What is it? - THE ANSWER!

[Neanderthal]

As many of you know, I posted a red lanceolate point a while back on here and asked the question "what is it?". I will again post a picture of it below, to refresh your memory.

Believe it or not ladies & germs, this is a Calf Creek piece. It was found in direct association with other Calf Creek Complex items in Northwest Arkansas. In fact, the entire site it was found on comprises pretty much solely of Calf Creek cultural items - including Cossattot River. Would you have associated it with Calf Creek? No, but don't feel bad...nobody did except for one person. Kevin young found a similar specimen last year, same manufacturing traits. I assume the knapper broke at least one of the ears off during manufacture and decided it was still useful to him without them. If you look very closely at the lanceolate, you will see where the flaking dramatically changes (well below where the coloration changes in the material). This was the original "stem" area. Below is a picture of Kevin Young's similar lanceoloate, found in Northeast Oklahoma.

I made this post to show that things aren't always as they appear. Do not judge a point by it's outline. The majority of artifacts we found have been used and resharpened to exhaustion or near it. These points often lose their identifying traits during this process, and it becomes very hard to accurately "type" them. Below is a picture of some of the artifacts found with the Calf Creek Lanceolate. Sorry it took so long to respond!

Matt

 

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[Jonnyreb]

You hit that on the head. I found what looked like a Golondrina while I was in the Army near Kileen, TX. Later I decided it was an extremely worked down Pedernales. Nice batch of Calfs there Matt. All I find are pretty well scattered finds I think. They turn up everywhere here, but not in any numbers.

 

[*Molly*]

Thanx for posting that Matt, not many guessed correctly what it was.
Interesting post.

Molly.

 

[pickaway]

Great post thanks

 

[Jonnyreb]

By hittin it on the head, it was bout the shapes of points changing with re work and stuff, I have to admit that I was as stumped as anybody if not more clueless than the rest....

 

[WhiteCountyPaleo]

If those long ones are calf creeks....they should be some of the longest ever found.

 

[steve71]

paleo blade?

 

[Neanderthal]

paleo blade?

LOL..you didn't read the post, did you steve?


Dollarzero, not at all. I have seen many Calf Creek Complex pieces that exceed 4" , even a few examples over 5"( the red one shown is only around 3 1/2" or so).

 

[steve71]

paleo blade?

LOL..you didn't read the post, did you steve?


Dollarzero, not at all. I have seen many Calf Creek Complex pieces that exceed 4" , even a few examples over 5"( the red one shown is only around 3 1/2" or so).

calf creek not trying to sound rude just becouse it was found by calf creeks?would that be call calf creek blade by the cody complex?looks old to me thats why i said paleo

 

[creekhunter]

You had us going for quite a while, thanks for the answer

 

[Neanderthal]

Steve, there is nothing about it that would make paleo a viable answer. Firstly, it's made of heated material. Even if it wasn't, it has no traits of paleo manufacture. The whole purpose of this post was to make people realize that they cannot judge by shape or "outline" when trying to identify a piece (for the most part anyways). There are a TON of lanceolate forms from all different time periods, yet generally collectors associate the lanceolate shape with an early piece. For instance, McKean complex items, Rice, Munkers Creek, Nebo Hill, Sedalia, even caddoan blades, the list goes on and on. Not only was this piece found in direct context with Calf Creek Complex, it also has the manufacturing traits associated with them.

I know that the intentions of this post for the most part will miss most people, but hopefully it will make others stop and think a bit when typing their artifacts. It's not about the shape. If a Caddo person made a point that looked similar to a dalton...is it a dalton?

 

[Neanderthal]

I just re-read my last post..wow..sounded rude. I didn't mean it that way and I hope you don't take it that way. I'm just rather "abrupt" at times, but no ill-intent is meant. And this is why Matt shouldn't be posting on the bulletin boards very much..lol

 

[Airborne80]

I just re-read my last post..wow..sounded rude. I didn't mean it that way and I hope you don't take it that way. I'm just rather "abrupt" at times, but no ill-intent is meant. And this is why Matt shouldn't be posting on the bulletin boards very much..lol

Man..... was I happy that you added this last nit I was starting to turn red faced again hahaha But really....... that is a great post and even a guy like me can get the point of it. Thanks Neanderthal.

