Handbook of Alabama Archaeology: Part I Point Types Part 10

FORM: The cross-section is biconvex. The blade is excurvate with widest point less than halfway from the base to the distal end. This point of maximum width may mark the termination of the hafting area. Some examples are beveled on one side of each face. Side edges of the hafting area are tapered. The basal edge is rounded. Basal edges may be lightly ground.

FLAKING: The measured examples (all made of quartzite) are shaped by well controlled random flaking. Secondary flaking of a deeper shorter nature appears on all edges. This flaking may have been accomplished by a percussion.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

COMMENTS: The type was named after examples ill.u.s.trated by Coe (1959) along with Guilford points (Bell, 1960). The ill.u.s.trated example is from Cambron Site 326, Buncombe County, North Carolina. At the Doerschuk Site, Coe (1959) recovered examples with Guilford points above Morrow Mt. and below Halifax types. He suggests a date of around 6000 years ago in the Carolina Piedmont area. He gives the distribution as Carolina Piedmont and not much north of Virginia or south of Piedmont, Georgia.

Examples appear on several sites in western North Carolina. Miller (1962) ill.u.s.trated examples from Roanoke River drainage area in Mecklenburg County, Virginia, as follows: Site 44Mc75 (Plate 29, Fig. F, Plate 45, Fig. L); Site 44Mc66 (Plate 40, Figs. G, H, M; Plate 41, Figs.

I, J); Site 44Mc73 (Plate 42, Fig. D); Bluestone Creek drainage area (Plate 48, Figs. 1, 2a). The similarity of the type to Lerma Rounded Base points may be an indication that they are coeval. An early Archaic a.s.sociation prior to 5000 years ago is suggested.

GUNTERSVILLE, =Cambron= (This Paper): A-59

GENERAL DESCRIPTION: This is a small to medium-sized, lanceolate point with straight base and excurvate blade.

MEASUREMENTS: Seven cotypes, including the ill.u.s.trated example, ranged in measurements as follows: length--maximum, 50 mm.; minimum, 33 mm.; average, 35 mm.: width at base--maximum, 18 mm.; minimum, 10 mm.; average, 14 mm.: thickness--maximum, 6 mm.; minimum, 4 mm.; average, 5 mm. The blade width of four examples ranged from a maximum of 21 mm. to a minimum of 13 mm. and averaged 16 mm.

FORM: The cross-section is usually flattened but may be biconvex. The blade is excurvate. The widest point may be at the base or somewhat below the midsection. The distal end is acute. Side edges of the hafting area may be parallel or slightly contracted. (It is difficult to define the extent of the hafting area on examples with contracted side edges.) The basal edge is straight and thinned.

FLAKING: Broad, shallow, random, flaking appears on the faces with fine secondary flaking along the blade edges and sides of the hafting area.

Fairly long, often broad, flakes were removed in order to thin the basal edge. Local materials were used.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

COMMENTS: The type was named after sites in Guntersville Basin of the Tennessee River where many examples are found. The ill.u.s.trated example is from Cambron Site 12, Limestone County, Alabama. Six examples in a.s.sociation with Madison points, a stone disc and other artifacts were taken from Burial 6, Site Lu 92, Lauderdale County, Alabama (Webb and DeJarnette, 1942). Examples ill.u.s.trated along with Madison and Ft.

Ancient points, were described as Dallas component triangular points by Lewis and Kneberg (1946). Both Guntersville Lanceolate and Madison points were ill.u.s.trated and described by Kneberg (1956) as Late Mississippi Triangular. She states, "In eastern Tennessee it is equally numerous in the Mouse Creek and Dallas Cultures, and occurs in smaller numbers in historic Cherokee sites" (1956). The type was cla.s.sified as Type W in the Guntersville Basin where it appeared in a.s.sociation with trade goods in several historic burials. A burial at Lewis Bluff in Wheeler Basin of Tennessee River (Cambron and Waters, 1959a) yielded examples in a.s.sociation with Madison points, complicated-stamped sherds and plain, sh.e.l.l-tempered ware, an elbow-clay pipe and other artifacts.

