Barbed flint and agate spears. Some are very large. All are translucent and exhibit workmanship of a high order. They are found in the burial-mounds, and are very rare. (See Fig. 214 A.)
Flint and agate arrow-heads. Only a very few of these occur. They are also well made.
Effigy stones. Two slender stone serpents have been reported from South Dakota. One of these is said to have six curves or convolutions.
Stone pipes. (See Fig. 428.) These are made of catlinite or red pipestone, and are regularly formed and beautifully polished. They are all straight tubes constituting bowls, and vary in length from two to ten inches. One taken out of a mound by the writer was ten and one quarter inches long (twenty-six cm.). The stem was at least in some cases made from the hollow ulnar bone of the wing of a large bird; for bone stems of this character were found with several of the pipes. Hollow pieces of wood may perhaps also have been used as pipe-stems. This straight tubular pipe is very characteristic of the mounds of North Dakota, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan, very few of other kinds having as yet been reported from this prairie region.
Stone tablets. Flat pieces of stone are sometimes found; but they are very rare. One of these found by Montgomery in 1889 is made from pipestone or catlinite and has the figure of an animal carved upon each side. (See Fig. 310.) One of the carvings is probably meant to represent a beaver, and the figure upon the other side of the tablet is a representation of a buffalo cow with open mouth, and the figure of a stone spear-head with shaft attached, pointing to the heart. It would seem to indicate that the buffalo had been shot in the heart by the spear or large arrow, and in consequence the mouth is represented as being wide open. Some, however, interpret the position of the spear and shaft to mean the “line of life,” which may possibly be the correct interpretation. Another tablet found by Montgomery in a burial-mound has the figure of a beaver carved upon each side, one representing the upper surface of the animal, and the other being a side view.
Objects of Copper
The articles made of copper are few in kind and number. They are chiefly simple cylindrical tubular beads and rudely formed spear-heads of native copper.
Objects of Pottery
The writer has found a number of vessels of pottery in the burial-mounds of northern Dakota. All of them are small urn-shaped vessels of coiled ware, and almost all of them were found in a perfect condition. In most cases their decoration is a continuous spiral groove around the body of the urn, terminating near the centre of the bottom of the vessel. In a few instances the decorative design is different; and some are provided with four holes in the rim for suspension by cords.
On the Mandan village-sites and in the more southern parts of Dakota many fragments of pottery jars and vessels are found. These have various incised decorative designs, and in some cases ears or small handles are present. Much of this pottery closely resembles the pottery of the eastern part of the continent.