Stone tools of the Western Native American Cultures

How stones were used in everyday life.

Native American Projectile PointHutchings Museum Institute

Projectile Points

The term projectile point is given to a broad category of ancient tools. These points were attached to wood or reed shafts to be used for hunting or weapons. Depending on the length of the shaft, the point would be classified as a spear, dart, arrow, or knife.

Will Lord Knapping Flint (21st century)Original Source: Grimes Graves

Knapping

Knapping is the art of making projectile points. Using an antler or stronger rock, Native people would break off parts of rock to get it smaller. They would then flack smaller pieces to make them sharp.

Native American Projectile PointHutchings Museum Institute

Knapping

Once a point is finished it is connected to a shaft. This point is 3cmx1cm.

Native American Arrowhead by Ancient PuebloHutchings Museum Institute

Arrowheads

Arrowheads are small projectile points that are attached to straight reeds or sticks. The process of attaching a point to shaft is called hafting.

Native American ArrowheadHutchings Museum Institute

Obsidian Point

Obsidian was an important resource for Native Americans, it was easy to find and work with. Obsidian is also as sharp as a surgeon's scalpel which made it perfect to use for weapons. 
This spear point is 6 cm long and the notch goes to 2cm.

Clovis PointHutchings Museum Institute

Clovis Point

Clovis points were made by some of the earliest, if not the earliest people to come to the New World. Most Clovis points are dated from 10,000-14,000 years ago. They were attached to atlatl dark shafts and used to hunt giant Ice Age animals.

Hunting the Hairy Mammoth (negative 1871; print 1873) by William Henry JacksonThe J. Paul Getty Museum

Hunting Mammoths

Projectile points like the Clovis point were hafted on to spread and dart shaft and were used for hunting large animals like mammoths.

Native American Arrowhead by Ancient PuebloHutchings Museum Institute

Barbed Arrowhead

Barbed arrowheads have ridges that get stuck in the target. These arrowheads were usually used in war because they would cause a lot of damage.
This point is 5.5cm x 3.7cm and is made of agate. It was used by the Ancestral Puebloans. (700-1130 AD)

Native American Arrowhead by Ancient PuebloHutchings Museum Institute

Arrowhead

Arrowheads are small points that range from 1-5cm. They are attached to straight sticks or reeds for hunting animals as big as American Bison to squirrels and ducks.
This point is 2.8cmx1.5 cm and is made of agate. It was used by the Ancestral Puebloans. (700-1130 AD) 

Snake Indians Shooting Elk (1858-1860) by Alfred Jacob Miller (American, 1810-1874)The Walters Art Museum

Hunting Elk

Bows and arrows were used to hunt American bison, deer, and ducks.

Native American Arrowhead by Ancient PuebloHutchings Museum Institute

Biface

This biface is 8.5cmx4cm and is made from oil chert. It was used by the Ancestral Puebloans. (700-1130 AD)

Native American Arrowhead by Ancient PuebloHutchings Museum Institute

Biface Knife

This artifact is a bifacial unhafted jasper knife. The size and shape suggest it to be a multiple use tool. Specifically, as a membrane fleshing tool for hides, a general-purpose cutting tool, a plant harvesting tool, and a drill.

Native American Hammerstone (0700/1100) by Ancient PuebloHutchings Museum Institute

Course knapped adze/bone axe

This artifact is a course knapped adze. This tool was knapped from a coarse river cobble using percussing techniques. Large notching was both knapped and pecked to create grooves for hafting the finished piece to a handle. Tools such as this were used to chop wood and bone.

Native American Hammerstone (0700/1100) by Ancient PuebloHutchings Museum Institute

Coarse knapped adze

This artifact was coarsely knapped out of a high silica river cobble. the rough nature of the piece suggests either a lack of higher silica material, or a lack of experience by the creator. Such a piece was traditionally used for shaping wood, or breaking bone while butchering.

Cul Pre His Man Stone Age Old Paleolithic Ice Age Mammoth EctLIFE Photo Collection

Stone Tools

Hunter using a bone axe to help in the butchering process. As a hunter cuts the meat of the animal, they use the bone axe to brake the bone that the knifes can not cut through.

Native American Clay Gaming Piece by Ancient PuebloHutchings Museum Institute

Gaming Pieces

These gaming disks were made out of recycled broken black on white pottery pieces. Making such game pieces from broken pottery was a common practice among Fremont and Ancestral Puebloan peoples.

Native American Spindle Whorl by Ancient PuebloHutchings Museum Institute

Carved Slate Gaming Disk

This piece was carved and drilled out of soft slate. Such gaming discs were common among Fremont and Ancestral Puebloan peoples. Individual markings on pieces like this represent personal expression, rather than cultural expression.

Anasazi Spindle Whorls Anasazi Spindle Whorls (1956) by AnasaziHutchings Museum Institute

Loom Weight Stone

This is a loom weight stone carved and pecked out of a volcanic stone. Such stones were used in the loom weaving process by Ancestral Puebloan and Fremont peoples.

[The Weaver - Hopi] (1906) by Edward S. CurtisThe J. Paul Getty Museum

The Weaver-Hopi

Loom weights were used to hold the horizontal stings in place while weaving.

Native American Spindle Whorl by Ancient PuebloHutchings Museum Institute

Loom Weight Stone

This is a loom weight stone carved and pecked out of a volcanic stone. Such stones were used in the loom weaving process by Ancestral Puebloan and Fremont peoples.

Governor of San Felipe Showing Manner of Using Drill (1880) by John K. HillersThe J. Paul Getty Museum

Pump drill

A pump drill is a tool that was used to start fires or drill holes in softer stones or wood. It used round weights, like the loom weights, to help with the momentum of the drill. 

Credits: Story

The artifacts featured in this exhibit come from the Hutchings Native American Collection. Created by Hutchings Museum Staff Curators.

Credits: All media
The story featured may in some cases have been created by an independent third party and may not always represent the views of the institutions, listed below, who have supplied the content.
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