This article is designed to introduce a few of the better known styles of projectile points found in Minnesota and the Upper Midwest, and thus allow you to appreciate the very distinctive style of the large tanged points, originally made of copper, represented in carvings at the Jeffers Petroglyphs in southwestern Minnesota. The particular style of the majority of projectile points represented in the petroglyphs was used by Gordon Lothson (1976), citing the work of Jack Steinbring (1970), to date some of the Jeffers rock art to the "Old Copper Age" or Late Archaic period (approximately 3500-2500 years ago).
Elsewhere at this website is an article on projectile points by Daniel K. Higginbottom, Department of Interdisciplinary Archaeological Studies, University of Minnesota that provides more detailed information on the various styles of lithic projectile points associated with each period in prehistory. The relevance of lithic and copper point research to rock art generally is that stylistic analysis of projectile points is a part of the current basis for the dating of the Jeffers Petroglyphs. Dan Higginbottom’s article was originally prepared for distribution to the public during Minnesota Archaeology Week and was intended for a general audience as an introduction to the projectile point sequence of Minnesota. It is a excellent summary for anyone interested in Minnesota rock art. A similar article for the Iowa projectile point sequence can be found at the website for the Iowa State Archaeologist.
Some examples of stone projectile points:
CLOVIS POINT (of chalcedony) Made and used by Paleo-Indian hunters in North America 11,000 years ago to hunt Mammoths, Camels, Giant Ground Sloths, Giant Bison, and other extinct megafauna. Thrown with an atlatl (spearthrower) or thrust by hand. Named after a site in Clovis, New Mexico. Made of chalcedony with some red ochre found on its surface. Fluted. Cast reproduction from the NE Utah Forrest Fenn collection.CLOVIS POINT (of obsidian) Made and used by Paleo-Indian hunters in North America 11,000 years ago Made of obsidian (a form of natural glass). Fluted. Cast reproduction from the NE Utah Forrest Fenn collection.CLOVIS POINT (reddish brown chert) This Clovis Point was found on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota at the Lange-Ferguson Mammoth Kill Site where the remains of one adult and one juvenile mammoth were found along with stone points and two bone cleavers made from mammoth shoulder blades that showed use wear marks. Cast reproduction of a point excavated by L. Adrien Hannus, Center for Western Studies, Augustana College.FOLSOM POINT Made and used by Paleo-Indians to hunt extinct Giant Bison on the Great Plains of North America around 11,000 to 10,500 years ago. Named after a site near Folsom, New Mexico. Made of chert. Cast Reproduction from the Custer Co., Oklahoma Bob Decker collection.DALTON POINT This particular point was made and used 9,200-9,100 years ago by Native Americans. Excavated along the east bank of the Mississippi River at Thebes Gap, Illinois at the Olive Branch site. Made of chert. Cast reproduction from the So. Illinois, Douglas Sirkin collection and the Buffalo Museum of Science. Albert C. Goodyear (1982) has argued that the correct time period for the Dalton horizon in the Southeastern U.S. was from 10,500-9,900 years ago.TANGED & EARED "OLD COPPER AGE" LARGE POINTS Made and used during the Late Archaic period 3500-2500 years ago by hunters with atlatls. According to Gordon Lothson ( 1976), citing Jack Steinbring (1970), these large-tanged projectile points appear to make up the majority of the representations of projectile points at the Jeffers Petroglyphs site in SW Minnesota. With their distinctively large tangs these are quite different in shape from the other points illustrated and have been used to date the petroglyphs.PRAIRIE ARCHAIC(side notched) POINT Made and used by hunters during the Archaic period 5000 to 2500 years ago on the Great Plains to hunt bison. Thrown with an atlatl or spearthrower. Flintknapped reproduction by Dan Higginbottom IAS, U of MN using chalcedony from Knife River, North Dakota.AVONLEA POINT (side notched) Early bow and arrow projectile point 100 AD-500 AD. Flintknapped reproduction by Dan Higginbottom, IAS, U of MN, using chalcedony from Knife River, North Dakota.ST. CROIX POINT (corner notched) Early bow and arrow projectile point 100 AD-500 AD. Flintknapped reproduction by Dan Higginbottom, IAS, U of MN, using chalcedony from Knife River, North Dakota.THE BOW AND ARROW IN MINNESOTA As Dan Higginbottom points out, the bow and arrow was probably in Minnesota by A.D. 500 and possibly earlier, just how much earlier is hard to say. In "Guide to the Identification of Certain American Indian Projectile Point Types" (1968, Oklahoma Anthropological Society Special Bulletin No. 3, Norman), Gregory Perno had the following to say about Avonlea.."The Avonlea point is the earliest small side-notched point appearing with large scale communal bison hunting in the northern Plains from about A.D. 220 to A.D. 660 (Dates for Avonlea have probably been modified since the 1968 publication). It is found associated with the Middle Woodland Basant dart point. It is suggested that the Avonlea point may have been of Athabascan derivation and introduced into the area when some acculturation of the indigenous Middle Woodland (Besant) people with the technologically superior Athabascan invaders apparently occurred in the first two centuries A.D. . . . The time period quoted above indicates that this may have been the earliest arrowhead type used on the northern Plains. It also indicates that the bow and arrow may have been first introduced into the United States from the north, gradually being adopted sourthward and eastward by other groups in the next 500 years.
©1997 Kevin Callahan
Lithic images copyright ©1997 Kevin Callahan
