Water worn obsidian point.

[Out Of Time]

Creek find from Napa, CA.





Happy to have found it.

 

[arrow86]

Nice find I bet that one blended in pretty good

 

[Out Of Time]

Nice find I bet that one blended in pretty good

Quite right.

It was leaned up against another rock under the shade of an overhanging shrub.

Maybe one of my hardest spots ever and extra pleasing as it came right about the time I was ready to quit and be satisfied with some expedients and hammer stones.





It was a good hunt, but the point was an extra sweet way to finish.

It's a really interesting example of an early dart point (I think).

It's concave, ground base and economic herring-bone flake pattern are encouraging me to believe this.

The distill end has a bulb-like shape and the edge was originally serrated.

I'm pretty confident it's very old, but have no idea of the type.

 

[southfork]

Being so water worn its a tough call but I think its in the Big Valley Cluster . Most likely given the area found Mayacmas Corner Notched would be my guess 4000 - 3500 B.C. to possibly 2000 - 1500 B.C.

 

[Out Of Time]

So I ran off to projectilepoints.net to check and though there are very few examples of this cluster shown for comparison, from descriptions, I can see a lot of similarities.

The herring-bone style matches a couple of examples (but some have random pattern) and the size is an approximate match.

Location is on the money too.

Only thing that seems different enough to mention is that my point has a clear concave base and the B.V. cluster points don't , as far as I can see.

Also no mention of heavy basel grinding in descriptions of B.V. cluster, but it's apparent on this example, I think.

I'm not experienced enough to understand how much latitude is allowed in interpretation.

This example has a very short (though precise) base, with a subtle but very symmetrical notch.

Definitely concave.

I'm very happy to name it Big Valley (if I think I can get away with it) and am very grateful for your take on it.

Thanks.

I think it's a top find.

 

[Wildcat1750]

I would have been happy with that find too! Being water worn is a testament to how old it is and how long it's been tossed about in the water.