Hostname: page-component-6898cfcb55-th4rj Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-11T09:55:51.528Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Finger-Loops and Cruciform Objects

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Ann S. Johnson
Ann S. Johnson*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Kansas
Get accessRights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Ekholm's (1962) discovery that problematical U-shaped objects served as finger-loops for prehistoric atlatls permits two problematical objects from the La Playa site, Sonora, Mexico, to be properly identified as finger-loops. Similar attributes of the three, known, Sonoran finger-loops may indicate a Sonoran variety of this artifact.

The cruciform object is another problematical object found at La Playa. A search of the literature produced suggestive evidence that this artifact also may have been attached to prehistoric atlatls. The evidence which led to the formation of the hypothesis that cruciform objects were attached to atlatls, and some test implications of the hypothesis are presented.

Information

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 36 , Issue 2 , April 1971, pp. 188 - 194
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1971

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Beyer, Hermann 1933 Shell ornament sets from the Huasteca, Mexico. Middle American Research Publications, No. 5:153–215.Google Scholar
Compton, C. B. 1957 More cruciforms and some problematical objects. Bulletin of the Texas Archaeological Society 28:127–34.Google Scholar
Ekholm, G. E. 1942 Excavations at Guasave, Sinaloa, Mexico. Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History, Vol. 38, Pt. 2.Google Scholar
Ekholm, G. E. 1962 U-shaped “ornaments” identified as finger-loops from atlatls. American Antiquity 28:181–185.Google Scholar
Guernsey, S. J. 1931 Explorations in northeastern Arizona. Report on the archaeological fieldwork of 1920–23. Papers of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology, Vol. 12.Google Scholar
Guernsey, S. J., and Kidder, A. V. 1921 Basketmaker caves of northeastern Arizona. Report of the explorations, 1916–17. Papers of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology, Vol. 8.Google Scholar
Hemmings, E. T. 1967 Cruciform and related artifacts of Mexico and the southwestern United States. The Kiva 32:150–169.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hughes, J. T. 1956 Stone crosses with a Cuicuilco burial. American Antiquity 22:80–82.Google Scholar
Johnson, A. E. 1960 The place of the Trincheras culture of northern Sonora in southwestern archaeology. Unpublished MA thesis. University of Arizona.Google Scholar
Johnson, A. E. 1963 The Trincheras culture of northern Sonora. American Antiquity 29:174–186.Google Scholar
Kelley, J. C, and Winters, H. D. 1960 A revision of the archaeological sequence in Sinaloa, Mexico. American Antiquity 25:547–561.Google Scholar
Noguera, Eduardo 1945 El atlatl o tiradira. Anales de Museo Nacional de Arqueología, Historia, y Etnografía, Tomo 111:205–238.Google Scholar
Nuttall, Zelia 1891 The atlatl or spear-thrower of the ancient Mexicans. Papers of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology, Vol. 1.Google Scholar
Sahagun, Bernardino de 1950 General history of the things of New Spain. Book 1, “The gods,” translated by A. J. O. Anderson and C. E. Dibble. Monographs of the School of American Research, No. 14, Part II.Google Scholar
Sahagun, Bernardino de 1953 General history of the things of New Spain. Book 7, “The sun, moon, and stars and the binding of the years,” translated by A. J. O. Anderson and C. E. Dibble. Monographs of the School of American Research, No. 14, Part VIII.Google Scholar
Sahagun, Bernardino de 1955 General history of the things of New Spain. Book 12, “The Conquest of Mexico,” translated by A. J. O. Anderson and C. E. Dibble. Monographs of the School of American Research, No. 14, Part XIII.Google Scholar