Two examples were recovered from the middle section of Stratum I and upper half of Stratum I (Woodland and Mississippian) at Flint Creek Rock Shelter (Cambron and Waters, 1961). Guntersville Lanceolate appears to be a.s.sociated with late Mississippian and historic cultures in the Tennessee Valley. Kneberg (1956) suggests a probable date of 1300 A.D.

to 1800 A.D.

HALIFAX, =Coe= (Coe, 1959): A-112

GENERAL DESCRIPTION: The Halifax is a small to medium-sized, side-notched point usually made of vein quartz or, occasionally, quartzite.

MEASUREMENTS: Coe (1959) lists a range of length from 56 mm. to 29 mm.

with an average length of 44 mm. and a range of width from 25 mm. to 17 mm. with an average width of 20 mm. Measurements of the ill.u.s.trated example are: length, 30 mm.; shoulder width, 21 mm.; stem width, 18 mm.; stem length, 9 mm.; thickness, 8 mm.; depth of notch, 3 mm.; width of notch, 10 mm.

FORM: The cross-section is usually biconvex. Shoulders are tapered. The blade is usually straight but may be excurvate. The distal end is acute.

The stem is expanded with straight or incurvate side edges and straight or excurvate basal edge. The stem base edge and side notches of the hafting area are usually ground.

FLAKING: The blade and stem are shaped by broad, often deep, random flaking. Some examples show good secondary flaking along the blade edges. The notches were worked out by the removal of several flakes.

Some points are asymmetrical due to variation in depth and location of notches. According to Coe (1959) "The typical specimen was relatively thick and worked from a core. These cores, however, frequently originated as thick spalls struck from quartz or quartzite boulders common to this area of the Roanoke River."

[Ill.u.s.tration]

COMMENTS: The type was named after Halifax County, North Carolina, where examples were recovered from the Gaston Site on the Roanoke River. The ill.u.s.trated example is from Cambron Site 94, Buncombe County, North Carolina. A radiocarbon date of 5440 300 B.P. was secured for the type at the Gaston Site, where it appeared above Guilford and below Savannah River points. Coe (1959) suggests "a relations.h.i.+p to Lamoka points of the New York area." This, in turn, indicates that the type is ancestral to Lamoka points, similar to Swan Lake points, of Alabama and Tennessee Valley area. In Alabama Swan Lake is a.s.sociated with the Woodland culture. Halifax points are found on several sites in Buncombe County, North Carolina. Miller (1962) ill.u.s.trated examples (Plate 42, Figs. J, K, M and U) from Site 44Mc73, which is described as a pre-pottery site.

Swan Lake points from Site 44Ha7 (Plate 52, Figs. F, N, T, V and DD) are described by Miller (1962) as "typical Woodland types." Thus both Halifax and Swan Lake points appear in the John H. Kerr Basin of the Roanoke River, Virginia and North Carolina. A type resembling Halifax has been isolated in Randolph County in an Archaic context (O'Hear and Knight, 1975).

HAMILTON, =Lewis= (Lewis, 1955): A-45

GENERAL DESCRIPTION: The Hamilton is a small, triangular point with incurvate blade and incurvate base.

MEASUREMENTS: Bell (1960) lists the length range as 22 mm. to 45 mm.; the length mode, 40 mm. The ill.u.s.trated plesiotype measures 37 mm. long, 18 mm. wide at base, 4 mm. thick, 3 mm. deep in basal concavity.

FORM: The cross-section is flattened. The blade ranges in shape from near straight to deeply incurvate but is usually slightly incurvate.

Fine serrations along the blade edges are rare. The distal end is acute.

The base is usually incurvate but may be straight and is always thinned.

FLAKING: According to Kneberg (1956) "Exceptionally fine pressure chipping characterizes this type." The faces are worked by broad, shallow flaking with fine retouch along the blade edges. The basal edge is thinned by the removal of broad shallow flakes and is rarely retouched except near the junction of the basal edge with the side edges.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

COMMENTS: "The Hamilton Incurvate point and Hamilton culture are named from Hamilton County, Tennessee, where they were first identified."

(Kneberg, 1956). The ill.u.s.trated example is from Cambron Site 27, Limestone County, Alabama. According to Kneberg (1956) the Hamilton is "a late Woodland type a.s.sociated with the Hamilton culture. This is the culture characterized by dome-shaped burial mounds in eastern Tennessee.

