Ontological Concerns Example 1, AMNH 9/34 & AMNH DM/333
Geniculate bannerstone; Ohio, banded slate, h. 13.8, w. 6.7 cm.
Double Crescent bannerstone; Ohio, banded slate, h. 12.2, w. 10.1 cm.
AMNH 9/34, a banded slate Geniculate bannerstone, was purposefully broken at the perforation similar to the way this Double Crescent (AMNH DM/333) was broken. In both cases, the museum acquired only one half of the stone. Whether the other half was buried or found in the same location is unknown. That so many bannerstones were intentionally broken before being cached or buried is an essential aspect of their purpose and meaning within Archaic society. In conserving and photographing bannerstones it is therefore important to document and highlight these breaks or broken status rather than seek to seamlessly reassemble them.