Knapping a FOLSOM POINT with Chayton!

FIGURE ONE. A perfect 2.2 inch long Folsom projectile point found by
Lee Pinello Jr. on November 10, 1968 on a family farm in northern Colorado.
Note the flute or channel running up the middle of the point. John Branney Collection..   

My prehistoric adventure series titled the SHADOWS ON THE TRAIL QUADRILOGY took place around 10,700 years ago in what we now call Texas and Colorado. The SHADOWS ON THE TRAIL QUADRILOGY is about the challenging survival of a group of Paleoindian hunters and gatherers called the Folsom People. What makes the SHADOWS ON THE TRAIL QUADRILOGY different from your ordinary fictional adventure is that the Folsom People actually existed in North America’s prehistoric past. How do we know the Folsom People existed? Easy, they left behind a very distinct calling card, a culturally diagnostic stone projectile point that was named Folsom for the place it was first documented; Folsom, New Mexico. 

FIGURE TWO. 
Click for SHADOWS ON THE TRAIL  

Folsom points (Figure one) are thin, small to medium size, well-made projectile points with convex sides, a concave basal edge, sharp basal corners and ground stem edges. What makes Folsom projectile points distinctive from other prehistoric stone projectile point types? Besides the remarkable workmanship, the most distinctive characteristic of Folsom projectile points are the flutes or channels that run most of the length up the middle of the projectile point, starting at the base. The knapping skill required to create flutes on a Folsom projectile point is without equal in America’s prehistory. Even modern day knapping experts are challenged in making replica Folsom projectile points using the same tools and materials that were available to Folsom People in the Pleistocene.

When the Folsom People created these thin, fluted, projectile points, they not only created an important component in their weaponry, but they also created works of art. Folsom projectile points are arguably the finest projectile points ever made in North America. No one has yet confirmed the exact manufacturing process that Folsom People used to make these fluted projectile points. This is not to say that people do not have their pet theories. In fact, you can add me to that list of having a pet theory on how Folsom People made their projectile points.

In the first book of the QUADRILOGY titled SHADOWS ON THE TRAIL, I wrote about the

FIGURE THREE. Folsom point surface found on 

private land in Natrona County, Wyoming. 

John Branney Collection.  

manufacturing process the Folsom People may have used to make fluted projectile points. Since there has never been any exact evidence as to how the Folsom point makers made fluted projectile points, we have to make some assumptions. 

In the scene below from SHADOWS ON THE TRAIL, a young Folsom hunter named Chayton was learning how to make fluted projectile points from Tarca Sapa, a salty old tribal healer. In this scene Chayton shows up and wants Tarca Sapa to tutor him on the finer points of making fluted projectile points. 

“I have spear points for our journey, but I need you to help me flute them,” Chayton requested.

“I have shown you how to flute before. Why have you not learned what I have taught you?”

“I do not want to ruin these spear points since we leave the canyon tomorrow.”

“Do you think I have nothing better to do than to teach you something I have already taught you?” Tarca Sapa queried. “I will watch you flute only one. The rest you must do yourself.”

Chayton had expected this reaction from Tarca Sapa. It was the old man’s way. Tarca Sapa always complained, but always found the time to ensure Chayton learned properly. Chayton handed Tarca Sapa the spear points, one at a time. Each spear point was approximately the length of a finger and wider than a thumb. The tip of each spear point was slightly rounded, but still dangerously sharp while the base of the spear point, where the spear point attached to a wooden shaft, had two sharp ears. In the middle of the spear point’s base, between the two ears, Chayton had knapped a small square platform. When hit with an antler hammer precisely in the right place, the rock would crack and a long thin flake would detach from the middle of the spear point. A flute channel would remain where the long thin flake detached. How well this square platform was constructed and then struck with the antler hammer meant the difference between a good spear point and a broken spear point.

The platform was where Tarca Sapa focused his eyes. Tarca Sapa looked at each spear point carefully and put each inspected spear point in one of two piles. Once his inspection was over, Tarca Sapa touched the pile with seven spear points and said, “These points are good, the others need work. Now, let me see you drive a flute channel into the spear point.”

