FOSSILS AND ARTIFACTS FROM
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Prehistoric Antler Armlets from Three Different Time Periods in Nebraska

by Jim Tatum Ph.D. High Springs, FL and Carlos Tatum Lutz, FL.

 This article will describe unusual but similar armlets or bracelets from three sites in Nebraska from very different time periods: the Whitten site, a Sterns Creek phase variant of the Late Plains Woodland tradition south of Brownville in Nemaha County, the Bacus site, a Loup River phase[1] site of the Central Plains tradition site in Muddy Creek valley a few miles west of Litchfield in Sherman Co., and the later Lower Loup Larson or Looking Glass site (25 PT 1) in Platte Co. east of Genoa.[2]  We will see that this same artifact was also present up until historic times along the upper Missouri tribes of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arickara. 

 When first discovered, it appeared that the bracelets were made of bone of some type, perhaps a small rib, or a thin cross section cut from a curved skull, such as a small dog. However, when closer examination revealed no presence of trabecular or cancellous bone, the next thought was of a cut strip of bison scapula, such as those of ten cut to make many types of tools.  Further reading has revealed that it is almost certain these are made from antler strips, and very likely elk antler.  Ahler (p. 13.31) describes the process in detail as used by the Mandan in North Dakota.  The product is nearly identical, except for the thickened center portion, to the Whitten and Bacus artifacts:   

                                A well-developed industry involving production of antler bracelets occurs

 in the site collections.  The finished product consists of a delicate, curved, C-shaped

 artifact usually 3-6 mm wide, less than 5 mm thick, and 15-20 cm in length that was

 perforated to one or both ends for purposes of string attachment and tying around the

 arm or wrist (Figure 13.19a-i).   

          Stock for the bracelets was a large section or beam of antler, probably that of elk. A

 large, relatively flat section of the beam was isolated and cut out, and then was  smoothed

 on the exterior and thinned by scraping on the interior to produce a relatively thin,

 elongated section about 5 mm thick.  Examples of stock sections for bracelet production

 are shown in Figure 13.18a,b.  Long, parallel-sided strips of antler were then cut from the

 longer margins of this stock piece, using the groove and splinter technique.

 Moorehead goes into great detail on the manufacturing of these antler bracelets (pp. 148-154) complete with illustrations and photos of the bracelets (figs. 552, 553).  He also describes the purchase of a large collection of these objects from a Mr. E. R. Steinbrueck of Mandan, North Dakota, for the Phillips Academy, where he was employed.  Two others from Mandan with large collections which Moorehead studied were J. V. Brower and G. L. Wilson.

 The Whitten site was reported by Hill and Cooper (1937 pp. 340-342) and is now identified as belonging to the Stearns Creek phase of the Late Plains Woodland.[3]   It consisted originally of 3 low mounds atop a bluff overlooking the Missouri River.  Excavations disclosed burials with shell beads, pots and the armlets.[4] Six armlets were found with an infant burial, and four others with an adolescent burial.  Those pictured on page 343 (plate XXIII) appear identical to the complete example from the Bacus site, and the photo has been reproduced here as fig. 1.  Their function as armlets or bracelets is indicated by the fact that  they were found around the wrist bones of the burials.  The Whitten artifacts are not further described and were not personally examined by the authors, so more details and exact measurements cannot be given.

 The Bacus site has not previously been recorded or documented.  It is located a few miles west of Litchfield around 15 miles west northwest of the Sweetwater site (25 SM 20) on Bloody Run Creek, a tributary of the Muddy.[5]  As is characteristic for the area, the site is located on a high ridge extending down toward the creek from the mass of hills to the south.  So far as is known, the site consists of one earth lodge and likely another, two middens, an outside cache pit, one area of cultural debitage deemed a “work area” and an area of cultural materials and features on the peak of a hill a short distance to the south.  The ridge on which the site is located was farmed for many decades, and this resulted in a great deal of soil erosion.  The material from the site is typical of other like sites in the area with the exception of two other unusual artifacts, these being a large clamshell bead which was likely a trade item, and a slate atlatl weight[6], likely found at a Plains Woodland site by the Bacus inhabitants and not manufactured at their village.

The bracelets from this site consist of one complete and one broken example. The complete example (fig. 2) is curved in a broad “U” shape, has a span of 93 ½ mm, and a height of 50 mm. It appears remarkably similar to those in the Whidden photograph. The strip of antler from which it is made is 4 mm wide and 3 mm thick.  As in the Whitten examples, the inside center portion (a section about 13 mm wide which is at the bottom of the “U”) is slightly thicker, and measures 4 mm thick, although the width remains the same.  The raised portion appears to have been effected by scraping the surrounding  inside surface, reducing that portion to leave the raised portion in the center.  Near each end is a small perforation of about 1 mm, presumably for attaching a cord.  The artifact described above came from the area of features and cultural material on the high hill south of the earth lodges.  Another  similar but broken object came from the lower area of the site. (fig.3).   It is slightly smaller, measuring 3 mm wide, 2 mm thick, but the hole near the unbroken end is of identical size at 1 mm across.  The center is missing so it is impossible to know if it was thickened as in the other example from this site. 