 

[WhiteCountyPaleo]

StevefromMissouri has some calf creek examples too. The one in his pic has complete notching.

 

[Neanderthal]

I have about 3 minutes before I have to leave...so I am going to type as fast as I can and try to identify "Calf Creek Complex" manufacturing traits. It may be a mess (not correcting due to time constraints), so bear with me. Calf Creek Complex comprises of the Andice, Calf Creek and Bell (this one can be iffy). It was preceded by the earlier Cossattot River point style. The Coss River has lobed or indented base, which is a holdover trait that carries into much of the Calf Creek points. They are punch notched (identifiable by the stitching up the sides of the stem) and most likely derived this technology from the northeast - see Lost Lake and other earlier punch notched points for reference. The Calf Creek is generally made on an ovoid preform, while the Andice is typically made on a triangular preform. However, there are exceptions where you will find large Calf Creeks on triangular preforms. The Andice is basally notched to give it a stem that is parallel to contracting, while the Calf Creek is notched to give it a stem that is parallel to expanding. Often, the notch is started early in manufacture (before the bi-face is reduced to final form) and then finished when the preform has been reduced to desired thickness. This is also how the earlier eastern Lost Lake point is punch notched (readily visible on most specimens), and will give it a recurved or "dog-legged" appearance. Often, they are made of heat treated material and some earlier specimens will have serrations (most likely another holdover trait from the earlier Coss River). They are resharpened by taking flakes to the center. One unusual aspect about the resharpening process of many Calf Creek is that they frequently will resharpen to the center on one side of each face only. This will give it a 'torqued" appearance after many resharpenings - think of it as a beveling to the center of the blade. They are usually well thinned at the base in preparation for the punch notching process. The Calf Creek have long been thought to be a large knife, but one was found stuck in a bison skull here in OK a couple years back and has people perplexed as to the full range of their function. For the record, I am in the process of recreating that Calf Creek point / skull scenario for educational purposes ( I don't believe the point was propelled...we'll see). Crap, out of time! Later..hope this wasn't too jumbled up and at least made a little sense.

 

[WhiteCountyPaleo]

Neat! Have there been any calf creeks found in Indiana?

 

[Jonnyreb]

Heres an example of a resharpened Calf Creek made of pink novaculite I found last summer at my dig site.

 

[Airborne80]

Heres an example of a resharpened Calf Creek made of pink novaculite I found last summer at my dig site.

Very nice Jonnyreb!

 

[Neanderthal]

Neat! Have there been any calf creeks found in Indiana?

I can't think of any right off the top of my head dollar, but I have seen a few examples from Illinois. Some Kirk Cluster points can be easily mistaken for Calf Creek points, as well as Smith. The Cave Spring type may prove to be an eastern variant, but more studies will have to be done for any definitive answers.


Shawn, nice Calf! Pretty typical of one too. I just got back from hunting a bit ago. Found 15 or so points, several blades and a buttload of halves....nothing too stellar though.

 

[steve71]

Steve, there is nothing about it that would make paleo a viable answer. Firstly, it's made of heated material. Even if it wasn't, it has no traits of paleo manufacture. The whole purpose of this post was to make people realize that they cannot judge by shape or "outline" when trying to identify a piece (for the most part anyways). There are a TON of lanceolate forms from all different time periods, yet generally collectors associate the lanceolate shape with an early piece. For instance, McKean complex items, Rice, Munkers Creek, Nebo Hill, Sedalia, even caddoan blades, the list goes on and on. Not only was this piece found in direct context with Calf Creek Complex, it also has the manufacturing traits associated with them.

I know that the intentions of this post for the most part will miss most people, but hopefully it will make others stop and think a bit when typing their artifacts. It's not about the shape. If a Caddo person made a point that looked similar to a dalton...is it a dalton?

thats why i am not an authentactor. it looks ground to me. they are hard to tell from a pic.heattreated material i cant tell from pic. seen many red ,pink pieces that were not heattreated but were in a fire. just threw in a couple pics