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 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. 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 lined up 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.

"It looks like you don’t need me after all.” Tarca Sapa said with a smile. “Take the rest of the spear points and finish them.”

FIGURE FOUR. 2.5 inch long
Folsom preform certified by 
Greg Perino*. 
John Branney Collection.    

FIGURE FIVE. Striking platform to
create flute on projectile point.

FIGURE SIX. Rounded and beveled tip
of projectile point.

     The fluted points that Chayton took to Tarca Sapa were not finished and looked like the unfinished Folsom preform projectile point in FIGURE FOUR. An anonymous collector found this Folsom preform projectile point in Mecosta County, Michigan. The material is Norwood Chert. This particular preform was ready for fluting. The Paleoindian knapper had pressure flaked both faces of the preform leaving closely spaced flakes terminating near the middle of the biface. He or she rounded, beveled and abraded the distal end or tip of the preform which aided the fluting process (FIGURE SIX).  ight abrasion and grinding on the tip. Isolation of the central portion of the preform base or proximal end took place, leaving a platform nipple in the center of the base. Two pressure flakes were removed from either side of the platform nipple to allow the maker's antler punch to follow the channel flake easier. The platform nipple was beveled, ground, and polished. It was ready for Side A to be fluted. Age somewhere between 10900 and 10200 years ago. Finder unknown. Perino certification. Ex John Baldwin and Ron Van Heukelom Collections. John Branney Collection.

FIGURE SEVEN. Expert knapper Bob
Patten's pet theory of the way Folsom
People fluted their projectile points.
From Mr. Patten's book
Old Tools - New Ways..

* One or two knowledgeable people have called

this preform a Barnes Clovis, an older and

possible ancestoral point  to Folsom. They called

it a Barnes Clovis based on provenance. It

is impossible to determine whether this

point is Folsom or Barnes, I am going with 

my and Greg Perino's opinion

To assist the flutes, the Paleoindian knapper isolated a striking platform in the center portion of the projectile point base or proximal end. The Paleoindian knapper accomplished this by creating a small nipple or striking platform in the center of the preform base (FIGURE FIVE). Then, he or she removed two pressure flakes from either side of the striking platform so that the maker’s antler punch could reach the striking platform without interference from the rest of the point. The Paleoindian knapper stabilized the striking platform or nipple by beveling, grinding, and polishing it.

This Folsom preform would have made Tarca Sapa very happy! Read the SHADOWS ON THE TRAIL QUADRILOGY for all the stories!    

Midland v. Folsom and the Shadows on the Trail

Figure One - 2.0-inch long projectile point from Wyoming. Some might call this a Folsom 

point made on a flake (pseudo flute) while others might call it a Midland point. 

John Bradford Branney Collection.    

Fourth Edition 

I love researching archaeological reports about Paleoindians for my historical fiction books. I take what I learn about Paleoindian lifestyles and spin a yarn that portrays how Paleoindians might have lived. I love breathing life into Paleoindians and the challenges they faced 12,600 years ago. From what we know in the archaeological record, 'word of mouth' and 'hands-on' instruction were most likely the methods used for Paleoindians to pass on traditions to the younger generation. Archaeologists have not found any written documentation dating back to the time of Paleoindians in North America. 

The passage below in red is from the third book in my five-book, historical fiction series on Paleoindians. This particular book is titled WINDS of EDEN from the SHADOWS on the TRAIL Pentalogy. The series takes place around 12,500 years ago on the high plains of Texas, Colorado, Wyoming, and South Dakota. In this passage, an elderly man is showing his grandchild how to make a fluted projectile point that we now call a Folsom point. Here is a tiny taste of WINDS of EDEN;  

