BANNERSTONE #NA1
2023
The bannerstone was found by Alan DeMuth, father of MHS member Tim DeMuth on their sod farm, which was located on the east side of I-57 and north of Monee-Manhattan Road about 1965.
Tim stated: “My father was tilling the soil with a harrow in final preparation to seed a new sod on this section of land. One of the nuisances that had to be addressed with each new planting cycle was the constant surfacing of new rocks while preparing the soil. Rocks are a hazard to the sod cutters shuttle blade that separates the sod from the earth. It not only dulls the blade faster but can put big enough nicks in the blade to permanently damage it. Our custom was to walk the field and pick up and remove larger rocks before seeding it. Because of this procedure, my father upon picking it up noticed that it wasn’t an ordinary rock. The family’s first assumption was it probably got dropped by some earlier pioneering family but to be sure my father decided to have it checked out by a local historian.”
The historian stated the artifact was a bannerstone and most likely over a thousand years old since bannerstones went out of style with the native population around 500 AD.
Artifact Details
