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Resources for Identifying and Researching Your Artifacts, Objects and Specimens

Helpful resources from the Curators at the Ohio History Connection to identify, research and preserve a variety of Ohio items. Use the tabs at the left to see resources related to specific items.

Pre-Contact Ohioans from an Archaeological Perspective

Bradley T. Lepper, Ohio Archaeology, 2005, Orange Frazer Press.  


Pre-Contact American Indian Artifact Identification

 
General

Virtual First Ohioans Exhibit

 
Projectile Points & Arrowheads

What's the Point?: Identifying Flint Tools

Projectile Point Identification Guide    

C.G. Yeager, Arrowheads and Stone Artifacts, Third Edition: A Practical Guide for the Amateur Archaeologist, 2016, WestWinds Press.

Noel D. Justice, Stone Age Spear and Arrow Points of the Midcontinental Eastern United States, 1987, Indiana University Press.  

Lar Hothem, Indian Flints of Ohio, 1986, Hothem House.

Wilbur Stout & R.A. Schoenlaub, The Occurrence of Flint in Ohio, 1945, Columbus Blank Book Company.

Robert N. Converse, Ohio Flint Types, 2007, Archaeological Society of Ohio. 

Tony DeRegnaucourt & Jeff Georgiady, Prehistoric Chert Types of the Midwest, 1998, Ohio Podiatric Medical Center. 

 

Stone Tools

Jenny, L. Adams, Ground Stone Analysis: A Technological Approach, 2002, University of Utah Press.

Robert N. Converse, Ohio Stone Tools, 1973, Archaeological Society of Ohio.  

Robert N. Converse, Ohio Slate Types, 1978, Archaeological Society of Ohio. 

 
Ceramics

Olaf H. Prufer, Ohio Hopewell Ceramics: An Analysis of the Extant Collections, 1968, The University of Michigan.

 


Post-Contact Artifact Identification

 
General

An Archaeological Guide to Historic Artifacts of the Upper Sangamon Basin, Central Illinois, U.S.A.   

Lois Lehner, Ohio Pottery and Glass: Marks and Manufacturers, 1978, Wallace-Homestead Book Company.

Ivor Noel Hume, A Guide to Artifacts of Colonial America, 1969, University of Philadelphia Press.

Stanley South, Method and Theory in Historical Methodology, 1977, Percheron Press.

James Deetz, In Small Things Forgotten: An Archaeology of Early American Life, 1996, Anchor Books.

 

Bottles & Glass

Historic Glass and Bottle Identification Website   

Glass Bottle Marks   

Soda & Beer Bottles of North America   

Marvin D. Schwartz & Robert E. DiBartolomeo, American Glass: Volumes I and II, 1972, Weathervane Books.

 
Ceramics

Ceramic Genre Appendix   

Post Colonial Ceramics Guide

Ralph M. & Terry H. Kovel, Dictionary of Marks - Pottery and Porcelain, 1953, Crown Publishers, Inc.

 
Other

Porcelain Insulator Identification 1   

Porcelain Insulator Identification 2 

Shot identification  

Jeff Carskadden & Richard Gartley, Chinas, Hand painted marbles of the Late 19th C, 1990, McClain Printing Company.  

George C. Neumann & Frank J. Kravic, Collectors Illustrated Encyclopedia of The American Revolution, 1997, Scurlock Publishing Company.  

Lar Hothem Editor, North American Indian Trade Silver, 1996, Hothem House.  

Warren K. Tice, Uniform Buttons of the United States 1776-1865, 1997, Thomas Publications. 

Alvin Sellens, Dictionary of American Hand Tools: A Pictorial Synopsis, 2002, Schiffer Books.


Donate an Item to the Collections

Interested in donating an item to the Ohio History Connection? Learn what we collect and how to donate here.