Shadows from the Cody Complex!

Figure One.  

Figure one is courtesy of The Horner Site - The Type Site of the Cody Cultural Complex by George C. Frison and Lawrence C. Todd. The image first appeared in Rocky Mountain Empire Magazine in 1949, a time before archaeology officially recognized the Cody Complex. At that time, archaeologists and collectors were still referring to most Paleoindian projectile points in the broad category called Yuma points. 

From the looks of the human in figure one, the artist believed that the Paleoindians who occupied the Horner site were semi-intelligent, apelike cavemen covered in fur and with calves the size of beer barrels. The artist's depiction looked like something straight out of a DC or Marvel superhero comic book. Personally, I believe that the crude image of the Paleoindian could not be farther from the truth. In 1949, they did not know what we now know about Paleoindians. When I wrote my prehistorical fiction book series about Paleoindians titled the SHADOWS on the TRAIL Pentalogy, I portrayed Paleoindians as smart, savvy, and industrious. Paleoindians survived in a rugged and unforgiving environment, a place and time most of us spoiled, modern folk could never survive. We would have ended up starving to death or eaten by a large predator. It took physical strength and intellectual savvy to survive in that brave, untamed world. To demonstrate what I mean, let me take you on a brief visit to one of my books. 

The [bison] cows crowded the bull, the smell of water luring them into the arroyo. The bull stood his ground, pawing the ground and bellowing. The cows shoved the bull, attempting to push him up the arroyo, but he held his ground. Then, one by one, the cows went around the bull, passing through to the inside of the wooden fence.

Chayton knelt with Hoka on top of the hill, patiently waiting for the last of the cows and calves to enter the arroyo. When the  

Figure Two - 4-inch-long discoidal biface that was 

the inspiration for SHADOWS on the TRAIL. 
John Bradford Branney Collection.  

last of the tatanka [bison] entered the arroyo, he signaled a hunter on another hillside. Chayton had wanted the tatanka bull in the trap, but it was not going to happen. The hunters would just leave him alone. There was too much risk attacking the bull on the open prairie. The hunt would be more than successful with the cows and the calves. Chayton would let the last of the herd get to the wakan ya [underground spring] and start drinking before he signaled the attack.

“WANA! – NOW!” Chayton bellowed and the hunters sprung the trap. A hunter signaled Tah and Wiyaka who lit their torches and then raced to the arroyo with the other hunters. The hunters arrived at the wooden fence and dropped more deadwood in the gap between the two sides of the arroyo. The hunters then picked up a large log that was lying behind the fence and set it down across the top of the fence. They had sealed the herd into the arroyo, but it would take fire to hold the herd. Tah looked up and saw that the tatanka [bison] bull had already taken off running, abandoning his herd. Tah and Wiyaka threw the torches on the wooden fence and it erupted into flames. Smoke rose as the flames burned into the green sagebrush, creating a huge smoke screen. The smoke signaled Chayton and the other hunters to attack. Carrying large bundles of spears, the hunters ran up to both sides of the arroyo and began heaving spears at the unwary herd. The herd milled around the wakan ya [natural water spring], confused by the spears and the smoke.

A rain of spears fell on the herd from three sides of the arroyo…

The above passage came from my prehistoric adventure titled GHOSTS of the HEART, the second book in my prehistoric series entitled the SHADOWS on the TRAIL Pentalogy. A Paleoindian artifact I found on private land in northern Colorado inspired the book series (figure two). Based on my knowledge of the site where I found the Paleoindian artifact, the four-inch-long discoidal biface made from Alibates agatized dolomite most likely came from the Folsom or Clovis Complex (figure two).   

Figure Three - CLICK ON THIS LINK to find this book

However, this article is about another group of real-life Early Holocene hunter-gatherers who lived a thousand or so years after the Folsom People. We call that culture, the Cody Complex. The lifestyles of the Cody Complex culture did not change much from that of the Folsom people. Both Paleoindian cultures were nomadic hunters and gatherers who centered their lifestyles around bison procurement, and when they could not find bison, they scavenged whatever they could find to survive. 

Figure Four - Recently Found Scottsbluff 
point in northern Colorado.  