Click for My Books

The old man woke up from his nap when the sun was starting its descent in the sky. He reached over and picked up his satchel. He pulled out a large red and gray striped rock and sat staring at it. He rubbed the rock between his thumb and forefinger while thinking about everything that had happened to him since he had carried the rock from the canyon. Much had happened in his life since then, some of it good and some of it bad. When the old man finished reminiscing, he gently placed the red and gray striped rock back into the satchel. Then, with satchel in hand, the old man stood up and left his tipi. When he was outside the tipi, he had to shield his aged eyes from the bright sun. He slowly edged his way to a flat boulder next to his campfire where he sat down. Then, he pulled five unfinished spear points from the satchel. He laid the unfinished spear points down on the boulder next to him and then dug through the satchel, pulling out a cylinder–shaped punch made from an antler, a large antler hammer, small squares of bison hide, and a sharp deer antler tine. He placed these items next to the five unfinished spear points. He leaned over and picked up a flat rock at the base of the boulder. He set the flat rock down next to his other supplies. 

When the old man looked up, a young boy was running like the wind towards him.

“Haw! – Hello!” the old man said to the young boy when he arrived at the campfire.

“Haw!” the boy replied, somewhat out of breath. “I want to watch you.”

“Waste! – Good!” the old man declared with a grin.

The young boy sat down as close to the old man as possible without actually sitting on the old man’s lap. The old man picked up the first spear point and handed it to the young boy.

“He táku hwo? – What is it?” the old man asked.

The boy studied the piece of chert, his face frozen in a frown as he concentrated on the old man’s question. The young boy flipped the rock over in his hands, studying every surface. His eyes narrowed as he scrutinized the base of the spear point. Between the two sharp ears at the corners of the base of the spear point, the young boy spotted a tiny knob of chert, jutting out at the middle of the base.

“Tóka he? – What is wrong?” the old man asked, a whimsical smile on his face.

The boy flicked the tiny knob with his thumbnail and replied, “You have dulled this part.”

The young boy then ran his thumb across the small knobbed platform and said, “It is smooth.”

The fluted projectile point that the old man and the boy made was so distinctive that there is no mistaking a fluted Folsom point when found today.  

Headline: Pleistocene Woman Discovered at Midland, Texas 

In 1953, an avocational archaeologist 

by the name of Keith Glasscock 

discovered fossilized human remains

Figure two. A Kansas-found Folsom point and
a Colorado-found Midland point, both
made from Alibates agatized dolomite.
John Bradford Branney Collection.

remains in a sand blowout six miles southwest of Midland, Texas. In the same blowout, Mr. Glasscock found several fluted Folsom projectile points and a similarly made unfluted Folsom-like projectile point. Mr. Glasscock understood the archaeological significance of the fossilized human remains associated with the artifacts. He reported his findings to archaeologist Fred Wendorf. Wendorf, Glasscock, and other archaeologists investigated the site In all, Glasscock and the archaeologists found seven fluted Folsom projectile points and twenty-one unfluted Folsom-like points during their investigation. 

Wendorf and his colleagues named the site Scharbauer after the landowner and initially coined the term "unfluted Folsom point" to describe the Folsom-like projectile points found associated with the fluted Folsom points. In their study of the "unfluted Folsom points", the archaeologists came up with the similarities and differences between the fluted and unfluted points found at the site. They evaluated the raw material to see if the fluted and the "unfluted Folsom points" came from different geographical locations. The archaeologists concluded that the makers of the two projectile point styles used the same material. Their studies led the archaeologists to propose that several of the "unfluted Folsom points" were purposely made without flutes and that they were just not fluted Folsom point rejects. Later on and based on the high volume of unfluted Folsom points found at the Scharbauer site, Wendorf proposed a new projectile point type for the "unfluted Folsom points", calling them Midland after a nearby town. The name Midland stuck.      



Figure three. Colorado Folsom and
Midland projectile points.
John Bradford Branney Collection.

The investigation of the blowout at the Scharbauer site led the archaeologists to conclude that the human remains belonged to a woman who died in the late Pleistocene and that the associated Folsom / Midland artifacts came after her death. The archaeologists postulated that the woman could be a Folsom / Midland Paleoindian, but more likely she belonged to an earlier Paleoindian culture. Based on the geological analysis, the archaeologists suggested that there was a possibility that the Folsom and Midland projectile points came from the same Paleoindian culture, but their evidence was inconclusive. 

