival of older ceremonies from around 1300 AD. This could be similar to the way that Ghost Dance ceremonies in the late 1800s reflected a return to older traditions as a way of dealing with the impacts of white settlers swarming out onto the prairie and plains. The association of blades and bifaces with the two separate periods of mound ceremonies may suggest a ceremonial function that was associated with the mound features.

Ceremonial blades or bifaces used for everyday functions? Oneota or Great Oasis cultures? Time periods of about 1300 AD or about 1600 AD? Connections to the west into South Dakota or to the east into Illinois? We need more data to get answers to some of these questions.

But, in the meantime we’re going to start off the new year looking at things bigger than you can hold in your hand. The next post will deal with archaeological features and sites along Kanaranzi Creek that are big enough to walk around and map out using air photos. Then we’ll head back to Good Earth/Blood Run to see what features and sites are over there along the Big Sioux River.

We’re in the middle of several weeks of celebrations and ceremonies: Solstice, Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, New Years. So….Happy Holidays!