 

Cody Complex projectile points and knife forms are some of the most distinctive and sought-after artifacts in Prehistoric America. Based on archaeological data, it appears that the people who made Cody Complex artifacts occupied North America for approximately 2,800 years (Knell and Muniz 2013:p.13). The geographical reach of Cody Complex artifacts is second only to the Clovis prehistoric culture. Cody Complex artifacts can be found from the Great Basin on the west to the St. Lawrence River on the east, and from the Canadian plains on the north to the Texas gulf coast on the south. 

G. L. Jepsen (1951) first coined the term Cody Complex to describe the coexistence of Scottsbluff and Eden points with Cody Knives at the Horner site near the town of Cody in northwestern Wyoming. In archaeology, a complex is defined as a cultural group of related traits or characteristics that combine to form a complete activity, process, or cultural unit. The presence of several key implements or tool types found in association defines a lithic complex. 

In her classic book Ancient Man in North America, Marie Wormington (1957) formalized the Cody Complex and proposed that the Cody Knife should be the index type or marker for the Cody Complex even in the absence of projectile points. 

Figure Five - 5.9-inch long Alberta spear point surface recovered by a migrant worker in the 1930s along the South Platte River in Morgan County, Colorado. John Bradford Branney Collection. 

  

In the Dust Bowl years of the 1930s, artifact collectors in Alberta, Canada who hunted sand blowouts discovered a different style of stemmed projectile points associated with Scottsbluff points (collectors and archaeologists called most Paleoindian point styles Yuma points in the 1930s). These different projectile points were larger and bulkier than Scottsbluff points and had longer stems with slightly convex bases (figure five).

Figure Six - Scottsbluff point as found in September 2008.  

Marie Wormington (1957) proposed the name Alberta for this new type of projectile point found in Canada. Some researchers believe that the Alberta point type preceded the other Cody Complex projectile point styles, but radiocarbon dates indicate that although Alberta might have been first, there was temporal overlap with the different Cody Complex projectile point types. It is my contention that Alberta projectile points evolved from the earlier Hell Gap projectile point and then Alberta projectile points became the prototypes for later Scottsbluff and Eden points. We do know that Alberta was the earliest manifestation of the Cody Complex to produce Cody Knives. 

Archaeologists recovered the first Alberta projectile points in situ at the Hell Gap site in Wyoming where investigator Irwin-Williams suggested that Alberta might reflect a trend from the earlier Hell Gap points. In The Hudson-Meng Site: An Alberta Bison Kill Site in the Nebraska High Plains, Bruce Huckell (1978) proposed a projectile point development continuum leading to the development of stemmed Cody Complex projectile points, starting at Agate Basin which evolved into Hell Gap which evolved into Alberta which evolved into other Cody Complex projectile point types. In Prehistoric Hunter-Gatherers on the High Plains and Rockies, Kornfeld, Frison, and Larson (2010) noted that the Alberta component at the Hudson-Meng site was about the same age as the Hell Gap component at the Casper Site, around 10,000 BP (uncalibrated radiocarbon years), making the two types most likely contemporaneous, at least at those two bison kill sites. 

Figure Seven - Cody Complex types from left to right; Alberta, Cody Knife, Scottsbluff, Eden,
Firstview, and Holland. For scale, the Alberta point is 2.5 inches long.
John Bradford Branney Collection.   

The Cody Complex people shared a distinct technology for making projectile points and knife forms that set them apart from other Paleoindians. The photograph in figure seven shows an array of different projectile points and knife forms in the Cody Complex. The first thing that stands out about Cody Complex artifacts is the basal stems. Although a prior technology called Hell Gap used stemming to an extent, Cody Complex took it a step further, squaring the edges to an extent not seen before. The stemming process included the intentional removal of pressure-thinned flakes along the lateral margins. 

From left to right in figure seven; a Wyoming Alberta knife form (2.5 inches long), a Wyoming Cody knife, a Colorado Scottsbluff projectile point, a Wyoming Eden dart point, a Colorado Firstview dart point (could very well be a Midland projectile point), and a western Nebraska Holland (?) dart point. Although Holland projectile points seem to possess several Cody Complex attributes, some researchers believe that Holland evolved out of Dalton projectile points from the midwest.      

Figure Eight - 3.95-inch long Scottsbluff knife form surface found on private land
in Weld County, Colorado in the 1980s. John Bradford Branney Collection.   

