Collection
/
Arts of the Americas

Butterfly Bannerstone

4000–2000 B.C.E.

1 of 3

Object Label

Bannerstones

In the woodlands regions of North America, stone and quartzes were materials used extensively for ritual and utilitarian items. A bannerstone likely had a practical function as a counterweight on an atlatl, a long wooden shaft with a hooked end that was used to add power to a hunter’s arm when throwing a spear. The bannerstone’s wings may have provided balance. Bannerstones are often found far from stone sources, indicating they were part of a large trade network.

Caption

Butterfly Bannerstone, 4000–2000 B.C.E.. Stone, 3 1/8 x 1 x 4 1/2 in. (7.9 x 2.5 x 11.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, A. Augustus Healy Fund, 77.30.2. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 77.30.2_bw.jpg)

Gallery

Not on view

Title

Butterfly Bannerstone

Date

4000–2000 B.C.E.

Period

Late Archaic Period

Geography

Place made: Eastern, United States

Medium

Stone

Classification

Sculpture

Dimensions

3 1/8 x 1 x 4 1/2 in. (7.9 x 2.5 x 11.4 cm)

Credit Line

A. Augustus Healy Fund

Accession Number

77.30.2

Rights

Creative Commons-BY

You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.

Frequent Art Questions

  • These say "eastern United States" -- any idea where exactly?

    That's a good question. These Bannerstones have been identified by their style which which was common to the eastern Woodlands communities thousands of years ago. We are not sure where exactly they were found, but their style indicates that they come from the eastern United States.
    Eastern woodlands means what exactly?
    It's a name used by scholars to refer to the cultures living in the eastern United States thousands of years ago. Those cultures did not have writing so we do not know what they would have called themselves. These people are only known by their material culture in the archaeological record.
    In the time that these people lived, the eastern United States was largely forested, so they were, in fact, living in a woodland environment.

  • Wouldn't these make super cool bow ties!?

    They sure would! They were actually used as weights for spear-throwers by the early inhabitants of the Eastern United States.
    The example on the right is the most common shape of these weights known as banner stones.
    Talk about a missed style opportunity.
    Perhaps they were also worn as decorative neckwear and we just don't know! The people of the Eastern Woodlands did not have written language so much of what we know about their practices is based on archaeology and material culture.

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