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2009.103.1

Stone tool

2009.103.1

Digital asset copyright: Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford

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Collection type
Object
Description
Stone tool
Long description
Stone tool of smooth stone with 50% of the dorsal surface cortex removed. [MJD 28/07/2009]
Geographical reference
United States of America
Northern America > North America > United States of America
Southern USA Washington DC William Jones Rhees' Farm
Person
Field collector E.P. Upham
PRM source Smithsonian Institution
Date
Date collected
By 1887
Acquisition information
Exchanged: 1894 Found unentered: 27/07/2009
Materials and processes
Material Stone, Process Flaked
Dimensions
Width: max 88 mm, Length: max 127 mm, Weight 486 g
Object numbers
Accession number: 2009.103.1 Other numbers: 136953
Research and responses

The Smithsonian Institution online catalogue shows that number 136953 refers to an assemblage from W.J. Rhees Farm, District of Columbia, collected by E.P. Upham and donated to the Smithsonian Institution in 1887. I have therefore removed the references to William Henry Holmes/Piney Branch Creek that had mistakenly been added to this record. [Dan Hicks 09/08/2012]

WJ Rhees almost certainly refers to William Jones Rhees (1830-1907), who was was Chief Clerk of the Smithsonian from 1852 until the early 1890s, and served as archivist into the 1900s.[Dan Hicks 09/08/2012]

On page 82 of Michael Petralgia and Richard Potts 2004 Smithsonian Contribution to Anthropology volume (no. 48) 'The Old World Paleolithic and the Development of a National Collection' the exchange of objects between the Smithsonian and Balfour is described: "In 1891, the U.S. National Museum exchanged specimens with Henry Balfour, curator of the Ethnographical Department, Pitt Rivers Collection, University Museum, Oxford, England...Part of the small exchanged collection [sent to the Smithsonian] consisted of Paleolithic objects from Les Eyzies, France, and the rest were from an unknown location in France. Balfour and Holmes exchanged collections and corresponded on the similarities and differences between Old World Paleolithic artifacts and Native American specimens from Piney Branch Quarry in Washington, D.C." The Smithsonian online catalogue http://anthropology.si.edu/onlinedatabases.html shows 18 objects donated by Balfour to the Smithsonian, one in 1899 (accession no. 22646), six in 1890 (accession no. 23266) and eleven in 1891 (accession no. 24708). It has not been possible based on the PRM catalogue to determine which objects Balfour sent Holmes in exchange for the Smithsonian North American stone tools, and it may be that Balfour was acting in a private capacity and donating from his personal collection. [MN 08/10/2009]

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