Post an Arrowhead and tell its use (open posting)

[Tnmountains]

Name an arrowhead or tool. Give a time frame. Post a picture and tell us what you can of its many uses. Provide your research links...... Here is an interesting one to start......

Morrow Mountain,Middle Archaic, Hunting and warfare.

Source Book, Prehistoric Indians of the South East. Archeology of Alabama and the Middle South.pg 64 online .
Burials

The burial positions of these individulalls was not the only unusuall thing about them_ all three had met violent deaths. The rib cage of burial 83 an adult male,had been penetrated by three projectile points. One of these was a morrow mountain while the other two had been fragmented upon impact and could not be identified. Burial 84,also an adult male was associated with 7 Morrow Mountain projectiles points. 4 Morrow Mountains were found in the thoracic cavity, 2 Morrow Mountains were firmly imbedded in the spinal column and one Morrow Mountain was found in the mouth cavity. One of the two points found in the spinal column"had entered from the front and loged in the centrum(center part of the vertebra, the other had penetrated from the rear and was embedded between two neural processes.
Burial number 85, a male adolecent had been placed into the burial pit first then a cache of artifacts was placed between the arm and body.Two bone awls from deer ulnas,one biface knife,and two Morrow Mountain projectile points. This individuall also had a projectile point firmly embedded in his spinal column.

Here is the book on line if you want to buy it. Talks a lot about pre-clovis artifacts,, You can read some on line at
http://books.google.com/books?id=kM...esult&ct=result&resnum=4#v=onepage&q=&f=false

 

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[lostcauses]

This would work in areas it could be done in. Yet most areas were not such. To herd them into a tighter area does seem to have been done.

Or use the weapons to hurt the animal and herd it over a cliff or into a canyon so they could drop rocks on it.

 

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[crow12c]

see, there ya go using "common sense theory" it makes more sense to think that way when dealin with humans, beings we are humans. and keep in mind that our greatest brains today belive we come from a little fish like thing that jumped back and forth from the water to the bank until it grew lungs. or the we are from monkey thing.......I dont know bout you, but I aint from no monkey or fish thing. and this is from our best of the best?? i aint in no hurry to belive anything these brains claim to..l;ater man. crow. ps. we gotta real flamer going on here man! good thread.

 

[crow12c]

The grave thing is well and good insofar as I wouldn't knowingly disturb one. But before we get too carried away with it, it might not hurt to note that, oftentimes, whenever those who came before us were digging a trash pit and encountered the skull of a burial, they'd just pitch it.
my Brother please tell me how on earth you come to this theory? how is is possable for you to obtain a single act of people that lived thousands of years before you? look to the closest relitive of the human that was here then. they would never touch such a thing and were very superstitious bout the dead. so I think that as a theory is not very common such. but I sure like the mix of theorys we have here. later crow.

 

[GL]

I'm gonna go ahead and set Crow here to ignore. Constant criticism and arguing ain't what I come here and it ain't what this threads about.
Later Crow.

 

[crow12c]

to my recaleck nobody here was arguing, just expressing thoughts and facts. human comunication is still the greatest tool round. Im sorry that you feel that way, really. I aint here to stir up trouble, I just thought we were all on a tame level of comunication here. perhaps your just a sensitive person and for this I am sorry,really, I meant not to disturb any emotions. just talkrock. do I really come off as a rude pushy jerk? be honest man. I think this is a really cool site and dont mean to be myself so much.... I could try to be more "proper" and perhaps agree with everything every body states, but then I would be borin.....and those few humans that really know me, like the ell outta me. but I am sorry to have offended you. crow.

 

[bravowhiskey]

I'm sticking with, what I interpret, as the original intent of this thread.

Disclaimer here.....No geriatrics were harmed in the formulation of this post.

Info referenced ...an article by Shannon Graham in Flint Artifacts, Texas.

Corner Tang; A Texas Original

One of the great mysteries of archeological Texas is "how were corner tang knives hafted?" Now with help from some dedicated individuals, replication studies, and high power microscopy, there are a few plausible theories.

First, a couple basics....a corner tang is a cutting instrument crafted from flint or chert and occurs in the Late Archaic. Usually bifacially flaked, it has an off-set stem from the tip with at least one notch along the lateral edge. Central Texas is widely believed to be the birth place of this rare and unusual artifact given the greatest density. Finds have been documented across the plains and into the forests of the Midwest.

Secondly, a meaningful discussion on the subject can not be had without mentioning Dwain Rogers. Rogers, most known for his work and flint knapping is regarded by collectors as the foremost authority on the corner tang bi-face. Having studied corner tangs for 40 years.

A publication by Rogers built largely on J.T.Patterson's "The Corner-Tang Flint Artifacts of Texas" published in 1936 plus a follow up "suplementary notes on CTB" documents 608 Texas examples and 104 from 13 other states; Arkansas, Colorado,Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Wyoming.

