Knapp time.

[MoCarp]

its interesting, I like many search for "arrowheads" but it would be better to call them atlatl points, bow use by Paleo Native peoples didn't start till 500ad or some 1400 years ago...its is theorized humans came to north america 40k - to as much as 130k years ago and hunted Proboscidea ( mammoths , mastodons and gomphothere) camels (Camelops) horse (yes that started here)  giant ground sloths (Megalonyx) and giant bison (Bison latifrons, antiquus)

it is theorized that smaller faster game that survived the great extinction event 12,900 years ago ( now thought to be a massive asteroid / comet strikes on the Laurentide ice sheet) facilitated the need for the bow or blowguns  vs the atlatl (yes they used them in north america)

what a place it must have been back then, holding a piece of art like that paints an awesome picture in your head of how it was used and the life those people lived back then...or the perils of saber tooth cats, short face bears, huge north American lions...it was truly an American Serengeti with a diversity of species that exceeded anything in Africa.

You can find some megafauna fossils in our area...cool stuff to say the least

 

https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/missouri-ice-age-cave-reveals-ancient-secrets/

 

[BilletHead]

    You will not see me calling them all arrowheads. They are however all points because all have a pointed end. Paleo peoples did not use bows period. Paleoindian period lasted from  13,430 -11,185 years before present. 

BilletHead

[Johnsfolly]

Marty always impressed by your skills and knowledge. Very nice points my friend. 

[BilletHead]

7 minutes ago, Johnsfolly said:

Marty always impressed by your skills and knowledge. Very nice points my friend. 

         Thanks John,

  Coming from a real scientist makes it good! Just some FYI the first true arrow points showed up in North America in Alaska in 3000 AD. Here in the Midwest it did not appear until 500 to 600 AD. That my friends was not too long ago. 

  BilletHead

[Al Agnew]

Love talking about flint artifacts.  One thing that always strikes me is the apparent similarity between points made over wide areas at a given period of time.  In other words, you can find Dalton points, all looking like they were made by the same person, all over the Ozarks and surrounding areas.  What was the deal?  Were there just a few knappers who traded points widely?  Why did everybody seem to use the exact same design at a given period in history?  You'd think there would be more than one way to make points and a lot more individual variation.

On the other hand, there WERE valid reasons for the design of Clovis points compared to the next time period when Dalton points were typical.  Both have somewhat the same general shape, somewhat like a willow leaf with one end cut off.  But the Clovis point edges kept narrowing until it reached that blunt end, while the Dalton point has a slightly flared base.  It's theorized that the Clovis points were used in hunting very large animals like mammoth and mastodon, and the technique used was to surround these slow-moving creatures and repeately stab them until they weakened from blood loss and damage to organs.  So you needed a point that you could repeatedly stab and withdraw, hence the streamlined shape of the point.  But by the time Dalton points were being made, the really big stuff was gone and the main prey was smaller, faster animals.  At that point the atlatl become common, and you threw your spear at the animal, and having the spear stay in the animal as it ran off was more advantageous.  So the flared sides acted as barbs of a sort, keeping the point in the animal.

It's also interesting that in general, those very early points were so much more carefully made and aesthetically beautiful than most later points, which were designed for much the same thing.  Maybe it showed that there really was more than one way to skin a cat, and later people were more into utilitarian manufacture than perfection and beauty.

[MoCarp]

2 hours ago, Al Agnew said:

 

well said, perhaps trading in points? one person, who contributed to their group just by knapping, the great skill shown from hours and years in their craft

I particularly like Folsum points never found one of those some interesting digs in west Oklahoma

 

http://www.pbs.org/time-team/explore-the-sites/bones-badger-hole/

[MoCarp]

 

[MoCarp]

this is interesting on some of the food sources the megafauna used to eat, next time you see them on your outdoor adventure you won't look at them the same...

 

https://www.americanforests.org/magazine/article/trees-that-miss-the-mammoths/

[BilletHead]

10 hours ago, Al Agnew said:

Love talking about flint artifacts.  One thing that always strikes me is the apparent similarity between points made over wide areas at a given period of time.  In other words, you can find Dalton points, all looking like they were made by the same person, all over the Ozarks and surrounding areas.  What was the deal?  Were there just a few knappers who traded points widely?  Why did everybody seem to use the exact same design at a given period in history?  You'd think there would be more than one way to make points and a lot more individual variation.

 

         Good question,

    Too widespread for just a few makers in my opinion.  Got to think just the Paleoindian period lasted almost 2000 years. Those peoples did not live very long age wise. Tough environment to boot. All they had to think about was getting a full belly and surviving. I think from birth it was installed in them that point style and it was all they knew and to survive all needed to learn how to make them. Then the change in environment and the loss of megafauna they had to adapt or die. Oldest points I have found are a Breckinridge Dalton and a killer Scottsbluff. Still Giant Bison and maybe a Mammoth running around. One day to be there and experience would of been neat,

  BilletHead 

[JestersHK]

Can't imagine facing off with one of these with primitive weapons... What size round for short faced bear!