Very nice finds.
Years ago, a group of us were given access to bulldozed spoil piles adjoining a closed excavation of a mid 13th century Late Woodland village site in Chester County, Pennsylvania. The soil had been bulldozed to the side because it had been farmed, and therefore the stratigraphy was lost. The excavation had been conducted in soil layers undisturbed by the plow. We sifted through the piles with shovels and screens, and found a number of nice triangular points, as well as other lithic tools, and pottery.
The date of the village was correct for Levanna points, and we found several classic examples of those. We also found points that resembled Madison points, and some that did not fit well into either category. One little triangle was nothing more than a jasper flake worked into a triangle, flat on both sides but with wicked edge serrations - I am unaware of any Pennsylvania triangle type that comfortably would cover that one.
Besides having fun sifting through tons of dirt over a summer, the exercise taught me to take the typing of Late Woodland triangular points with a grain of salt. A simple triangle, after all, is nothing more than that, and I doubt that native American knappers were following a form book to make sure that their triangular points followed precise classification guidelines for the benefit of posterity. While a classic Levanna point more likely is earlier than a classic Madison point, I suspect that either style could have been made at any time during Late Woodland times.
When I find a triangle, and there is nothing that suggests it is one of the Archaic triangles that occur in Pennsylvania, I am content to say I have a Late Woodland triangle without worrying too much about typing beyond that.
Just my two cents.
artorius
