Naturally each point will have two ends. The distal, or pointed end,
and the base. Base, stemed
or not, is the area
of the point that the maker would place within his shaft.
For the most part, there are two basic forms given blades, triangular
and leaf. The leaf may have rounded sides
and sometimes even the base is rounded. Triangular speaks for it's
self. In your box draw your point. The triangular may have a flat base
and stright sides, but many will have slight
differences in their outlines. As we move on, most of these points are
now identified by how
they were given a hafting area, and the secondary chipping used.
**Want to save time? Place point on your scanner and sent us a copy**
=send as a JPG file, that works.=
Is your base flat? Or does it have chipping that makes it concave
"cut inward" along the base? Or maybe it
is convex "outward"? Alter your outline to show the shape of the base.
A few stem shapes.
Does your triangular point have notches? This is when many points gain their new stems.
Some will have very deep secondary chipping along the base that gives them the appearance of
being notched.
Look close, is it notched or just deep concave chipping? Notched is where a
area has been cut from
the edge that gives a pronounced indentation. Some points seem to have channels cut into them.
The notching is found in three areas. It may be along the base, using one or two notches. A
single notch in the base, is using the notch to help center the point on the shaft. Two
notches, forms a stem.
A notch, even more than one or two, may have been cut into the side of the point, again to aid binding.
There may be a notch cut into each corner of the base, often placing barbs on the blade and forming
an expanded stem. Any combination is possible, offering a wide selection of choices.
Typical notches.
Some points are notched by cutting away at the corners. When this is
done, the point will no
longer look like a blade, this makes stems for hafting. It also may
give the point barbs.
A view of barbs.
If your triangle point has notches placed in the sides of the point we now have a "side
notched point". Side notching
can often be done using two or more notches on the sides. If your point has these, add
notches to your point outline.
Now look your point over again. Some blades use side notches and remain blades. There may be
one or two other features you may have missed.
Does your point have beveling? Far from common with triangle points and rare on blades.
Beveling can be a major feature, a peek at the several outlines illustrated,
will help you note the beveling on your point.
Beveling
Are the notches missing, but the side edge of the point blade is
irregular or rough? This may have
been caused by serrating.
Some signs of smoothing on the blade edge may be the result of use as a knife.
Most often it will be in the hafting area, to prevent the bindings
from being cut by the rough edges.
Serrating.
There are two forms of serrating. Both are done with the secondary chipping. Pressing small
spaced cuts
slightly apart and chiping evenly from one or both facets,
many are done by reversing the chips. Then there is the ripple edge, a rare feature.
First one chip or cut from one face,
the next worked from the reverse face, only a short bit forward.
This gives the point a very nice ripple edge.
Place any of the noted features on your drawing.
If your point was a blade with rounded outline, or leaf shape, we have a few additional rules.
As with the triangle points it will be the hafting area of the point we are most interested in.
A rounded outline on a blade gives the point a waist. Now the area toward the base is
considered the hafting zone.
There are times that the distal end will be of interest to us,
but not in identifying most points. A point missing this end, can often be recognized by
it's base and shoulders.
Unlike the
triangle shape with three sides and angles, the blades lack the well marked areas. Still they
will have a distal, base and two
sides.
Lacking the angles of our triangle points, blades are often more rounded. The base can be made
flat and still not be
a triangle. If not flat that suggests round, no corners at the
base. Sort of like a light bulb? Can you distinguish the base from the sides? A point that
is not a triangle but similar? A tear drop?
Some blades will have a base that is almost as pointed as the distal end, visit the
"Lerma" or "Cascade" points. Some are true triangles, no stem. Some may not rounded,
but near flat, a three sided stem. Your stem may have a rounded base, or concave base
and some even have a convex edge, along the base edge.
All of the above are very important to the eventual identifying of a point, these are their
finger prints.
The rounded side of blade points, many are waisted, on most it will be
about a third of the way up
from the base. If this waist is not rounded but has a bend or angle given the side of the
blade, we call these points stemmed.
This places the point in a separate category, again the stemmed points,
soon we will check
them out.
Other than the very early points, pre 10,000 BP.,
the base notch or flute is rare on blade points.
There are a few addition features to look for.
They can make the difference of ten or more thousand years. A blade can be a big time find,
so use care here.
Are the sides of the point below the waist smoothed? The sharp or rough edge caused by the
secondary chipping is
gone? This is done to prevent the bindings being cut by the fresh and sharp chipping.
This grinding of the hafting area is frequent on point from the Paleo
era, and seldom found in use after 8,000 BP.
Please recall that BP is used to say, "before present era"
I hope this display of features and the point guide were of help to
you. Don't forget our E-Mail is there for you to request any aid.
