Alligator Gar scales
date: label: Accession Date
content: 30 Dec 1966
name: label: Collector
content: Richard K. Meyer
label: Donor Name
content: Richard K. Meyer
label: Site Name
content: Craig Mound
notes: label: Notes
content: Style: Scales Raw Material 2: Alligator gar Element: Complete Comments: These are interesting. Joan Gardner, conservator, writes in 2/77, "Two scales of alligator gar- lepisosteus tristoechus, which can grow to 14 ft in length in the Mississippi R. & its tributaries. They can also be found in Mexico and Central Amer. Hundreds of these overlapping scales could come from 1 lg fish. In earlier times an oil from this fish was used in continental US as a lotion to ward off buffalo-gnats (Forbes & Richardson, The Fishes of Illinois, 1920). The "plates" are quite resilient so to kill one you must cut its throat or hit it on the back of the head. (Wortman, Jacob L."Icthyological Papers by George Powers Dunbar, with a Sketch of His Life" Americal Naturalist 5/1882, pp. 381-388). Possible uses- projectile point, engraver, shaman's charm? The unnumbered scale w/skin attached was given to me by Mr. Robert Kanazawa, Vertebrate Zoology Dept. for comparisonal purposes."
label: Record Last Modified
content: 19 Oct 2021
label: Site Number
content: 34LF40
label: Specimen Count
content: 2
place: label: Place
content: Spiro, Le Flore County, Oklahoma, United States, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Archaeology
culture: label: Culture
content: Prehistoric
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 272249
label: USNM Number
content: A448880-44
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Point
physicalDescription: label: Weight - Object
content: ca. 3.3 g
label: Minimum Length - Object
content: ca. 3.67 cm
label: Maximum Length - Object
content: ca. 4.47 cm
label: Minimum Width - Object
content: ca. 1.63 cm
label: Maximum Width - Object
content: ca. 1.9 cm