The unique placement of the notches gives rise to many questions around the function of corner tangs and how they were secured via the tang stem.

Patterson suggests potential hafting methods in 1936 publication. While several appear reasonable, consider the scale. The handles are basically the same width of the tang neck, which in most cases is not much larger than a pencil. A handle of this diameter seems extremely delicate and difficult to use. Excessive force would easily snap most tangs. Larger stem corner tangs, referred to as " dog leg tangs" by collectors have a wider neck and might be able to withstand greater force and could potentially facilitate this style of hafting.

Only 30 examples of the 864 in Rogers' study contained stem damage which may suggest that the stress tangs were subjected to was minimal. To this point, it's been suggested that tang stems were not hafted to a handle but rather to a thong of leather or cordage from plant fibers.

Replication studies where CTBs' were used to butcher animals in the field, indicated that dropping and locating the tools was a distraction.

"While using the replicated tang knives, dropping them became a nuisance. Looking for a small blade among piles of flesh and fat and in the tall grass and hoping to not break it on a rock, helped to understand how a thong tied to ones' wrist or waist could be a help. In Pattersons' experiments the replicated knife kept slipping from his hand once slick from fat and blood, but a thong tied to the tang and subsequently to his wrist kept it handy.

High power microscopy has revealed on some specimens a distinct polish around the stem neck indicative of use wear from a thong affixed around the tang...

One of my best...

Best,
BW

 

[GL]

I love that piece!

 

[Tnmountains]

GL and Bravo
Great post. Here we both see a tool and know how it was used. I learned something. Wish we could get some good info on the doves,lostlakes and triangulars like fort ancient and hamilton.
I am not only learning what is was but what it was for. Folsum and Cornertangs are amazing.

TnMtns

 

[GL]

Here's one of my Rowan points.
9500-8000 B.P. Triangular side notch, eastern US region, Early Archaic

Morphology: Auriculate

General Description: The Rowan point is a small to medium sized dart point with wide side notches and a straight to concave base . Notches are large and ground on both faces. The base is also ground. In some examples, the notches are extremely elongated and shallow with slight shoulders and prominent tangs or ears / auricles.

The blade edges are straight or convex and sometimes serrated. The distal tip is acute or pointed. Nearly all examples have a flaked bevel on at least one blade edge. Some specimens are flattened with a flaked bevel on three or four edges. In addition to ground notches and base, the tangs are always thoroughly ground and rounded or somewhat pointed. Most tangs and tips are quite thin. Many examples are lightly ground over the entire hafting area on one or both faces.

Rowan points are made by random percussion flaking with secondary retouch. Beveled blade edges are steep or shallow and are often made by fairly good parallel oblique flaking over random flaking. Bases are thinned by removal of several vertical parallel or random flakes followed by grinding which obliterates some or all of the signs of flaking. Notches are formed by removal of several percussion flakes followed by grinding that leaves few flake scars.

The Rowan point ranges from 38 mm to 55 mm in length. The width at the shoulders ranges from 20 mm to 30 mm. The basal tangs range from 23 mm to 33 mm wide. The notched stem ranges from 13 mm to 25 mm in width. Notches range from 9 mm to 15 mm long and 2.5 to 8 mm deep. The distal tip is thin 2 - 3 mm as are the tips of the tangs.

The Rowan point is usually made from chert, rhyolite, silicified shale and quartzite .

The Rowan point type has been found in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Georgia and Florida. According to site reports, similar points have been found in other southeastern states and even into the Ohio River Valley.

The Rowan point type has not been formally dated but they have been found in one poorly stratified site associated with the Kirk Corner Notched, Lost Lake, Big Sandy type I and Palmer points. In another poorly stratified site they were also associated with the Palmer, Quad and Hardaway Side Notched types.

On the basis of morphology , technology, and provenance, the Rowan points are assigned to the Early Archaic with an estimated date of 9,500 - 8,500 B.P. and may continue forward into the Middle Archaic period.

It is believed that the Rowan point type is technologically related to the transition stage of the Dalton-Meserve, Quad and Hardaway forms and into the Early Archaic corner-notched and side-notched forms. Like any transition form of point, the Rowan possess features of antecedents and decedents.

Joffre Laning Coe's Halifax point type (1964, The Formative Cultures of the Carolina Piedmont, Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, Vol 54, Part 5, Philadelphia) seems to be related to the Rowan but appears much later in the Middle Archaic period.

The Rowan point type was named and described by Peter P. Cooper II for examples he found in Rowan County, North Carolina and published in the Central States Archaeological Journal, Vol. 17, No. 3.

LINK My point is nicer than the one on that site!

 

[Tnmountains]

GL
Nice point. Like that era. What do you think its purpose was ? It was not a knife maybe hunting ?

Bravo I keep thinking about the cornertang skinning knife and a rawhide cord tied to it. I have lost a slippery knife while getting up above the heart .(i did find it) I imagine with an even larger animal like a bison a lot is done by feel.

