MMA 2011.154.14

120

2011.154.14

7/26/2023

Branch County, Michigan. Ralph T. Coe, Santa Fe Collection until 2010. Gift of the Ralph T. Coe Foundation for the Arts in 2010-2011.

Dark greenish gray with greenish black banding

12.7

15.2

1.3

2.1

0.3

500

The slate of this Double-Notched Ovate Bannerstone has been carefully oriented so that the natural dark banding moves diagonally across the sculpted composition of the stone, echoing and in visual play with the curved sculpting shape. The top and bottom notches are angled inward, and the sculptor has carved a subtle ridge on one side of the stone parallel to the perforation. The entire surface has thin scratch marks from the peck and grind technology used to shape and polish the stone. Other than a few small chips along the edges, this bannerstone shows little or no signs of wear. Its “hypertrophic” [relatively large] size is twice the weight of most bannerstones, suggesting that this pristine work of art was used in performances or ceremonies. Branch Co. Mich B-41 is written in black on one side, presumably indicating where this bannerstone was found in south-central Michigan. Similar in material, size, and provenance to Knoblock, plate 176.

6000-1000 BCE

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