Archaeology Terms
Pipestone Counter
This semicircular flat piece with eight small notches cut into one edge might have been a reshaped fragment of a disk pipe. It is made of a red Minnesota pipestone known as catlinite. Although they are uncommon, flat pieces of catlinite with notched marks (referred to as “counters”) have been found at other precontact sites. This one was excavated in the mid-1980s from a site north of La Crosse, Wisconsin.