 

[uniface]

What do you think its purpose was ? It was not a knife maybe hunting ?

A couple ideas for you to consider :

The points we find, in the great majority of cases, are what was discarded after they'd been exhausted and no longer good for anything. Point stubs more than points as they were originally made. Generalising from these is tough.

With many point styles, the only difference between a (presumed) projectile point and a hafted knife was the way it was re-sharpened during its lifespan. And sometimes, if this was done fairly symmetrically, not even then.

Fairly large points, considered to have been knives, may not have been. There is a wide range of atlatl design that works, from lightweight seven-foot darts with Folsom-sized points to the much heavier ones used, for example, by the Australian aborigines. I once saw a grainy old film clip of a kangaroo hunt there where a large 'roo leaping forward was knocked completely sideways into a heap by the impact of one, which protruded a couple of feet through it. It must have weighed about as much as a baseball bat, if not more.

It seems reasonable to just figure a point was a point, and used, at one time or another, for anything a point was used for.

 

[creek astronaut]

great thread going here,gl and bravo i really liked the folsum and cornertang.first pic is a thebes e-notch,second pic is a thebes deep notch.early archaic pieces,this particular e-notch was a heavily used blade/tool.this one was probably used for cutting,scraping etc.the second has great serrations and bevels on opposite sides of each face.it was most likely used as a blade.

 

[Tnmountains]

So with heavy serrations probably a knife? Cutting tool?

 

[creek astronaut]

yea pretty much what you would use a steak knife for,or clean a fish with.a serrated tool may come in handy to cut bone or wood when a precise cut was needed,much like a hand saw.heck its easier to slice bread with a serrated knife.so the uses could have been many.like the post tnmts.

 

[Tnmountains]

yea pretty much what you would use a steak knife for,or clean a fish with.a serrated tool may come in handy to cut bone or wood when a precise cut was needed,much like a hand saw.heck its easier to slice bread with a serrated knife.so the uses could have been many.like the post tnmts.

I have a cuved base what i thought was a pine tree framed still has mud on it . Looking at it now it looks like a serrated Dalton.
Greg
Ok what i am thinking now. Even though Hafted with or without stemmed bases,,,,,

1. sharp pointy thin: spear or spear thrower: Killing food or foe
2. Broad and heavy smooth edges NOT a piercing point : scrapper possible knife? Cleaning hides and animals possible quick cutting power in defense
3: Heavy serrations or curved blade : Knife. Cutting wood, fiber and saw ligaments to seperate say a deer bone
Someone fine tune this a little for me.

 

[centfladigger]

heres a little curve ball I`ll throw y`all. Since I`m in the great state of Florida where we have an abundance of "wet" sites lets take this in another direction from killing animals. Lets take this to WARFARE, killing others. Even though I dug this on a "wet" site with woodland artifacts these were used throughout as stated in the article I included. I have some good bone pieces I have found from there( on private property of course,thank you),lol. The WIndover site is an Archiac site 7,000BP these were used with an atlatl and this type artifact was found embedded in the butt area of these deceased

http://www.nbbd.com/godo/history/windover/

 

[creek astronaut]

tn mts,1.sharp pointy,probably for killing much like a broad point we use on our bows,or if hafted like a knife maybe used like a switch blade,stabbing and slashing.2.broad heavy and smooth blade edge,may have been used as a projectile point but more than likely was what we would call a good ole hunting knife,gut, skin,dismember etc..3.heavy serrated,most often probably was used for sawing,steak knife,fish cleaner etc..i like to compare the tools of today with the tools of yesterday and you can see how alike they are.only the materials and design are different,we basically use the same tools they did.now the clovis point is believed to have been used a knife and projectile point,they could have killed animal with it and then cleaned the animal with it,very versatile and it would lighten your load.

 

[creek astronaut]

very nice centfladigger,

 

[Tnmountains]

Great Post centfladigger

Shows in context and things that happened or results caused by certain artifacts, I need to check out a pond.Good read for sure. towards the end here they were using caves and pits for burials..
Thanks for taking the time and do the reasearch.
I understand in the article the parry defensive move as well as the all important reposte, point in line and beat attack. The echo of a good parry should always be a good reposte (attack)

www.chattanoogafencing.com
Regards,
TnMtns

 

[Tnmountains]

tn mts,1.sharp pointy,probably for killing much like a broad point we use on our bows,or if hafted like a knife maybe used like a switch blade,stabbing and slashing.2.broad heavy and smooth blade edge,may have been used as a projectile point but more than likely was what we would call a good ole hunting knife,gut, skin,dismember etc..3.heavy serrated,most often probably was used for sawing,steak knife,fish cleaner etc..i like to compare the tools of today with the tools of yesterday and you can see how alike they are.only the materials and design are different,we basically use the same tools they did.now the clovis point is believed to have been used a knife and projectile point,they could have killed animal with it and then cleaned the animal with it,very versatile and it would lighten your load.

I agree