It is also found in middle Tennessee with the Decatur and Harmon's Creek Woodland cultures." An example was recovered from Level 1 at the Stanfield-Worley Bluff Shelter (DeJarnette, Kurjack and Cambron, 1962).

At University of Alabama Site Ms 201, Marshall County, Alabama, two examples were recovered from Level 1 and one from Level 5. At the Flint River Site (Webb and DeJarnette, 1948a) one example was recovered from each zone: Zones A and A-B (both Woodland), Zone C, and Zone D (Archaic). This evidence indicates a Woodland or possibly late Archaic a.s.sociation at Flint River. Examples are found on Woodland and Mississippian sites in North Alabama. Kneberg (1956) suggests a probable age of about 500 A.D. to 1000 A.D. Bell (1960) suggests a date of about 300 A.D. to 800 A.D.

HAMILTON STEMMED, =Cambron= (This Paper): A-108

GENERAL DESCRIPTION: This is a medium-sized, expanded-stem point with an excurvate blade.

MEASUREMENTS: Lewis and Kneberg (1946), Plate 65, ill.u.s.trate two examples of Hamilton Stemmed points. These two are 72 mm. and 76 mm.

long respectively. The ill.u.s.trated example measures 75 mm. long, 30 mm.

in shoulder width, 18 mm. in stem width, 12 mm. in stem length, and 9 mm. thick.

FORM: The cross-section is biconvex. Shoulders are inversely tapered, forming short sharp barbs. The blade is excurvate. The rather sharply-acute distal end gives the blade edge a near-recurvate appearance. The stem is expanded with straight side edges; the stem base, thinned and either straight or slightly excurvate.

FLAKING: The blade and hafting area are shaped by broad, shallow-to-deep random flaking. One or all blade edges may be secondarily flaked by the removal of fine, shallow flakes or rather crude deep flakes. The corner notches are formed by strong, broad flaking (usually by removal of one flake from each side of each notch). Stem edges may be retouched, with fine flaking having been employed to thin the base of the stem.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

COMMENTS: The type is named after Hamilton County, Tennessee where the Hamilton culture was first recognized. The ill.u.s.trated plesiotype is from Cambron Site 27, Limestone County, Alabama, which has produced several examples of Hamilton points. It is a late Woodland type a.s.sociated with the Hamilton culture. Kneberg states (1956), "This is the culture characterized by dome-shaped burial mounds in eastern Tennessee. It is also found in middle Tennessee with the Decatur and Harmon's Creek Woodland cultures." Local examples have been cla.s.sified as Hamilton corner notched. An example was ill.u.s.trated by Rowe (1947) as a rare Hamilton culture type from eastern Tennessee.

HARDAWAY, =Coe= (Coe, 1959): A-46

GENERAL DESCRIPTION: This is a small to medium-sized, side notched point with concave base.

MEASUREMENTS: Coe (1959) lists the measurements of examples from the North Carolina Piedmont as follows: length--maximum, 50 mm.; minimum, 28 mm.; average, 35 mm.: width--maximum, 35 mm.; minimum, 23 mm.; average, 25 mm.: thickness--maximum, 6 mm.; minimum, 3 mm.; average, 4 mm. The length of samples in the Tennessee Valley ranges from a maximum of 50 mm. to a minimum of 29 mm. The average measurements of 28 examples from 16 sites follow: length, 40 mm.; width, 21 mm.; thickness, 6 mm. (Soday and Cambron, n. d.). The ill.u.s.trated example measures 38 mm. long, 23 mm. wide at the distal end of hafting area, 26 mm. wide at base, 6 mm.

thick, 21 mm. wide across hafting constriction, 4 mm. deep in basal concavity.

FORM: The cross-section is biconvex. The blade is usually straight but may be excurvate. Blade edges may be serrated. The distal end is usually acute. The hafting area is auriculate with expanded-rounded auricles.

Coe (1959) describes the average side notch as about 4 mm. deep and 5 mm. wide. This results in a short hafting constriction. The basal edge is incurvate and thinned. Both side and basal edges of the hafting area are usually ground.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

FLAKING: The face is shaped by broad well controlled flaking. A weak median ridge created by broad, shallow secondary flaking is often seen near the distal end of the blade face. The basal edge of the hafting area is thinned by the removal of broad flakes. Most edges of both the hafting area and the blade are finely retouched.