Hey Rick -- by small holes do you mean pin holes or are the entire tip of the thimbles missing? I have seen latter several times (intentioanlly made that way). Copper or brass "tinkler cones" are not uncommon
on Contact Period sites in NC and SC, but they would not be confused with a thimble, I don't think.... Carl Steen


8/2/2002 11:48:42 AM, Rick Affleck <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>We are currently writing up the results of a data recovery excavation of a
>small domestic site in Chester County, Pennsylvania, dating from the late
>18th to early 19th centuries. Among the artifacts are several thimbles, two
>of which have a small hole punched through the crown. According to Noel
>Hume, similar artifacts have been found on Plains Indian sites, where they
>were evidently used as "tinklers" to ornament clothing and pouches. Has
>anyone run across this type of artifact of non-Native American sites? If
>so, how was their presence interpreted?  Thanks.
>
>Rick Affleck
>
>
>Richard M. Affleck, RPA
>Senior Archaeologist
>URS Corporation
>561 Cedar Lane
>Florence, NJ  08518-2511
>609-499-3447 (phone)
>609-499-3516 (fax)
>
Carl Steen
Archaeologist
The Diachronic Research Foundation
PO Box 50394
Columbia, SC 29250
Web Site: http://diachronic.org