| This frame of artifacts exhibits the typical damage resulting from
agricultural machinery. Point types dating from the Early Archaic to the
Woodland Periods are shown. Of particular note is the first artifact in
the second row—a Turkeytail-Harrison, in rare double-notched form. Such
blades were made by the Adena Culture, ca. 1000 BC to 500 BC, and were
often buried in caches, indicating of ceremonial usage, and possible human-burial
associations.
The two complete/undamaged points, shown in the middle of row 2, and
the first artifact in row 3, are Palmer-like, and date to the early phase
of the Early Archaic Period.
In several instances, the basal portion of a broken blade may have been
the result of hard usage by it’s maker, rahter than the result of agricultural
machinery damage. Occasionally, one or both edges of the break may be found
to be ground from continued use as a scraper. Such points, broken in use
as points, continued to be used, with their hafting intact, as scrapers—a
classic exapmle of recycling a tool without having to modify it’s form. |
