Block Busters: What Systematic Replication Studies Reveal about Hypotheses on the Iron Ore Cubes

Summary

Among the most enigmatic artifacts to emerge from Formative period Gulf Coast deposits are thousands of small, roughly rectangular cubes of iron ore that are perforated in a consistent, t-shaped pattern. Numerous hypotheses have been suggested for the function and meaning of these artifacts, including that they may have served as beads that were strung together as helmet decorations; as objects that were strung together to serve as a sort of armor or mail; as tiny hammers for chipping obsidian; as tokens or as some kind of currency; as an amulet or a charm; as small mirrored pendants; as weights for fishing nets; as caps for bow drills or fire drills; as atlatl weights; as whistles; or as a type of bull-roarer noise maker. Scholars have reached no general consensus, however, on the most sound nor the most probable hypotheses. This presentation will discuss how recent systematic replication studies conducted by my students and I have revealed which of these hypotheses stand up to close scrutiny.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Impacts, Articulations and Innovations in the Archaeological Study of the Mesoamerican Gulf Coast: Spatio-Temporal, Economic and Demographic Organization

Keywords

Spatial Coverage