Archaeology Terms

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Discoidal

Discoidal This discoidal has circular impressions in the centers of both sides that do not go all the way through. It was recovered during excavations in the early 2000s at the Sanford Archaeological District in La Crosse, Wisconsin.

Discoidals are generally interpreted as targets for the game Chunkey based on ethnographic accounts of the 19th and 20th century. These accounts indicate the game was widespread across eastern North American in historic times. A disk is rolled along the ground, and players throw spearlike sticks where the stone will finally stop.