Handbook of Alabama Archaeology: Part I Point Types Part 20

GENERAL DESCRIPTION: This is a small, thick, side notched, serrated point.

MEASUREMENTS: Nine cotypes, including the ill.u.s.trated example, provided the following measurements and traits: length--maximum, 24 mm.; minimum, 16 mm.; average, 20 mm.: shoulder width--maximum, 13 mm.; minimum, 9 mm.; average, 10 mm.: stem width--maximum, 11 mm.; minimum, 7 mm.; average, 9 mm.: stem length--maximum, 8 mm.; minimum, 5 mm.; average, 7 mm.: thickness--maximum, 6 mm.; minimum, 4 mm.; average, 5 mm.

FORM: The cross-section is biconvex. Shoulders are inversely tapered.

Blade edges may be excurvate or straight and are usually serrated. The distal end may be acute, sharply acute, or broad. The hafting area has broad, shallow side notches from 1 to 2 mm. deep and about 4 to 5 mm.

wide. The expanded stem base may be excurvate or straight and is usually thinned.

FLAKING: Most of the points are made of white quartzite but show good workmans.h.i.+p. The blade and hafting area were formed by shallow, random flaking. The blade edges were serrated by the removal of broad, deep flakes. The side notches were formed by the removal of one broad, deep flake from each side of each face about one-third the length of the point from the base. Some retouching was carried out, especially near the distal end.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

COMMENTS: The point was named for Was.h.i.+ngton County, Alabama, where the type was first recognized. Apparently an important type in this area of the state, it occurs in surface collections from late pottery-producing sites. The ill.u.s.trated example is from Slater Site 7, Was.h.i.+ngton County, Alabama. The size indicates an arrow point. Perino (personal communication) reports examples from Woodland sites in Clinton County, Illinois.

WAs.h.i.+TA, =Bell= (Bell, 1958): A-116

GENERAL DESCRIPTION: This is a small, thin, triangular, side notched point.

MEASUREMENTS: Bell (1958) lists length as 27 mm. to 19 mm. with the majority averaging slightly less than 25 mm. Suhm and Krieger (1954) give the width as 20 mm. to 12 mm. and state that the notches are usually 2 mm. to 3 mm. deep.

FORM: The cross-section appears to be flattened. Blade edges may be straight or excurvate. The distal end is acute. Side notches forming the hafting area "are cut in from the edge perhaps 1/4 to 1/3 of the distance from the base to the tip (distal end)." (Bell, 1958.) The base is straight or slightly incurvate and thinned.

FLAKING: Fairly broad, shallow, random flaking appears to have been used to shape the faces, with a minimum of retouch along the edges.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

COMMENTS: The type was named for the Was.h.i.+ta River Focus of Oklahoma.

The ill.u.s.trated example is after Bell (1958). The Was.h.i.+ta was included in the Harrell type by Suhm, Krieger and Jelks (1954). The only appreciable difference between the two types is the notched basal edge of the Harrell points. According to Bell (1958), "the Was.h.i.+ta point is found in Oklahoma, parts of the Great Plains, Mississippi Valley and in the Southwest. It is commonly a.s.sociated with the Harrell point, pottery and agriculture." He estimates the age from 1100 or 1200 A.D. up to 1500 or 1600 A.D. Twenty-one examples were in a cache found with a burial in a truncated mound in Elmore County, Alabama (Fundaburk and Foreman, 1957). Also in the cache were points similar to Alba, Ba.s.sett, Harrell, and Scallorn types as described and ill.u.s.trated by Suhm, Krieger and Jelks (1954). Along with these were other small points (Plate 15, p. 36), two of which were made of obsidian. Since the type is a.s.sociated with Harrell points, it is probably a.s.sociated with early Mississippi Culture of the Mississippi and Missouri Valleys (Bennett, 1948 and Chapman, 1948).

WHEELER EXCURVATE, =Cambron= (Cambron, 1955a and 1957): A-85

GENERAL DESCRIPTION: This is a small to medium sized auriculate point with incurvate base, steeply worked basal edge, and excurvate blade edges.

