These 17 Indiana Hornstone blades were all found stacked together in a cache in Scott County, Indiana. Burying large numbers of similar stone tools was practiced in the Eastern Woodlands from at least the Late Archaic period and into the Woodland period (ca. 5000 to 1000 years ago). Notice how similar each artifact is in size and shape. Some caches have been found to contain as many as 70 blades, all of this leaf shaped form. It is not known why these blades were made and then buried. Many archaeologists believe these blades are actually pre-forms of tools. Raw chert was chipped at the quarry into this leaf-shaped form, which is easier to carry. These unfinished tools could be quickly fashioned into a spear point or knife. To prevent breakage, they were buried until one was needed. Indiana Hornstone is a very high quality stone for making tools. The source of the stone is in eastern Indiana, although tools made from this material have been found at archaeological sites throughout the Midwest, including Minnesota. Some scholars have speculated that cache blades like these represent a form of currency for trade.

I selected to show this assemblage of objects because the process of obtaining and using stone materials for tools is of particular interest to me. Much can be learned about past societies by studying where tool makers obtained their raw materials and how they used them.
– Ed Fleming, Curator of Archaeology