Thunderbird

90.  Green Thunderbolt

Teratornis merriami

Because of the shape of this figure's head, we first thought it to be meteorite so carefully sliced-off a tiny piece from the back of the head (at the viewer's right - where it does not affect the stacking or appearance) to be tested by an outside lab. The analysis came back negative, but the geologist said it was an "unusual sample"[7] none-the-less. It appears to be a beautiful granite quite heavy in olivine and could pass as a semi-precious stone with a deep, rich green color when cut and polished. The dime-size sample piece is included with the figurine and the place on the head where it was removed has been polished to a high sheen, revealing the inner beauty of the stones. The tail arc where it joins the body appears to have been worked by the ancient Native American Indian artisan to fit the body stone. Olivine granite with extensive weathering, 3 parts. 4.5"h; 808 gm  Interested parties email paleoart@frontiernet.net

84. Thunderstorm Bird

Avis tonitrus procella

This massive Indian thunderbird statue and egg has more color than most of the figurines we've found. Extraordinarily beautiful when wet, but shown here dry. The green color is the shade of the summer sky just before a big thunderstorm - when icy hail lurks above and reflects the greenery below. Rare green olivine quartzite with equally rare pink conglomerated quartzite egg (glacier ground), 3 parts. 6.3”h; 1762 gm  Interested parties email paleoart@frontiernet.net

78.  Thunderbird Totem

In the Pleistocene, being carried off by a giant bird was a real threat – even to a grown man. This Indian thunderbird leans forward as if silently gliding the thermos scoping-out prey below, yet the figure is very stable. Black hornblende schist w hornblende gneiss body, extensively worked by the River Owl and quite likely a tool kit, 4 parts. 6.4”h; 435 gm  Interested parties email paleoart@frontiernet.net

mundities rufus accipiter

Made of a uniquely different chalcedony I call "Peppermint", this avian has its beak dug into its back as if preening or cleaning its feathers. His crown is sticking up at the back of his head. This figure was hard won: The head was discovered in 2000. A matching arrowhead made from the same beautiful quartz chalcedony was found nearby in 2002 along with the body. The tail stone was found in 2011 - all from the same site on the hill. A very rare peppermint chalcedony, 3 parts plus arrowhead, 5.1"h; 718 gm  Interested parties email paleoart@frontiernet.net

79.  Lightning Bird

Ales alitis fulguralis

In ancient Indian mythology, some Thunderbirds created lightning with their eyes. Rubbing these stones together in the dark makes beautiful piezo-electric “lightning” sparks within the stones, which may account for the wear along the edges of these stones. (Wear glasses or goggles when doing this) The figure parts are of the same mother stone and composed of milky metaquartzite. However, after millennia in the iron-rich Illinois soil, they have acquired a creamy patina. Pale yellow milky (Creamy) metaquartzite crystal, piezoelectric, 3 parts. 3.5”h; 605 gm  Interested parties email paleoart@frontiernet.net

121.  Electra Bird

Avis torpedo

This electric figurine (torpedo in Latin actually means "electric") Has an iron oxide "beak". These parts were collected from the same spot between 1999 to 2002. Pale yellow milky (Creamy) metaquartzite crystal, piezoelectric, 3 parts. 6.75"L; 969 gm  Interested parties email paleoart@frontiernet.net

80.  Thunderbird Chick

Even the little ones were scary-looking: With a face only a mother could love, this ruffled infant looks like something fresh out of the Cretaceous. These stones have not been worked. Cinnamon jasper w high sheen and natural umber red "eye" embedded in its head, 2 parts. 5.4”h; 1066 gm  Interested parties email paleoart@frontiernet.net

Native American Indian thunderbird figurine totem artifacts suggest giant birds once patrolled the skies and preyed upon the lone Paleo traveler.

Front view                                                               Side view

88.  Swooping Thunderbird             Argentavis magnificens

This figure resembles an extinct giant bird - most likely an Native American Indian Thunderbird - a Teratorn from the Pleistocene with a beak like that of a condor. Note that both wings butt right up to the body stone at the appropriate angle. The Indian thunderbirds body stone where its left extended leg (with open talons) join was chipped (bottom foreground in left photo) to hold up its open talon as if to snatch its prey - the only place where the figure was worked. Here in the photograph it fell down just before I unwittingly snapped the photo. Honey jasper, 7 parts. 5.0"h x 8.0" w; 1531 gm  Interested parties email paleoart@frontiernet.net

