OBJECT ID: 07.09.04ac

LOCATION FOUND: Ditch Creek, Black Hills, South Dakota. This skull and four others like it lined the far edge of the creek, wound around dead bur oaks, each approximately 25 meters from one another. Connected to trees w/rawhide cord (see image above). Skulls found no higher than three meters off ground, pointing outward, toward (currently dry) creek bed.

Significance

PURPOSE: Uncertain. Symbols (see below) may suggest warding off of evil, or marking of territory.

CULTURAL AFFILIATION: Blackfoot Indian

Item type

Religious / Ritualistic

Creation Date

Unknown; organic

Current Location

The Land of the Worms

Dimensions

SIZE: From forehead to occiput, 21 cm. Width of head ~ 17 cm. Approximate circumference is 54 cm.

Raw materials & Components

MANUFACTURING TECHNIQUE/MATERIALS: Primary artifact consists of a human skull, the jawbone re-attached to the rest using braided rawhide (deer leather). Accompanying skull are rawhide cords, non-braided, that held skull in place (see Location Found). Symbols painted on skull analyzed; material found to be mixture of human and animal blood (animal uncertain — possibly coyote). Teeth whetted to points, marks on canines and molars suggest sandstone.

Tools

DESIGNS/SYMBOLS: Symbol (1) on crest of forehead: medicine wheel. Circle split by a cross, each quadrant further divided by thinner, more finely-painted lines. Symbol (2) on right cheekbone: an ‘X.’ Symbol (3) on left cheekbone, three dark lines (similar to those found on some Blackfoot tipis). Symbols (4) found on inside of jawbone: seven inverted horses. Interpretation uncertain. Horses indicate hunting and life (see Coates, Blackfoot Symbology, page 178), “vigor of warrior.” Inversion may mean death or prey. Cheekbone symbols indicate warding off of (or containing) evil. Medicine wheel sacred among Blackfeet, the tradition picked up from earliest pre-Blackfoot inhabitants (Tunaxa/Tunaha). Wheel symbolizes all directions, but here may indicate something as straightforward as territory (Coates, page 192).