Spear head from Nova Scotia

[Upnorth42]

I saw a spearhead today and took a photo of it and am wondering if anyone can make an informed guess as to its age. Any other information about it would also be appreciated.

The story is it was found many years ago (1800s) in a cranberry bog. Its 9" long and from where it was found I am guessing it was being used to hunt moose or caribou.

Its from Western Nova Scotia in Canada.

Thanks in advance for any replies

 

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[The Grim Reaper]

Judging from the size and the nice secondary flaking I would say it was a large Knife. That would have have made skinning and cutting up those Elk, Moose, and Caribou a lot easier.

 

[jamey]

Super nice,looks super thin too.Thanks for sharing

 

[kingskid1611]

That is a beauty!

 

[Peter Iredale]

Looks like a clovis point

 

[Upnorth42]

Thanks for the replies so far. I had never considered that it might be a knife. My initial thought was no way but with a good handle on it I guess it could be a knife.

I don't think its a clovis point. I thought clovis points had a notch at the back? I would really like to figure out how old it is. Anyone have any idea what type of stone it is?

Tom

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Does not look like a spear point, looks like a knife like Grim Reaper said...

 

[Rege-PA]

Wow! Food for thought.
[h=3]Solutrean Blade[/h]

 

[joshuaream]

Nice piece. The material looks a lot like Ft. Payne chert from the Southern part of the US, but it's much more local than that. It looks like Scots Bay/Davidson Cove chert, but it could also be a couple of different types of chert from New Brunswick. You can still go and see the main quarry site if you are willing to walk a bit.

If I had to guess, I'd bet that there were probably a bunch more pieces found with it originally (or buried with it but not found.) Those large unnotched bifaces have been found in several different caches in Atlantic Canada. They are usually too big and two thin to be much use for hunting, and were probably just ceremonial items.

Elfshot: Change Islands Cache

 

[Rege-PA]

Joshuaream thank you for the additional reference, it`s nice when someone pursues other avenues and opens up additional info.
My thoughts on the cache, these people were caribou hunters, herd animals and when they channeled them into their killing zones they killed many and quantities of blades would be needed for the processing. Perhaps the blades were buried in advance of such an undertaking.

 

[joshuaream]

Yes, these caches of knives very well could have been stored for future use, in fact some small cache pits have been found with multiple useable tools (points, bone, adzes, gouges, etc.) These 8"-12" long pieces are very thin, and almost use that involves torque or twist would probably snap them. I think some people have replicated them, wrapped the base in some type of leather to make a handle, and used them to process meat for drying and filleting fish even when thin.

these people were caribou hunters

As far as what they ate, that's an interesting part of the story up there. There were a couple of different traditions happening in along the northern Atlantic during the Archaic and later periods.

Some groups were hunting inland and were essentially following a "paleo" lifestyle by hunting caribou, as well as muskox and probably moose at the northern & southern ends of their range. They were probably fairly nomadic, small groups, etc. Archaeologists typically find kill sites, and occasionally small camps and hearths (as would be expected with groups of people who were on the move.)

There was also a coastal tradition that looked a lot more like what we think of for the Pacific Northwest/Alaska, lots of fish, birds, seals, walrus, etc. I'm not sure about Nova Scotia, but in Maine (right across the bay from NS) they've found lots trash pits with swordfish remains. Not one or two isolated chunks of bone or bill, but enough remains that archaeologists think these guys were going out miles off shore and harpooning basking swordfish and processing the meat to last them during the off season. (Most broad-bill swordfish was harpooned until fairly recently, a decent crew could get 50 a day.) They also took porpoise and dolphins that way. Most major river system also had yearly salmon runs before they were depleted in the 19th century. Beyond that, these were people who set up camps at convenient spots, and subsequent generations lived and died at the sites for hundreds of years. We have trash heaps/middens, burials, lots of hearths, and even trash pits with human waste in northern areas where it was preserved. They moved big distances on water, but often came back to the same couple of camps and probably left older people, kids at those camps seasonally.

 

[Rege-PA]

I could imagine the excitement when all of the variables of wind, location and migration came together and they ambushed a herd at some lake crossing or narrow isthmus. The idea was to kill as many as possible to be processed later, that in itself would require multiple weapons. When you used or broke one spear you reached for another, the same with the butchering, multiple blades in the hands of many speeded up the work.

At the paleo Vall site in Maine the hunters retrieved their broken spears and brought them back to camp to be refitted with new blades or salvage re chipping of those with impact fractures. The broken pieces have been found in several instances and matched to the snapped base. Good lithics were paramount to successful survival as evidenced by the distances some favored cherts were carried. There are probably many more caches of these blades out there that were buried for future use and never utilized. Time will tell as more of these favored killing locations will be stumbled upon by some modern day hunter.

 

[Upnorth42]

Thanks to you joshuaream. A lot of good information in your comments. I had not heard of the natives intentionally burying tools to retrieve later. I did recently hear there was indeed a culture where they went offshore in dugout canoes. I had never considered it because our forest here is so stunted I had not considered they could make dugout canoes. Of course hundreds of years ago the forest was full of large trees. I heard even whales were hunted here.

Some have commented on the thinness of the blade. If anyone is interested I can take a photo of the edge. I'm going to keep my eyes open for chert. I have certainly heard of it but never found any.