MEASUREMENTS: Twenty points from 14 sites in the Tennessee River Valley (Soday and Cambron, n. d.) provided the following measurements: length--maximum, 67 mm.; minimum, 27 mm.; average, 48 mm.: width--average, 21 mm.: thickness--average, 6 mm. The ill.u.s.trated example provided the following measurements: length, 46 mm.; width of blade, 20 mm.; width at base, 17 mm.; thickness, 5 mm.; depth of basal concavity, 6 mm.

FORM: The cross-section is usually biconvex, but may be plano-convex.

Blade edges are excurvate. Distal ends are acute. The hafting area is parallel pointed, with deeply incurvate, steeply flaked basal edge. Some examples are fluted, and an occasional example is ground along the entire blade and hafting area edges.

FLAKING: Shallow, random flaking was used to shape the faces of the blade and hafting area. Fairly broad flakes were removed in shaping the blade edges, followed by very fine secondary retouching along the edges.

Large flakes were often removed in forming the basal concavity, and several short narrow flakes were removed to form a steeply flaked basal edge. Local materials were used, especially Ft. Payne chert.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

COMMENTS: The type was named from points found on the Stone Pipe Site (Cambron, 1955a) in the Wheeler Basin of the Tennessee River, Limestone County, Alabama. The ill.u.s.trated example is from this site (Cambron, 1956). A fluted example is ill.u.s.trated by T. M. N. Lewis (1960b) in Editor's Notes, page 45, left side of Fig. 3. An example was recovered from Stratum III in a.s.sociation with transitional Paleo-Indian materials at the Quad Site (Cambron and Hulse, 1960a). The type is similar to the McKean point, but appears to be older and, unlike McKean points, the basal edge is steeply beveled. This type appears with Wheeler Recurvate and Wheeler Triangular points on pre-sh.e.l.lmound sites in North Alabama.

Evidence indicates a transitional Paleo-Indian a.s.sociation. A reworked Wheeler point was recovered from Level 11 at the University of Alabama Site Ms 201 in Marshall County, Alabama. This also indicates an early provenience for Wheeler points.

WHEELER RECURVATE, =Cambron= (Cambron, 1955a and 1957): A-86

GENERAL DESCRIPTION: This is a small to medium sized auriculate point with incurvate base, steeply worked basal edge, and recurvate side edges.

MEASUREMENTS: Nine points from six sites in the Tennessee River Valley provided the following measurements: length--maximum, 68 mm.; minimum, 27 mm.; average, 55 mm.: width--average, 19 mm.: thickness--average, 7 mm. The ill.u.s.trated example provided the following measurements: length, 45 mm.; width of blade, 20 mm.; width at base, 13 mm.; thickness, 5 mm.; depth of basal concavity, 4 mm.

FORM: The cross-section is usually biconvex, but may be plano-convex.

Blade edges are excurvate above the hafting area. Distal ends are acute.

The hafting area is expanded pointed, with deeply incurvate, steeply flaked basal edge.

FLAKING: Shallow, random flaking was used to shape the faces of the blade and hafting area. Fairly broad flakes were removed in shaping the blade edges, followed by very fine secondary retouching along the edges.

Large flakes were often removed in forming the basal concavity and several short narrow flakes were removed to form a steeply flaked basal edge. Local materials were used, especially Ft. Payne chert.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

COMMENTS: The type was named from points found on the Stone Pipe Site (Cambron, 1955a) in the Wheeler Basin of the Tennessee River, Limestone County, Alabama. The ill.u.s.trated example is from this site (Cambron 156). Two points similar to Wheeler Recurvate were found at the Scharbauer Site near Midland, Texas (Wendorf, Krieger, Albritton and Stewart, 1955). One was near human bones in Locality 1 and one was from Locality 2. Both were in a.s.sociation with early materials, especially Folsom materials. A radiocarbon date of 20,000 years ago was secured from fire hearth at the site (a.s.sociated Press story in The Nashville Tennessean, Oct. 14, 1956). The type is similar to McKean points, but appears to be older and, unlike McKean points, the basal edge is steeply beveled. This type appears with Wheeler Excurvate and Wheeler Triangular points on pre-sh.e.l.lmound sites in North Alabama. Evidence indicates a transitional Paleo-Indian a.s.sociation.