So where do Midland points belong?

Perhaps, Midland points were reworked Folsom points or were made from Folsom channel flakes. Maybe, Midland preform points were just too thin to flute. A few people argue that Midland was an archaeological complex separate from Folsom. These people call attention to a Midland-only site named Winkler-1, discovered in southeastern New Mexico by an amateur archaeologist who throughout the years surface collected Midland points from an active sand blowout. Food for thought, huh? 

If Midland was a separate archaeological complex, perhaps there was a transition period between fluted Folsom and unfluted Midland projectile points? 

What are your thoughts? 

Bradley, Bruce 
2010    Paleoindian Flaked Stone Technology on the Plains and in the Rockies. In Prehistoric Hunters-Gatherers of the High Plains and Rockies by Marcel Kornfeld, George C. Frison, and Mary Lou Larson, pp. 474-475. Left Coast Press. Walnut Creek, California.  

Wendorf, Fred, Alex D. Krieger, and Claude C. Albritton

1955    The Midland Discovery. Greenwood Press. Westport, Connecticut

Click on this link to order my books.  

Folsom to Agate Basin in SHADOWS on the TRAIL

Figure One - Two Colorado projectile points or knives surface found on private land. On the left
is a Montrose County Folsom dart and on the right is a Morgan County 2.7 inch long
Agate Basin knife form. John Bradford Branney Collection.   

In an earlier article on the SHADOWS on the TRAIL Pentalogy blog site, I explained why I used separate Native American languages to differentiate between the three tribes in my first book in my Paleoindian adventure series, SHADOWS on the TRAIL. I also differentiated between two of the tribes with their use of different projectile point types for hunting and weapons.

In SHADOWS on the TRAIL, I used Folsom projectile points for the Folsom people and Agate Basin projectile points for the Mountain people. Figure one is a photograph of a Folsom projectile point from Montrose County, Colorado and an Agate Basin dart or spear point from Morgan County, Colorado. Both points are in my collection and as the photograph reveals, the technology and morphology of Agate Basin and Folsom points were quite different.

Below, is a passage from my book SHADOWS on the TRAIL. In this particular scene, Avonaco and two hunters from the River People were searching for evidence of who attacked their village and massacred their people. The hunters found a spear with a unique projectile point at the tip of it. Avonaco described his past experience with this type of projectile point.

Waquini then handed Avonaco an object and said, “Avonaco, we found this in the brush near the village.”

Avonaco held the spear in his hands. The spear shaft was the same wood that the River People used, but the stone spear point was different. The stone spear point was thinner and longer than any Avonaco had ever seen and made from a shiny, black rock material. Avonaco ran his thumb down the sharp edge of the spear point and quickly pulled his thumb away.

“Éŝkos!–Sharp!” Avonaco exclaimed, looking down at his bleeding thumb. 

He continued to examine the spear point, “I have only seen a spear point like this once made from this black rock. When I was a boy, I found a spear point much like this deep in the mountains. My father told me the black rock comes from the mountains.” 

Avonaco then inspected the sinew wrap that connected the stone spear point to the wooden spear shaft. The River People used sinew from deer or bison to attach their spear points. 

The Agate Basin point at the tip of that spear gave Avonaco a clue as to the tribal origin of its owner.    

Figure Two - CLICK to JOIN the ADVENTURE

In east central Wyoming, there is a famous archaeological site named Hell Gap. At the Hell Gap site, the investigators discovered an extensive geological section of rock representing thousands of years of human occupation. According to Irwin-Williams (1973), radiocarbon dates from the Hell Gap site indicate that the people who used Agate Basin points existed sometime between 10,500 to 10,000 uncorrected radiocarbon years ago. The Folsom people existed between 10,900 to 10,200 uncorrected radiocarbon years ago based on the radiocarbon dates from the Folsom sections at Hell Gap and the Agate Basin site in northeastern Wyoming. Geological evidence and radiocarbon dates indicate that there might have been some temporal (time) overlap between the latter years of the people making Folsom points and the early years of the people making Agate Basin points. Perhaps, it was the same people...

