Angostura V. Agate Basin along the SHADOWS ON THE TRAIL

Figure One - 3 inch-long Angostura spear/knife form surface recovered on private
land in Goshen County, Wyoming. Note the oblique parallel flaking. 
John Bradford Branney Collection.

For those of you who have read my prehistoric book series the SHADOWS ON THE TRAIL Pentalogy, you already know that the books are about the Folsom prehistoric culture, populated by those mystical Paleoindians who lived on the Great Plains around twelve thousand plus years ago. I have written several blog and magazine articles about the Folsom prehistoric culture and the artifacts, and I have written about the Paleoindians who came before and after the Folsom prehistoric culture. The style of the projectile points may have changed through prehistory, but the lifestyle and subsistence patterns did not change much for several thousand years.

Figure Two - the first book in the SHADOWS on the TRAIL Pentalogy
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This article is about one of the prehistoric cultures that came after the Folsom culture and the time period I chose for my book series the SHADOWS ON THE TRAIL Pentalogy. Archaeologists call the projectile points from this prehistoric culture, Angostura.

Figure Three - 2.1 inch-long Angostura made from moss agate 
and surface found in southern Colorado by R.D. Mutz 
in the 20th century. John Bradford Branney Collection.   

One of the non-perishable items that archaeologists use to identify a specific prehistoric culture is the style and technology of stone projectile points. In many cases, some bone, fossilized or otherwise, stone tools, and projectile points are the only items surviving in a Paleoindian archaeological site to help identify the prehistoric culture. Archaeologists lean heavily on projectile point types as cultural identifiers. Surface artifact hunters like me use defined projectile point types to determine the projectile point types we find on the surface of the ground. We use projectile point types to identify the presence or absence of specific prehistoric cultures where we hunt for artifacts. 

In 1946, archaeological investigators working on the Missouri Basin Project were inventorying archaeological sites along the upper Cheyenne River on the southern flank of the Black Hills in South Dakota. Plans for a future reservoir were threatening several archaeological sites and the investigators were doing salvage work before the reservoir water engulfed the sites. 

By 1948, archaeological investigators were focused on the Ray Long Site, an early human site in a small arroyo along Horsehead Creek. The archaeologists discovered a number of fire hearths and camp-related stone tools between five and seven feet deep in the soil. Associated with that prehistoric campsite, investigators discovered what seemed to be a new projectile point type. At the time, the Ray Long Site was important for another reason; the investigators found evidence of plant gathering and processing in a 9,000-year-old site. 

Figure Four - 5.6 inch-long Angostura spear point made from obsidian
and surface recovered on private land in Hyde County, South Dakota.
Note the similarities to an Agate Basin point type. 
John Bradford Branney Collection.  

Archaeologist J.T. Hughes proposed the name "Long points" for the newly discovered lanceolate-shaped projectile points found at the Ray Long site in honor of the landowner. Hughes' intentions were good, but can you imagine how confusing it would be for a projectile point type to have a descriptive name such as long, short, fat, wide, red, green, or narrow? By 1954, archaeologist Richard P. Wheeler eliminated the confusion by renaming Long points to Angostura points, after the nearby reservoir. It was somewhat ironic that the word angostura in Spanish means "narrowness". To add more confusion, it took Wheeler almost forty years to publish the formal description for the Angostura projectile point type!    

Figure Five - CLICK for an Adventure

Angostura points were described as medium to large lanceolate-shaped points with random to parallel-oblique flaking. The blade edges were straight to slightly convex. The stem on the points contracted, sometimes quite dramatically. Basal thinning was accomplished by short pressure flakes creating slightly concave bases. Angostura continued the Paleoindian tradition of polishing or grinding the basal edges where the projectile point was hafted. 

Figure Six - Angostura points from private land in Colorado, Wyoming, 
and Nebraska. Note the oblique flaking on most. The longest
point is 4 inches long. John Bradford Branney Collection.

The Angostura point type chronologically and morphologically overlaps with three other projectile point types on the High Plains: Frederick, Lusk, and Jimmy Allen. Some scholars have proposed lumping all four of these types into a single category called oblique-flaked Plano points, foregoing the use of specific point type names (Cassells 1986). Other scientists have proposed lumping these four projectile point types in what they called the Frontier Complex (Kornfeld et.al. 2010). A few scholars believe that the Angostura point type was not necessary at all because it fitted neatly within the Agate Basin projectile point type (Wood 1998). I am in the latter camp. 

Figure Seven - Agate Basin projectile points and knife forms as a comparison with the
Angostura points in figure six. The longest point is 4.6 inches long.
John Bradford Branney Collection. 

After studying many projectile points, especially those found at the Agate Basin type site in eastern Wyoming, it is my opinion that Angostura technology is a variation of Agate Basin technology with geographical and temporal overlap. More than a few of the Agate Basin points found at the Agate Basin type site have an uncanny resemblance to Angostura points.

Figure Seven - Central Texas Angostura points, 

2.5-inch-long dart/knife forms. 

John Bradford Branney Collection.  

When it comes to projectile point typology, there are two major "camps". There are people who are "lumpers", and there are people who are "splitters". "Lumpers" try to fit as many projectile points as possible into existing projectile point types, using a philosophy that there are variations within each projectile point type. You might say that "lumpers" slice their bread a little thicker. In contrast, "splitters", see too much variation in projectile points as different projectile point types or styles. You might say that "splitters" slice their bread a little thinner.

I happen to be a member of the "lumper" camp and I do not believe that Agate Basin and Angostura require separate projectile point type designations. I see both types as a variation around a common theme and that they are pretty much the same projectile point type with Agate Basin being the first expression of that theme. 

What do you think?  

References Cited

Cassells, E. Steve
1986  Prehistoric Hunters of the Black Hills. Pages 38-39.     

Kornfeld, Marcel, George C. Frison, and Mary Lou Larson
2010  Prehistoric Hunter-Gatherers of the High Plains and Rockies. Page 495.     

Wood, W. Raymond
1998  Archaeology of the Great Plains. Page 114.

The historical fiction novels written by John Bradford Branney are known for their impeccable research and biting realism. In his latest blockbuster novel Beyond the Campfire, Branney catapults his readers back into Prehistoric America where they reunite with some familiar faces from Branney’s best-selling prehistoric adventure series the Shadows on the Trail Pentalogy.

John Bradford Branney holds a geology degree from the University of Wyoming and an MBA from the University of Colorado. John lives in the Colorado mountains with his wife, Theresa. Beyond the Campfire is the eleventh published book by Branney.