82.  Thunderbird and Child

Avis tonitrus & Infantis

Is this a warning to children to keep a weather-eye out for large sweeping shadows and the soft swoosh of death from above?  The right wing is free-standing and contours the bird’s body as if the wind is in the wing. The left wing is one with the body. We know this to be a figurine set because all these stones were found together. The baby’s head is also shaped to fit into the crook of the left wing. It’s as if big bird is about to swoop-him-up; a grim reminder to young mothers not to leave their babies out in the open. Caramel jasper w light alkali patina, 6 parts. 3.8"h; 556 gm  Interested parties email paleoart@frontiernet.net

58. Brooding Red Hawk

Buteo jamaicensis

Probably represents the Red-tailed Hawk, of which many are red all over. Umber jasper, w minute crevices resembling feather patterns (still holding field dirt). Finding a red figurine is rare and suggest they were rare with the River Owl as well.  Bird is red jasper. Nest is a collapsed chalcedony geode w sparkling crystal-coated botryoidal "eggs", 6 parts. 3.0"h; 289 gm  Interested parties email paleoart@frontiernet.net

101.  First Flight

Aquila chrysaetos

With a protective wing outstretched, this mother Thunderbird is watching over her fledgling about to take its first flight. Wind in its wings, tail feathers trembling for trim and eyes on Momma, this chick has a naturally formed head with two eyes and a hawk-like beak just like Momma's. The fledgling's tail feathers is the only part that has been worked by the ancient artisan. Momma bird is a little darker in color than baby bird - just like in real life. Caramel and butterscotch jasper, 6 parts. 3.8"h; 390 gm total.   Interested parties email paleoart@frontiernet.net

56.  Sky Dream Falcon

Falco rusticolus

Of all the varieties of falcons, this figure resembles most the Gyrfalcon, which habits northern climes and would have been a regular at the River Owl site near the end of the last Ice Age. Other falcons such as the small Kestrel are again flying over the farmlands of Illinois as they slowly make their comeback from DDT spraying in the 1950s. Sharp and dignified, this raptor quietly waits. On top of the head stone, which was worked on its right side by the ancient artisan, is a deep imprint of a fossil bivalve shell Mucrospirifer holding sparkling micro-crystals. This fossil has an uncanny resemblance to a flying falcon. The bottom side of the head stone has another recessed fossil shell of the same species with signs of wear that show it was seated on the body in ages past. (We take great care not to grind figure stones together as wear-marks are clues to original assembly.) The body stone is loaded with fossilized crinoid "Indian beads" resembling tiny bones of the birds' prey. Khaki jasper w “flying” fossil shell on head, 2 parts. 5.0”h; 393 gm  Interested parties email paleoart@frontiernet.net

114.  Red Bird

Acredula curalium

This may have been a representation of a sunset thunderbird, but could have been a cardinal. Cardinals are abundant in Illinois. Today, their feathers are illegal to own, but would have been a beautiful adornment to Paleo / Archaic Indian. This figurine is made of red granite, a material that is rare in this area. Where did it come from? In the left photo I posed the figure with the bird looking over its back preening itself. Its tail is laying flat. The right photo the head is forward and the tail is up edge-wise against the body stone. Red granite 3 parts. 4.5"H x 7.5"L; 776 gm  Interested parties email paleoart@frontiernet.net

81.  Red Thunder

    Argentavis magnificens

This beautiful red figurine, hand-polished by the ancient artisan, was first thought to be meteorite (no sample pieces have been removed from the stones), but it is actually a rare form of hematite.[7] Here, this Indian thunderbird has just laid more terror in the skies - and has turned her head to see her egg. Red minerals fill the iron matrix of these stones giving them the appearance of tiny scales or feathers. The smoky metaquartzite egg found near the bird has minute hinge fractures giving it the speckled-egg appearance. Apparently, the egg was glacier-ground and hand-polished by the Native American Indian River Owl as well. Red hematite w blue-black specks (not a tool kit) w smoky metaquartzite egg, 3 parts. 3.5”h; 217 gm total.   Interested parties email paleoart@frontiernet.net

83.  Soaring Red-Tail Hawk

Red Tail Hawks, though a protected species, are quite numerous in this area. In fact, the Red-Tail was made famous when "Pale Male", a light-colored Red-Tail Hawk, arrived in Central Park in New York City in 1995. I found the body stone first, thinking it might be a small hammer head, but I couldn't find any impact marks on this hard shale piece. Later I went back and found the matching shale head and red sandstone tail. A cute little dead-ringer for the real thing. Were some red-tails lighter in color shortly after the last Ice Age? Gray Pennsylvanian glacial slate body with gray and white-stripped glacial banded slate head and red sandstone tail, 3 parts. 3.0h; 164 gm  Interested parties email paleoart@frontiernet.net