Decent few months

BobGuy

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Jul 6, 2013
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Hi everyone,

I’ve had a somewhat decent few months. I’ve switched things up and these have come from 4 different creeks. My main creek has been for sale for nearly a year now so it can go at anytime so I need a backup plan.

The second point from the left has me curious. The reduction flake at the base looks like a flute. Could it be paleo???


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BobGuy

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Jul 6, 2013
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Nice finds, the one in question looks like a blade or a preform.

Yeah I’ve got two others that are similar to this but are a little more crude. This does seem to have some additional secondary flaking.its that flake that looks like a flute that makes me curious though.
 

ToddsPoint

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That's just an early stage thinning flake. Flutes were taken off near the end of production. Both sides of the lower half of the preform had to be specially prepared to accept the flute. Also, I think that Indian would have been hard pressed to make a Clovis point that small. Plus, it's been heated, which paleo Indians never did. Gary
 

sandchip

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All great looking finds.

Remember, a thinning strike does not a Paleo make.

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BobGuy

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Jul 6, 2013
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All great looking finds.

Remember, a thinning strike does not a Paleo make.

View attachment 1835516

Thanks for the input. It’s hard to tell the difference but I guess you need to look at the other aspects of the point. Is it the right shape and is it the right material?

This one is heat treated, as previous mentioned, which appears to be an automatic knockout. The shape is also off. The sides of Clovis points that I’ve seen in books seem to run more parallel and then taper in closer to the tip.

Would you say that’s accurate?
 

uniface

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FWIW, Stanford & Bradley listed heat treatment of chert on their inventory of Solutrian-Paleoindian cultural traits -- obviously of the basis of information they considered solidly reliable.

Also, the later point shown is fluted -- not thinned. Thinning strikes feather out; flutes (by definition) terminate in hinges.
 

ToddsPoint

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FWIW, Stanford & Bradley listed heat treatment of chert on their inventory of Solutrian-Paleoindian cultural traits -- obviously of the basis of information they considered solidly reliable.

Also, the later point shown is fluted -- not thinned. Thinning strikes feather out; flutes (by definition) terminate in hinges.

I'm sure the paleos knew how to do it, but they obviously preferred not to for projectile points. I've examined many Clovis points and I've never ran across one that was cooked AND authentic. They are probably out there but very rare. For a long time I was under the impression Folsom cooked their flint for points but found out different. Gary
 

sandchip

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Regardless of how the strike terminates, fluting is a method of thinning a point for less bulky hafting and falls under the relatively broad category of thinning techniques.
 

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