Department of the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
October 2003
Indian Knoll is the name given to the most well known of the many mounds that flourished as living sites for several millennia B.C. at the conjunction of what are now the Green and Ohio rivers in Ohio County, Kentucky. Rich in natural resources, the area supported many generations of hunter-gatherers, while the mounds, essentially shell middens (refuse heaps), grew large. The Indian Knoll mound itself was elliptical in shape and covered an area of about two acres. At the center its deposits were up to eight feet deep. Many hundreds of burials were discovered in the mound during the first half of the twentieth century. The burials were of individuals, not groups, and included men, women, children, and dogs. Many held gender-specific objects. Men were interred with axes, fishhooks, and tools, while women were accompanied by mortars, pestles, and beads. The third millennium B.C. was a period of innovation when such objects as rattles, flutes, and smoking pipes came into use, and ornaments of special materials, even imported ones, were made. Valued possessions such as these were buried with their owners.
Some of the most impressive and beautifully made stone objects to come from Indian Knoll burials are the so-called bannerstones. Thought to be weights for spear-throwers to which they would have been strapped, apparently for the stability of the spear shaft, the objects were fabricated from carefully chosen stones and worked with particular attention to the natural color and pattern of the stone itself. Of functional necessity, they were well balanced and finished. Bannerstones are small masterpieces of design and form. A wide range of stones of different color, translucency, and weight were used in a wide variety of shapes. Some bannerstones are so shapely that their functional aspects appear secondary (1979.206.403). Two different types are illustrated here. They are made of chalcedony and banded clay stone respectively. The latter was discovered in a child’s grave that included a short necklace of shell beads also strung with two wolf teeth.
Citation
Department of the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “Indian Knoll (3000–2000 B.C.).” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/knol/hd_knol.htm (October 2003)
Further Reading
Brose, David S., et al. Ancient Art of the American Woodland Indians. New York: Abrams, 1985.
Jennings, Jesse D. Prehistory of North America. 3d ed. Mountain View, Calif.: Mayfield Pub. Co., 1989.
Additional Essays by Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “La Venta: Sacred Architecture.” (October 2001)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “La Venta: Stone Sculpture.” (October 2001)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “Monte Albán.” (October 2001)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “Monte Albán: Sacred Architecture.” (October 2001)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “Monte Albán: Stone Sculpture.” (October 2001)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “Teotihuacan.” (October 2001)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “Teotihuacan: Ciudadela.” (October 2001)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “Teotihuacan: Mural Painting.” (October 2001)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “Teotihuacan: Pyramids of the Sun and the Moon.” (October 2001)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “Valdivia Figurines.” (October 2004)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “Hopewell (1–400 A.D.).” (October 2002)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “Poverty Point (2000–1000 B.C.).” (October 2003)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “African Rock Art.” (October 2000)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “African Rock Art: Tassili-n-Ajjer (?8000 B.C.–?).” (October 2000)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “African Rock Art: The Coldstream Stone.” (October 2000)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “Apollo 11 (ca. 25,500–23,500 B.C.) and Wonderwerk (ca. 8000 B.C.) Cave Stones.” (October 2000)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “The Monumental Stelae of Aksum (3rd–4th Century).” (October 2000)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “Tikal.” (October 2001)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “Tikal: Sacred Architecture.” (October 2001)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “Tikal: Stone Sculpture.” (October 2001)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “Art and the Fulani/Fulbe People.” (October 2002)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “Great Zimbabwe (11th–15th Century).” (October 2001)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “Ife Pre-Pavement and Pavement Era (800–1000 A.D.).” (October 2001)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “Foundations of Aksumite Civilization and Its Christian Legacy (1st–8th Century).” (October 2000)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “Ife (from ca. 6th Century).” (originally published October 2000, last revised September 2014)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “Inland Niger Delta.” (October 2000)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “Lydenburg Heads (ca. 500 A.D.).” (October 2000)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “Nok Terracottas (500 B.C.–200 A.D.).” (October 2000)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “The Empires of the Western Sudan.” (October 2000)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “The Empires of the Western Sudan: Ghana Empire.” (October 2000)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “The Empires of the Western Sudan: Mali Empire.” (October 2000)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “The Empires of the Western Sudan: Songhai Empire.” (October 2000)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “The Trans-Saharan Gold Trade (7th–14th Century).” (October 2000)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “Trade and the Spread of Islam in Africa.” (October 2001)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “Mangarevan Sculpture.” (October 2003)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “Tahiti.” (October 2003)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “Cave Sculpture from the Karawari.” (October 2003)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “The Fulani/Fulbe People.” (October 2002)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “Great Serpent Mound.” (October 2002)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “Ancient American Jade.” (October 2001)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “Jade in Costa Rica.” (October 2001)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “Jade in Mesoamerica.” (October 2001)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “La Venta.” (October 2001)