They dont get much smaller than this.

[Atlantis0077]

Afternoon,

Same spot as yesterday...had a good rain and this little point showed up. It has a ding on the stem, but other than that is a whole point....not broken, just very small. I have a few this size, but not many. They would fall through an average screen.

Happy Hunting,

Atlantis

 

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[rocky]

Change your Handle to "Eagle Eye" Atlantis.

Awesome!




ROCKY

 

[Gypsy Heart]

very cool ! is it for Fish/ little bird?

 

[bean man]

Cool! For the life of me, I can't figure out what they we're thinking when they made points that small. I think you said it before, a sharpened stick would do as good.

 

[Atlantis0077]

LOL,

Its a mystery to me. And the effort that went into making some of the points is remarkable. I know they had their reasons though, even if it makes no sense to us now.

Atlantis

 

[Airborne80]

Maybe they were actually very very small people back then.... the size of a human thumb? Then... this point would be HUGE!!!

 

[Mental Granny]

Very nice, when I was a kid use to find all kinds of points don't even have an idea what happened to the ones that were kept, now I cant find any, well the one I found couple of mo's ago but when I'm looking can't find any!

 

[d2]

I have some that small that are made exactly like that one. I always figured they were dart points for a "blowgun"...d2

 

[bean man]

I have thought about what TT said, but I never thought about the concept of blowguns in North America. Have you ever heard of any other proof to that D2. I guess I can't see why not.

 

[bean man]

Could be waterfowling. Light weight flight arrows.

 

[rocky]

Gotta chime in again here.

I like the waterfowl theory. I have thought that for years as these small ones are mostly found near swampy areas. The type named Friley is found on these sites and has the barbs that curve outward forming sort of a three-pointed arrowhead. I think these are like a modern archer's judo point. They would have a good chance of hanging in a duck rather than going all the way through, and the duck would have a hard time flying away.

Although the common term "bird point" is a misnomer. All true arrow points are small, but were used on all game animals.

And there are many reports from European contact times that describe " pointed sticks" of one type or another being used as arrows. They did not always tip them with stone or antler or bone. There are accounts of conflicts where the Natives drove out the explorers by using conical tipped switchcane arrows. The tips were the root of the cane ground down to a sharp cone shaped point. Stone tips broke against the chain-mail armor, but the cane splintered on impact and made a nasty wound.

That's what makes it fun when you pick one up and image what happened a thousand years ago.


ROCKY

 

[coalfire]

Great Point Atlantis here is one I found today 1-31-08 along a river South Fork of the South Branch of the Potomac... Small for what I am used to calling a river meaning I hunted along the Susquehanna River. When I saw you topic I thought to myself "oh yeah Wait til I post mine. But you win for size and shape and stone. The site I am at I am finding a bead, Tools, Pottery and...I am not sure of my material. But it definitely goes with my Woodland Era thinking of here.

Now a few of you spoke of these "gem" points being a fishing point. I lean towards this and here's why. When I hunted points in PA along the Deep Susquehanna River I found older and bigger points. There were probably some "Fishing" Point there somewhere. But Up in PA I found a huge number of "Net Weights" as do many others who hunted that same area. My thinking is this these "Gem" Fishing" points would work great in a water body that is shallow, where the fish can be aimed at. In PA they netted fish by evidence of the net weights since the Susquehanna River (Susquehannock Indians) translates to "People of the MUDDY RIVER". You can't use an arrow on a fish you can't see.
Does this make any sense?
Enjoy this pic.
~Z~

 

[coalfire]

On the other hand to see where rocky is coming from Look at the tribes still existing in South America especially along the Amazon River. I have seen documentaries and National Geographic photos of them using "Pointed Sticks" (LOL Sorry I am just thinking of the funny Monty Python Sketch!) But there are as many ways to stick or shoot a fish as there are Species of them.
Respects,
~Z~

 

[d2]

My B-I-L and I argued about this for ever. He told me that they were used in blow guns and I told him he was full of....prunes. 3 or four years ago, for Christmas, he gives me a book about the last wild Indians to be found in LA.
There were pictures of how they ground up acorns,corn, how they farmed hunted and made tools and I swear on a case of 8 year Old Charter, when I opened up the book there stands an Indian with a blow gun to his lips demonstrating how they were used. As soon as I can find the book I will post a picture of blowgun being used and the name of the book...d2

 

[gnewt]

A fish point sounds good, it takes no stone , burned tip or a very small tip to penetrate scaled fish, small fish or frogs. We won't talk about snakes.
Gnewt

 

[Atlantis0077]

LOL,


Ok please forgive this attempt at humor, but TreasureTales shotgun analogy got me to thinking about this......The first Neolithic smart bomb....

Atlantis

 

[River Rat]

Atlantis, that is truly an amazing find. Geez, I would have to be on the ground with a magnifying glass.

I was wondering about the blow dart thing myself, and found this on the www...

Hunting was a respected activity as it was the most necessary route to acquiring a clan’s animal protein. Several interesting techniques were employed by the southeastern Indians in hunting wild game. In small game seasons, the blowgun, a simple seven to nine foot piece of hollow cane, was used to direct and propel 10 to 22 inch wood-shaft darts embellished with animal hair or thistle down on one end to create an air seal inside the shaft. These blow guns were primarily used by boys and young men. The Cherokees were known to be accurate to sixty feet when hunting fowl or small mammals with the blow gun. A Choctaw may be seen demonstrating the blowgun in figure 3.


I could not find the "figure 3" http://www.uwf.edu/tprewitt/sofood/native.htm

 

[bean man]

Wow! That's really cool, thanks RR!

 

[TXPlugKutter]

I'm thinking childs toy as well. I wouldn't have much use for killing things. You could get the same satisfaction with a bigger point or sharpened stick.

Another thought that comes to mind is, I wonder if it is some sort of competition piece. I've seen where people write on rice and create minitures of everything just to show talent. I wonder if this is what it was. The tribe had a contest to see which point maker, for lack of better terms, could make the smallest point in order to become the "best maker of the tribe". Maybe for bragging rights.

Who knows?? Just a thought.

 

[bean man]

Well, maybe they use to be common.

Really, knowing they are fairly common, I'd probably go with young boy arrowheads. I think typically, at the time of the bow and arrow, tribe populations were high, which caused them to become dependent on growing food and a wide variety of critters. It probably became very important to the survival of the tribe, to have all their little guys out there hunting "Anything that moves", while Dad hunted bigger game.

Sweet points Atlantis!