Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Prehistoric Finds in the South field

Here's a photograph illustrating most of the projectile points recovered from the South Field, just above Warehouse Point, along with a list of identifiers. Remember that the important thing here is that we know precisely where these objects come from--within a few inches--and, therefore can use them to date concentrations of prehistoric artifacts that are not otherwise datable. Most of the artifacts pictured date to the Late Archaic/Transitional period, a time when aboriginal peoples in the region tended to settle along streams, perhaps focusing on fishing and the collection of aquatic plants for food and raw materials.



Key Type Material Part of Field
a Bare Island Quartzite South
b Susquehanna Broadspear (small) Quartz South
c Bare Island/Savannah River Quartzite South
d Calvert/Bare Island Quartz South
e Biface (pressure flaked) Quartz Central & Northwest
f Savannah River Quartzite Central & Northwest
g Indeterminate stemmed Quartz Central & Northwest
h Potomac Creek Quartz Central & Northwest
i Indeterminate stemmed Quartzite Central & Northwest
j Savannah River Quartzite South
k Marcey Creek Pottery South
l Bare Island/Poplar Island Quartzite South
m Susquehanna Broadspear Quartzite South
n Clagett Quartz South
o Bare Island/Poplar Island Quartzite South
p Bare Island/Poplar Island Quartz South
q Vernon? Quartz South
r Clagett Quartz South
s Susquehanna Broadspear Quartz South
t Savannah River? Quartz South
u Susquehanna Broadspear Rhyolite South
v Bare Island Quartzite South
w Calvert Quartzite South
x Susquehanna Broadspear Quartz South

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Nice shot of the points, though I wish I could click on the photograph and get a larger version.

It would be interesting to post a bit about how the points were identified...I have a long list of references but it would be interesting do find out which were most useful in the Port Tobacco area.

Tom F.