Folsom Points and Adventures About Them!

Figure One - 1.8 inch long Folsom dart point surface found on private 

land on 7/1/1999 in Albany County, Wyoming. 

John Branney Collection.  

Second Edition

The short scene below took place in the first chapter of my first prehistoric adventure entitled SHADOWS on the TRAIL.  The hero and main character in my book series was a Folsom hunter called Chayton, and in this passage he visited the tribal healer called Tarca Sapa. Chayton needed assistance in fluting projectile points required for the tribe’s journey to the North Country. Chayton was nervous for two reasons: Fluting projectile points was a difficult process with a high probability of failure and he was performing the activity in front of Tarca Sapa's granddaughter, Tonkala, who just happened to be Chayton’s heartthrob.        

With his hands shaking, Chayton opened up his leather pouch and pulled out two thick pads made from buffalo hide and two elk antler hammers. He

Figure Two - Click to Order

sat down on a nearby rock and covered his legs with the thick pads. He placed a spear point, tip down, along the inside of his left thigh and then placed an elk antler hammer horizontally on top of the platform at the base of the projectile point. He braced the other end of the elk antler hammer against the inside of his right thigh. When Chayton had the hammer precisely lined up with the small square platform, he took the second elk antler hammer in his right hand and swung down hard on top of the first elk hammer. Nothing happened. 

Flustered, Chayton looked over at Tonkala hoping that she was not watching him. Chayton then looked at Tarca Sapa hoping for some words of encouragement, but Tarca Sapa only stared straight ahead at the spear point still resting in Chayton’s lap. Chayton nervously realigned the spear point, this time swinging the hammer even harder, striking the spear point with much more force. A solid cracking sound came from the spear point and Chayton looked down and saw the long thin flake that had detached from the spear point. To Chayton’s delight, the spear point had a beautiful flute channel running its entire length. 

Bravo! Let’s give Chayton a round of applause! For a Folsom flintknapper, creating flutes on a projectile point was an extra and risky step in the knapping process. Evidence from archaeological sites indicates that the fluting process for Folsom points had a high probability of failure. There are various theories as to why Folsom knappers fluted their projectile points, but I speculate it had something to do with a hunting ritual. In my opinion, Folsom hunters believed that by making these exquisite projectile points, it gave them an "edge" in successfully hunting their prey. Otherwise, why did they do it? Did it work? We may never know. I am unaware of any research study that concludes that fluted Folsom projectile points were any more effective than other projectile points in killing bison or deer.  

Figure Three - 1.36 inch long Folsom dart point 

surface found on private land on 8/30/2007 in 

Weld County, Colorado. John Branney Collection.  

SHADOWS on the TRAIL is a historical-based, fictional adventure about a mystical group of people called Folsom who really lived in North America between 10,900 to 10,200 years ago. How do we know the Folsom People existed? They left behind a calling card, an exquisitely crafted fluted projectile point that was discovered in situ with extinct bison at an archaeological site near Folsom, New Mexico in 1926. The longitudinal flutes and the breathtaking workmanship differentiated the Folsom point from other types of projectile points used around the same time-period.

Figure Four - CLICK TO ORDER

Figure three is a 1.36 inch long Folsom projectile point surface found by the author in northern Colorado. The  Folsom point was made from a localized rock called Flattop Chalcedony. I found this Folsom point on the same site that gave up the Alibates Chert discoidal biface that inspired my blockbuster book series entitled the SHADOWS on the TRAIL Quadrilogy (Figure four).   

Creating longitudinal flutes from the base of the projectile point to its tip is an extremely difficult process as any modern-day flintknapper can attest. For the projectile point to survive the fluting process, the knapper and the rock had to be in tune with the process. Even using modern day mechanical gizmos, fluting Folsom points is a difficult and tedious process, resulting in many failures. Today, no one agrees on the process that the Folsom people used to flute their projectile points, but everyone agrees it was a remarkable achievement for 10,000 plus years ago.

The chipping debris discovered while excavating Lindenmeier, the Folsom super site in northern Colorado, demonstrates a high failure rate in making fluted projectile points (Wilmsen and Roberts 1978). Even when the projectile point somehow survived the fluting process, the Folsom hunter was left with a Folsom projectile point that was thin and fragile. The difficulty in making Folsom points and their fragility translates into very few surviving to modern day. For someone like me who religiously tromps the hills in search of prehistoric artifacts, finding a Folsom point is a rare and exceptional accomplishment.

Figure Five - 2.4 inch long Folsom preform. Red arrow 

points at the fluting nipple or striking platform. 

John Branney Collection. 

Figure five is a photograph of a 2.4 inch long Folsom preform prior to fluting. The striking platform or fluting nipple juts out from the middle of the base. Whether by pressure or percussion, indirect or direct, the knapper would strike the fluting nipple in such a manner as to create a longitudinal flute running from the base to the tip of the projectile points. The knapper would then create another fluting nipple and flute the other side. 

Figure Six - Folsom projectile points exhibiting fluting nipples.
John Branney Collection.    

Figure six is a photograph of two 1.65 inch long Folsom points from the author’s collection. The top point was completed and used. The bottom point was a preform that was fluted, but never finished or used. Both Folsom points exhibit evidence of the fluting nipple or striking platform at their bases (see mechanical pencil tip). The striking platform was used as a place to direct a blow for driving flutes longitudinally from the base to the tip of the projectile point.   

Figure Seven - One of many proposed theories on 

mechanism for fluting Folsom points. 

           

So, why did Folsom knappers go through the painstaking process of fluting projectile points? No one knows the answer. Perhaps, they believed that the flutes allowed more blood flow from animal wounds or that the fluting made it easier to haft the projectile points on to their spear or dart shafts. Maybe, both of these are true. As mentioned earlier, I believe it became ritualistic and spiritual. Not everybody in the tribe had the skill to make Folsom points so perhaps there was a specialist or shaman who made the points for the tribe, and his or her creations were considered powerful medicine. What are your thoughts? Then, read my books for the rest of the story.   

Wilmsen, Edwin N. and Frank H. H. Roberts, Jr.

1978    Lindenmeier, 1934-1974 – Concluding Report on Investigations. Smithsonian Institute Press. Washington D.C.  

CLICK for SHADOWS ON THE TRAIL