Smoke,
I do not have a published source to offer, but the excavations at Fort
Guijarros, CA-SDI-12000, exposed bone button blanks in a 1796-1835 archaeological
context. The deposit was buried under 3-meters of post 1874 fill and lay in a
moist anaerobic environment associated with scraps of cut leather, food
bone, and a few Mexican Majolica and Canton Trade Ware sherds.
Ron May
Legacy 106, Inc.