Even though there was spatial overlap and might have been temporal overlap between Folsom and Agate Basin People, Bradley (Frison 1991; Kornfeld, Frison, and Larson 2010) stated that he did not believe that Agate Basin technology came from Folsom technology. While a Folsom point is wide, thin and fluted, an Agate Basin point is thick and lenticular in cross section. If Agate Basin technology came from Folsom technology, there had to be a dramatic shift that has yet to be understood or explained.

Figure Three - Paleoindian projectile point evolution from left to right; Clovis, Goshen-Plainview, Folsom, Agate Basin,

Hell Gap, and Scottsbluff. Note the radical change from indented bases to lanceolate-shaped points at the Folsom / Agate Basin transition. For scale, Scottsbluff point to the right is 3.95 inches long. John Bradford Branney Collection. 

Since the technology used to make Agate Basin points was different than the technology used to make fluted Folsom points, do you think two separate cultures made them? They appeared to utilize the same bison resources but at different times.

Stanford (1999: 312) postulated that Agate Basin technology might have come from an earlier Northern Great Basin projectile point that was typologically similar to Agate Basin but predates Agate Basin on the High Plains by over one thousand years. He proposed that it was possible that Agate Basin technology came from the Paleo Arctic/Denali Complex people in eastern Beringia southward to the Great Basin and then across to the northern plains people a thousand or so years later.  

Figure three is a photograph of Paleoindian projectile point types beginning with Clovis and ending with Scottsbluff. My objective of figure 2 is to show the technological change, the paradigm shift that occurred between Folsom and Agate Basin. The only similarities between Folsom and Agate Basin projectile point are that they are both made of rock, both used to hunt game, and both have sharp tips.  

Archaeological evidence indicates that the people who made Folsom and the people who made Agate Basin utilized a similar economy, centered around bison procurement. But, to really understand the differences between these two Paleoindian cultures, we need the "soft evidence", i.e. languages and other perishable cultural practices and artifacts, and these are not going to be found in any archaeological record. 

Were the people who made Folsom and Agate Basin points the same people? What caused them to change projectile point technology? Will we ever find out what the relationship was between the people who made Folsom and the people who made Agate Basin? 

Frison, George C.

1991        Prehistoric Hunters of the High Plains. Second Edition. Academic Press. 

Irwin-Williams, Cynthia, Henry T. Irwin, George Agogino, and C. Vance Haynes

1973    Hell Gap: Paleo-Indian occupation on the High Plains. Plains Anthropologist. 18      (59 ):   40-53.   

Kornfeld, Marcel, George C. Frison, and Mary Lou Larson

2010    Prehistoric Hunters-Gatherers of the High Plains and Rockies. Third Edition. Left    Coast Press. Walnut Creek, California.  

Stanford, D. J.

1999    Paleoindian Archeology and Late Pleistocene Environments in the Plains and Southwestern United States. In Ice Age Peoples of North America, edited by R. Bonnichsen. Oregon State University Press. Corvallis, Oregon. 

Prairie Ghosts Along the Shadows on the Trail!

Figure One - Speed Demon! Pronghorn buck watching me across
his prairie kingdom. Photograph by John Bradford Branney.

Antilocapra americana or the American pronghorn is the fastest mammal in North America. It has a distribution from southern Canada to northern Mexico.

I was driving down a bumpy gravel road in Wyoming on an early morning jaunt to one of my favorite artifact-hunting ranches. A sea of sagebrush and beige prairie surrounded the road. Out of the corner of my right eye, I caught movement out on the prairie. I glanced over and spotted a pronghorn buck racing my vehicle. I peered down at my speedometer and noted that I was plugging along at a tad more than thirty miles per hour. I looked over at the pronghorn buck and he was not even laboring to keep up. I gandered at the stretch of road in front of me and saw that the road was pretty straight. I decided to put that pronghorn buck to the test. I stepped on the accelerator just to see how fast Mr. Pronghorn could go. You have to watch out for pronghorns paralleling your vehicle. They have a nasty habit of accelerating and crossing the road in front of you. I do not understand why they do that. Maybe they are showing off or maybe it is just a deadly game they like to play or maybe they are not that bright. I do know that sometimes that does not end well for them.      

