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Cahokia Birdman tablets, sharks tooth clubs, and faience discoveries

USAArtifact
City/town/settlement1000 - 1500 AD
The Roundtable Chronicles
Source: The Roundtable Chronicles by Institute for Natural Philosophy

Site mentioned

📄 Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site🌍 Show on the globe

Cahokia's Birdman tablets show someone in bird regalia with winged beings. Shark's tooth clubs (some made from chert to resemble shark teeth, others incorporating actual shark teeth) are a distinctive Cahokia artifact type. One club found in excavations incorporated real shark teeth alongside flint replicas. Blue and purple faience matching Mayan blue was found near the Cassie Schaefer tablet. Its origin remains debated. 🦈🐦

Key facts claimed:

- Two Birdman tablets were found at Cahokia - one by Morehead in 1921 and one at the Peabody Museum

- The Birdman motif shows someone wearing bird regalia with a winged being; angles on the wing may relate to astronomical alignments

- Cassie Schaefer tablet, Birdman tablet, and copper Roghan plates all feature similar birdman symbolism

- Duck with snake wrapping around neck imagery appears on tablets; cross-hatching appears on opposite sides

- Imitation sharks tooth clubs were made from chert to resemble shark teeth but are not actual shark teeth

Key facts

  • Two Birdman tablets were found at Cahokia - one by Morehead in 1921 and one at the Peabody Museum
  • The Birdman motif shows someone wearing bird regalia with a winged being; angles on the wing match solstice and lunar alignments
  • Cassie Schaefer tablet, Birdman tablet, and copper Roghan plates all feature similar birdman symbolism
  • Duck with snake wrapping around neck imagery appears on tablets; cross-hatching appears on opposite sides
  • Imitation sharks tooth clubs were made from chert to resemble shark teeth but are not actual shark teeth
  • Sharks tooth clubs are unique to Cahokia in the country - only found at this site
  • A personal find in 2007: a sharks tooth club (shark's tooth made of chert embedded in maple wood with copper cap) was found 23 cm deep in Mound 34
  • Faience (tin-glazed pottery) in blue and purple colors was found near the Cassie Schaefer tablet location
  • The blue faience matches Mayan blue in color; archaeologist claim Native Americans never made glaze - the origin is questioned

More about Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site

Sources

Birdman Tablet – Cahokia Mounds State Historic Sitecahokiamounds.org
Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site. Menu. Facebook · Twitter · Instagram · HOME · Society · About · Membership Benefits · Mound Builder Award · Land Acquisition ...
The Prehistoric Birdman Tablets of Illinois - Arrowheads.Comarrowheads.com
half man, half bird, the only representation to be found in good context at Cahokia. This tablet is 4 inches long by 3 inches wide and depicts a masked figure ...
Cahokia Mounds Bird Man Tablet - The Story of Illinoisstory.illinoisstatemuseum.org
This small sandstone tablet, only about four inches tall, shows a man in a bird costume (possibly representing an eagle or peregrine falcon).
The Birdman Tablets From The Cahokia Area - Lithic Casting Lablithiccastinglab.com
Pictures and descriptions of several engraved sandstone tablets from the Cahokia Mounds site area. Two birdman tablets are shown.
RiverWeb:AmBot:PreHist:Art - Illinois State Museummuseum.state.il.us
The Birdman also appears to be wearing a feather cape made to look like the barred wing feathers of the falcon. In the southeast U.S. falcon priests incised ...
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