The Larson site is described by Grange (p.30) and was worked extensively by state archaeologists in 1936 and also later when widening of the road threatened parts of the site.  Similar objects from this site consist of one complete artifact (fig. 4) and two broken ones about one half complete. The complete example is very similar to the Bacus one but is much more open and not nearly as curved.  It shows evidence of bending, but appears as though it may have been straightened again, perhaps by exposure to moisture over a long period of time. It measures approximately 152 mm long and is made of a strip about 3 mm wide by1mm thick.  It does not possess a raised portion in the center but appears of an even thickness throughout its length, but does have the small perforations on each end, one of which measures 1 mm across and the other 1 ½ mm. Broken armlet “A” (fig. 5) from this site is very similar and measures  5 mm wide by 1 ½ -2 mm thick, with a perforation about 2 mm across. Broken armlet “B” (Fig. 6) from this site measures 5 mm wide, 3 mm thick, and the hole is 3 mm across. Contrary to the complete example from the Larson site, the two broken examples have strong curves such as those from the other two sites.  Due to the incompleteness, it is not possible to tell if the centers of the “U” were thickened as in the Whidden and Bacus sites. 

The similarities of these artifacts are striking.  Based on current evidence, we must assign a non-functional purpose to them which makes these similarities throughout a relatively long time span even more surprising.  Functional artifacts such as ceramics and stone tools are much more limited in form and shape due to that the fact that they can have different shapes but ultimately must still serve a practical purpose.  The options for purely decorative items are much broader, yet among these three cultures, even the pottery and stone tools vary more than the bracelets.    

 It may or may not be of significance that only in the Whitten site were the armlets associated with burials, and then infant and adolescent.  Since very little work on Loup River burials has been done, perhaps more will show up later associated with burials as in the Whidden site. The authors are not aware of other examples which are similar, although there may be some.  They have examined collections from many other Loup River sites and can safely say that they are not usually found in other sites in Central Nebraska .   At the Sweetwater site Champe (p.268) lists, in the bone artifact section, curved …”… bracelets or bow guards,…” but one is 2 inches wide.  They are both fragments and he does not mention perforations, and they do not sound like the same thing.[7]  It does seem significant that in each of the three sites there have been more than one example present, lessening the chance that we can designate these aberrant.  The long time span of these artifacts might suggest that the antler strip/bending tradition  perhaps arrived in the Central Plains along with the first eastern Woodland people and continued up into historic times.

 References: 

Ahler, Stanley A.  Ed.  “Prehistory on First Street NE:  The Archaeology of Scattered Village in Mandan, North Dakota,” a report prepared by PaleoCultural Research Group, Flagstaff, AZ, 2002. 

Alex, Lynn Marie.  Iowa’s Archaeological Past.  University of Iowa Press, Iowa City, 2007.

Bozell, John R.  “Late Precontact Village Farmers:  an Agricultural Revolution.”  The Cellars of Time:  Paleontology and Archaeology in Nebraska. Nebraskaland Magazine, Nebraska State Historical Society Nebraska History Vol. 72, No. 1, Jan.-Feb. 1994, Lincoln, pp.121-131. 

Champe, John L. and Earl H. Bell.   The Sweetwater Culture Complex, in Chapters in Nebraska Archaeology, Vo. 1, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, 1936. 

Gibbon, Guy E.  Ed.  Archaeology of Prehistoric Native America:  an Encyclopedia.  Garland Publishing, Inc., New York, 1998. 

Grange Jr., Roger T. Pawnee and Lower Loup Pottery.  Nebraska State Historical Society Publications in Anthropology No. three.  Lincoln, 1968.   

Hill, A.T. and Marvin Kivett.  “Notes Concerning Additional Woodland Remains in Nebraska,”  Part II of Nebraska History, Archaeological Number State Survey of 1939, Vol. XXI, No. 3, July –September, 1940. 

_____.  and Paul Cooper.  The Archaeological Campaign of 1937.  Nebraska History Magazine, Vol. XVII, No. 4, Oct.-Dec. 1937, Lincoln. 

Johnston, Richard B.  The Hitchell Site, Publications in Salvage Archeology, No. 3,  River Basin Surveys, Office of Anthropology, Smithsonian Institution,  Lincoln, NE, 1967. 

Moorehead, Warren K. The Stone Age in North America.  Vol. II, Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, 1910. 

Official Nebraska Government Website, “Nebraska National Register Sites in Sherman County,”  URL http://www.nebraskahistory.org/histpres/nebraska/sherman.htm, accessed July 5, 2009. 

Winter, Joseph C.   (Ed.) Tobacco Use by Native North Americans: Sacred Smoke and Silent Killer. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, 2000.

Figure 1.  Two of ten armlets found with burials at the Whitten site, A Sterns Creek variant of the Plains Woodland.

Figure 2a.  Side view of complete armlet from the Bacus site, a Loup River phase site
 

Figure 2b.  Same armlet showing perforations.

Figure 3a.  Broken armlet from the Bacus site.

Figure 3b.  Another view of the broken armlet from the Bacus site.

Figure 4a.  Complete armlet from the Larson site, a Lower Loup site in Platte Co.

Figure 4b.  Another view of same artifact.

Figure 5a.  Broken armlet “A” from the Larson site.

 .

Figure 5b.  Another view of broken armlet “A” from the Larson site

Figure 6a.  Broken armlet “B” from the Larson site.

Figure 6b. Broken armlet “B” from the Larson site.