Figure Two - The first book in my Paleoindian adventure series is SHADOWS on the TRAIL.

My vehicle picked up speed at around thirty-five miles per hour and the pronghorn buck matched it. I again checked the road out in front of me for curves and ruts. I sped up to forty miles per hour. The vehicle chattered and yawed down the washboard road. Forty miles per hour was my limit, otherwise, I might be the one that ends up out on the prairie. I thought that might be the limit of the pronghorn buck, as well. I looked over at my pronghorn friend and saw that at forty miles per hour, the buck was not done with me yet. He lowered his head and found another gear. His legs chewed up the prairie sand as he accelerated across the road right in front of my vehicle. I pumped the brakes and slowed down. That was enough for me. I let the adrenalin subside in my body. The last time I saw that pronghorn buck his white rump was waving goodbye to me. The pronghorn buck was adios, amigos, disappearing in a sea of tall Wyoming sagebrush. The pronghorn buck just demonstrated to me who the fastest dude on the prairie was, and it sure was not me.  

Pronghorn are the second fastest land animal in the world, right behind cheetahs. At thirty miles per hour, pronghorns are loping along. At forty-five miles per hour, they are cruising along. Beyond that, they are simply hauling!   

High Plains archaeological sites are well represented with the remains of pronghorn antelope. The archaeological record of the Folsom People, my main characters in Shadows on the Trail, demonstrates that pronghorn antelope were an important component of their Pleistocene diet. Investigators have found the remains of pronghorn antelope in Folsom-aged strata at two major archaeological sites: the Lindenmeier Site in northern Colorado and the Agate Basin Site in eastern Wyoming. Figure three shows fluted projectile points from my collection that are diagnostic of the Folsom Paleoindian Complex. 

Figure Three - Folsom projectile points from the author's collection.  

It is now time to climb into our time machine and set it for the late Pleistocene, sometime around 10,600 B.C. We join three young hunters from my prehistoric odyssey called Shadows on the Trail on a difficult trek across the Arid Plains of North Texas and southern Colorado. The three young hunters named Chayton, Wiyaka, and Keya are almost out of food and water. From that book passage, it appears things have gone from bad to worse. 

      The hunters were in the direct path of the dirt and dust blowing in the wind. Whatever was creating the dust, was heading towards the hunters. Chayton was nervous and peered around for something to hide behind. His eyes teared up from the dust and dirt in the air. The empty prairie offered nothing but sage and greasewood. The rumbling sound grew louder, and the dust cloud was practically on top of the hunters. They could barely see each other. Wiyaka suddenly stood up. His face lit up into a broad smile and then instantly became a worried frown. He waved his spear over his head and screamed his lungs out. Still hunkered down, Chayton and Keya peered at Wiyaka as if they were sure he had gone crazy.   

The lead animals spotted Wiyaka and his waving spear. The herd veered off to the right of the three hunters. Chayton stood up and Keya followed suit. The three hunters watched as hundreds, if not thousands of pronghorn antelope galloped past them. The herd was so large that the dust cloud it created brought temporary darkness to the prairie. By the time the thundering hooves died out, the dust cloud had drifted off to the southeast and the blazing sun reappeared.  

“Ha! Ha! Ha!” Keya laughed and pointed a finger at Chayton.

“What are you laughing at?” Chayton demanded. 

Wiyaka turned around and looked at Chayton. He laughed. Keya and Wiyaka were having a good laugh at Chayton’s expense. Dirt covered Chayton from head to toes. When he opened his mouth, the only thing on his body not covered in dirt and dust were his teeth. Chayton reminded the hunters about the herd.

“Are we going to stand here and laugh at me or go after the herd?” Chayton demanded.

“I would like to stand here and laugh at you,” Wiyaka ribbed Chayton.

“I am leaving!” Chayton announced. 

