Part 2: The Langtry

The next video has the Pecos Blade showing alterations and a Zueberbueler point. A click on a display will bring up more data on the point pictured.

The Zueberbueler point,

As was demonstrated on the above Pecos Blade, it was only a cutting off of the base corners to have a Zueberbueler point. This was more that just a simple change in an earlier hunting point, this new form of the Zueberbueler was the start of points being hafted that had stems on them. As we can see in the next video, the cloves on the left is of lancelet in form. The new Zueberbueler would now have a base that would meet the diameter of the shaft it was placed in. Had man of the Archaic period lived as man Paleo had, a timeless history of little change the Zueberbueler may have found a history of millions of years ahead of it. But this was man human now making hunting points, human and his creative change. Naturally it would not be the new stemmed point, the Zueberbueler that compelled man to change, it would be man that and his ability to adapt. To spur this need to improve that had come into man's life there would be many influences. One of these influences was recovered amid the early stemmed points. Hundreds of miles to the east, man also was finding a life of change, and finding new ways to survive. These early Archaic people had their times of advancement as did the inhabitants of the Pecos shelters. Their contacts, east and west, was seen in the recovered samples of points developed on the Edwards Plateau of east Texas. The next video is of an Pedernalas Point from the Plateau. While not common in the Pecos and Rio Grande area their presence is sufficient to establish regular contact between the two areas.

Visitor from east Texas

Note the hafting zone on the Pedernales is similar to the Zueberbueler in that there is a stem. In addition there are two other features on the eastern point that the local Zueberbueler point lacks. Most obvious of these is are the barbs.These protrusions are not the result of casual chipping. This was a skill that required development and intentional placement on the point blank. A second feature, not as obvious to the eye, is bevelling. On the Pedernales, bevelling is applied to the stem area. The drawings in the video below gives some possibilities on bevelling when applied to a blade of stone.

The addition of bevelling first appears in the Val Verde points, both straight stem and fishtail. Overall they are smaller and lighter that the earlier Zueberbueler points. They may have been the original darts points used locally. The introduction of the Atlatl required points that were light in weight.

Val Verde Fishtail

As can seen in the Pedernales the bevelling was only one of the major difference to be seen in the local Zueberbueler and Val Verde points. The visitors from the east have prominent barbs that flair downward. While the local Langtry points would never reach such extremes as seen on the Pedernales points, it is easy to see this being applied to the new Langtry. The older Zueberbueler had been the result of cutting or notching a sweeping arch into the corners of the blades. To gain the new flair needed to become the Langtry point it was but a movement of the arch. This would be more of a base notch than the previous corner cutting. The placement of rearward flairing barbs on the Langtry demonstrate the new desire of having the point remain within the wound and not the previous thrust and withdraw of the Paleo era. Several samples of shafts and points with bindings were recovered at the Texas site. The majority of these were short fore shafts, used to insert into longer shafts, possibly of cane. Two additional shafts were of cane. each decorated with paint. There a small aperture for inserting the dart would suggest these were used with points intended to separate on entering the kill. The display of the ATLATL above featured these shafts, for your convenience we offer it again below.

the hunters tools, the Atlatl

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Some family photos, is our last offering, just point and click.

Paleo Dalton Pecos Zueberbueler

Pederneles VV Fish TailVal VerdeLangtry

The Pecos hopes you enjoyed the story of the Langtry.

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