WHEELER TRIANGULAR, =Cambron= (Cambron, 1955a and 1957): A-87

GENERAL DESCRIPTION: This is a small to medium sized auriculate point with incurvate base, steeply worked basal edge, and straight blade edges.

MEASUREMENTS: In gathering data for the type, large Wheeler Excurvate points were included in the measurements; therefore, measurements of a series are not available. The ill.u.s.trated example provided the following measurements: length, 81 mm.; width of blade, 24 mm.; width at base, 21 mm.; thickness, 8 mm.; depth of basal concavity, 8 mm.

FORM: The cross-section is usually biconvex, but may be plano-convex.

Blade edges are straight. Distal ends are acute. The hafting area is parallel-pointed with deeply incurvate, steeply flaked basal edge.

FLAKING: Shallow, random flaking was used to shape the faces of the blade and hafting area. Fairly broad flakes were removed in shaping the blade edges, followed by very fine secondary retouching along the edges.

Large flakes were often removed in forming the basal concavity, and several short narrow flakes were removed to form a steeply flaked basal edge. Local materials were used, especially Ft. Payne chert.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

COMMENTS: The type was named from points found on the Stone Pipe Site (Cambron, 1955) in the Wheeler Basin of the Tennessee River, Limestone County, Alabama. The ill.u.s.trated example is from this site, Cambron 156.

At the Quad Site (Cambron and Hulse, 1960a), an example recovered from Stratum I had probably weathered from Stratum III, where it would have been in a.s.sociation with transitional Paleo-Indian materials.

WHITE SPRINGS, =Hulse= (DeJarnette, Kurjack and Cambron, 1962): A-88

GENERAL DESCRIPTION: This is a medium sized point with short, broad stem and excurvate blade edges.

MEASUREMENTS: Fourteen paratypes, including the ill.u.s.trated example, provided the following measurements: length--maximum, 66 mm.; minimum, 42 mm.; average, 50 mm.: shoulder width--maximum, 36 mm.; minimum, 28 mm.; average, 32 mm.: stem length--maximum, 24 mm.; minimum, 17 mm.; average, 20 mm.: stem length--maximum, 7 mm.; minimum, 3 mm.; average, 6 mm.: thickness--maximum, 10 mm.; minimum, 3 mm.; average, 9 mm.

FORM: The cross-section may be biconvex or flattened. Shoulders are horizontal and narrow. Blade edges are slightly excurvate, rarely incurvate. The distal end is acute. The hafting area is stemmed, with straight side edges. The basal edge is thinned and usually straight, but may be incurvate and may be ground.

FLAKING: Shallow, random, rarely transverse oblique, flaking was used to shape the blade and stem faces. Blade and stem edges were retouched by removal of short, probably pressure, flakes.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

COMMENTS: The type was named from points found in the White Springs area on the north side of the Tennessee River in Limestone County, Alabama.

The ill.u.s.trated holotype is from Hulse Site 17 in Limestone County, Alabama. Examples appear to be more numerous in the Tennessee River Valley of North Alabama, where they are found on early Archaic sites.

Three points (l, n, and o, Plate 12, Page 45) listed among examples of Sykes points from the Eva Site (Lewis and Lewis, 1961) appear to fit into the White Springs type. Most examples found at Stanfield-Worley Bluff Shelter (DeJarnette, Kurjack and Cambron, 1962) were from the lower levels of Zone A (early Archaic), and one example was among the artifacts a.s.sociated with Burial 8 at this site. This was an early Archaic burial featuring Morrow Mountain points. Examples were ill.u.s.trated (Webb and DeJarnette, 1942) from sub-mound Burial 88 from Site Ct 27 in the Pickwick Basin of the Tennessee River. Observed materials from many North Alabama sites suggest a typological relations.h.i.+p between White Springs, Benton Stemmed, and Buzzard Roost Creek points. Benton Stemmed is thought to have been in use later than White Springs and possibly than Buzzard Roost Creek. An early Archaic a.s.sociation is suggested, with an estimated date of 5000 B.C. to about 4000 B.C. or later.