Wiyaka and Keya ran after Chayton. In their exuberance, the hunters had all but forgotten about the heat and the wind and their thirst and sore feet. The hunters reached a small knoll quite gassed from their run. They slogged up the hill, having to stop several times for a breather. When they reached the top, all three hunters collapsed on the ground, completely exhausted. Chayton peeked over the top of the knoll and his eyes could not believe the sight. He did a double take. In the near distance, a massive river meandered across the Arid Plains. On both sides of the river, large herds of tatoke or pronghorn antelope grazed on the short grass growing along the floodplain.

The three hunters had found paradise.          

Figure Four - Pronghorn buck cruising along on the prairie.
Author photograph. 

I imagine that back 12,600 years ago, pronghorn herds were plentiful. Pronghorn antelope are survivors, and their herds are prolific even today. While deer have short-crowned, browsing teeth, pronghorn have high-crowned teeth which enables them to browse on grit-covered shrubs and forbs. Pronghorn can survive on a diet of sagebrush, something a deer cannot do. 

In a wide-open environment like the Arid Plains in the story above, pronghorn antelope are nearly unapproachable. Pronghorns have phenomenal eyesight and they don't miss much, even at very long distances. George Frison reported in his book Survival of Hunting that pronghorns' bulging eyes allow the beasts a nearly 360-degree field of vision and that study showed that a pronghorn's eyesight is akin to a human peering through eight power binoculars. Pronghorn, bison, and caribou are hypersensitive to movement. If you are a spear-toting hunter in the Folsom tribe without a mode of transportation other than your two legs, you can imagine how difficult it was to get close enough to hunt pronghorn antelope on the open plains. 

However, for prehistoric hunters, there was a bit of hope. Pronghorn antelope have a couple of weaknesses. Even though pronghorns are mostly unapproachable for a spear-tossing hunter on a wide-open prairie, the animals become confused when dealing with physical barriers or when surrounded by humans. Trap them in some kind of dead-end arroyo or with a manmade or natural barricade, and pronghorn antelope tend to run around in circles until they literally fall over from exhaustion, instead of attempting to escape the enclosure. Prehistoric hunters took advantage of that behavior by building brush, stone, or wooden fences that funneled the pronghorn herds into more confined areas. There, the prehistoric hunters dispatched the pronghorns with spears and stone mauls. 

In the book Architecture of Hunting by Ashley Lemke, the author reported there are over one hundred large-scale hunting structures dated from Early Archaic to historical Indian times in the Great Basin of the United States. Early hunters trapped pronghorn, mule deer, big-horn sheep, and elk in those structures. Communal pronghorn hunters used lines of brush, rocks, and wooden poles to trap the beasts. Corrals were eighteen inches to seven feet tall and made up of juniper trees, pine, sagebrush, and stone. Fences did not need to be high for pronghorns because they are just like caribou; both beasts prefer to go under, not over obstacles. I have found a few pronghorn carcasses hung up on barb wire fences. Attempting to leap over the fence did not end well for them.  

Figure Five - A buck and three does that I "lured" closer by waving my walking stick in the air 
while artifact hunting in Wyoming in September 2014. My game began when the
foursome was at least a quarter of a mile away. John Bradford Branney Photograph.   

   

Pronghorn antelope possess another weakness; their curiosity compromises them. When pronghorn antelope spot something of interest on the prairie, they oftentimes move in for a closer look. They need to see what it is, even though it might be a dangerous predator. Since they can outrun all breathing predators, they can use a burst of speed to rocket away. I have tested their curiosity many times while hunting for prehistoric artifacts on the wide-open prairie (figure five). When I see a pronghorn in the distance, I wave my walking stick in the air to get its attention. Once it locks onto me, I can usually hold its attention for a while. Occasionally, I can draw them in closer, or at least hold them in place standing there and staring at me. The game usually ends when either the pronghorn or I become bored and lose interest.    

Figure Six - I took this photograph in September 2020 while prehistoric artifact
hunting in Wyoming. The pronghorns initially scampered away but stopped to 
check me out one last time. "Curiosity kills the cat".   

    

Read the Shadows on the Trail Pentalogy for 

more adventures about pronghorn antelope!  

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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.

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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.  

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