A Rare NC Stone Lizard
Lizards and their look-alike animal cousins, the salamanders, live throughout most of the Southeast and have been in the region for thousands if not millions of years. These little four legged reptiles and amphibians dart away at high speed when disturbed and are adept at hiding from carnivorous animals and birds. Many people are not even aware of these tiny animals because of their reluctance to be seen. The prehistoric human inhabitants of the region, because they lived so close to nature and all its inhabitants, surely knew of the existence of lizards and salamanders. We know that the ancient people made realistic and stylized images of frogs, fish, birds, deer and other members of the animal kingdom. So why not lizards and salamanders!
Small stone effigies of lizards have been found throughout the eastern half of our country, though very infrequently. They are normally in the three to six inches long and one to two inches wide range. They usually have distinct heads that can be oval, triangular or square in shape followed by a constricted neck area and then a wider and thicker body that ends in a long tapered tail. A few of these artifacts have four rudimentary leg appendages and even fewer have distinctly shaped eyes and mouths. Some of the lizard effigies have one or two grooves encircling the body presumably for attachment to something or for hanging around a person’s neck. Most of the few lizard effigies, found in the Piedmont, were made of steatite or slate but other minerals such as chalcedony, schist and rhyolite were also used. Most contemporary guesses about the age of these elusive stone lizards are that they were made during the Middle Archaic into the Woodland Periods (5,000 BC to AD 1,000) but those are simply guesses since no archaeological C14 dating from stratified sites has been obtained for these stone effigies.
These little effigies have been called lizards for many years even though most are not realistic imitations of the animals. If the natives were indeed attempting to make copies of lizards/salamanders, why did they make them so abstract in shape. The few authentic ancient ones seem to have been made with care but they certainly do not look much like living lizards. Perhaps they were stylistic representations meant to be talismans for supernatural purposes. Some collectors believe lizard effigies were spear thrower counterweights but this seems unlikely because they are so small and light in weight. Others believe they were made to be handle attachments to spear throwers so the user could more easily grip the handle. Some have theorized that they are snake effigies with a bulging middle indicating the serpent had recently swallowed a meal. This, of course, would not account for the rare lizard effigies with legs. In this writer’s opinion, these little artifacts are indeed effigies of lizards and salamanders for one important reason – speed. Lizards are fast runners and the also hide themselves well. I can remember, as a child, attempting to catch them without much success. The prehistoric Indians could have made and used the stone images as amulets to, hopefully, bring the lizards speed and quickness, as well it’s ability to conceal itself, to the aid of the hunter or warrior. That is, of course, just my theory.
This NC lizard effigy is 2 7/8 inches long by 7/8 inches wide by 5/8 inches thick in the body. It is very well made and polished of fine grain grey schist and was found in McDowell County, NC. It has a tapered tail, wide and thick body and triangular head, all of which are typical morphological traits of the artifact type and obviously it has no legs. Most of these lizards that have been found do not feature legs, which does not mean that they were made without them. The legs, being very small, could have easily been broken prehistorically and the broken portion smoothed over. The neck portion of this artifact is clearly grooved for supposed suspension around a person’s neck or attachment to a tool or even clothing. I have wondered many times about the actual meaning of this effigy to its original owner and since that may never be answered, I will probably always wonder about it. But that question will not keep me from enjoying the exceptional rarity, beauty and ancient workmanship of this Rare NC Stone Lizard.
REFERENCES:
Lewis, Don E.
“Lizard, Bird and Animal Flint Effigies”,
PREHISTORIC AMERICAN, Vol. XXXIX, No. 4
2005
Maus, James E.
“A Rare North Carolina Lizard Effigy”,
THE PIEDMONT ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER, Vol. 31, No. 1
2007
Stevens, B. W.
“A Polished Lizard”,
CENTRAL STATES ARCHAEOLOGICAL JOURNAL,Vol. 14, No. 2
1967