 

What was the environment like on the northern plains for Cody Complex people? The culture existed between two major climate change bookends; the cooling-off period during the Younger Dryas ran from about 13,000 to 11,500 calendar years ago, and the heating-up period during the Altithermal ran from about 7,000 to 5,000 calendar years ago. The great spruce forests of the Younger Dryas were mostly gone by Cody Complex times and grasslands dominated the high plains. Forty or so species of the Pleistocene megafauna were already extinct, leaving bison as the 'main game on the high plains. The overall climate during Cody Complex was drier and more prone to drought than the Younger Dryas and less drought-stricken than the Altithermal. You might say that the climate on the northern plains during Cody Complex times was a lot like the climate we have today.  

I hope you enjoyed this brief history of the Cody Complex. Check out the SHADOWS on the TRAIL Pentalogy! Bet you cannot put my books down! 

Frison, George C., and Lawrence C. Todd

1987      The Horner Site - The Type Site of the Cody Cultural Complex. Academic Press.                  Orlando.

Huckell, Bruce

1978     Hudson-Meng Chipped Stone in The Hudson-Meng Site: An Alberta Bison Kill in                 the Nebraska High Plains by Larry D. Agenbroad. Northern Arizona University.   

Jepsen, G. L.

1951     Ancient Buffalo Hunters of Wyoming. Newsletter, Archaeological Society of New                 Jersey, 24:22-24

Knell, Edward J., and Mark P. Muniz

2013     Paleoindian Lifeways of the Cody Complex. University of Utah Press. Salt Lake.

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

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

Wormington, H. M.

1957    Ancient Man in North America. Denver Museum of Natural History, Popular Series             No. 4. Denver.      

The prehistorical 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.

                                                      CLICK TO ORDER!

Prehistoric Burins and the SHADOWS on the TRAIL Pentalogy

Figure One. Scottsbluff knife form from Wilson County, Texas. The most interesting feature 
of this, 10,000 years plus beauty, is its burinated tip.
John Bradford Branney Collection.  

A prehistoric burin is a specialized, chisel-like stone tool created by driving a flake or flakes off the edge of another flake, biface, or blade to produce a ninety-degree edge for working hard substances such as ivory, antler, and bone. The sharp corners created by the burin were so useful that prehistoric knappers deliberately made them. The removed edge fragment is called a burin spall.

In the knapping process called burination, a small, relatively thick flake is removed from a flake, blade, or biface using a snapped termination or previous burination scar as the knapping platform. Burination can also be used to remove a sharp edge for the safe handholding of a knife form. Burination was extremely common in the “Old World” Paleolithic of Europe, Siberia, and Beringia. Paleoindians in North America also made and used burins. For some reason, it appears that the Clovis culture only used burination in rare instances, but it became quite popular during Folsom and Cody Complex times. Most of my stone tools with burins came from my Folsom and Cody Complex sites.

Figure Two. Burin tip (B) of the Scottsbluff knife form
photographed in figure one. The 'stop notch' (N) ensured
that the burin flake did not travel too far down the edge of
the biface or into the body of the biface. 

Figure one is a photograph of a 3.7 inch long Scottsbluff knife form, made from Edwards Chert and found on private land in Wilson County, Texas. This artifact is Early Archaic with an approximate age of 10,000 years. The knife form had two or three resharpenings that have reduced its overall length, but the most interesting feature of this Scottsbluff knife form is its tip (figure two). The tip of the knife form at some time was pressure flaked into a burin tip (an engraver) and was re-tipped two more times. Burination strengthened the tip of the Scottsbluff knife form exponentially, keeping the edge from crushing and failing while engraving hard objects.

Most burins and burin spalls are unspectacular features. Most people do not even recognize them. Caution has to be applied when differentiating an impact fracture from a burin. Not every missing sliver off an artifact is a burin! Finding impact fractures on an artifact is far more common. Usually, after I post artifacts with burins, I receive a rush of requests to look at people's artifacts who think they might have burins. Identifying burins from photographs is difficult at best. It is best to have the artifact in hand so that you can feel the edges for use wear and examine the artifact. All of my artifacts that I claim to have burins have gone through thorough examination and scrutiny.       

Figure Three. My heart was pounding!

Figure three is an in situ photograph of a Scottsbluff (Cody Complex) point half-buried in the sandy creek bottom at my SHADOWS on the TRAIL site in northern Colorado. The day was August 23, 2008, when I spotted this Scottsbluff point lying in the sand. It took my breath away and my heart pitter-pattered. It was obvious what it was, but the tip was buried. The square base and the flaking pattern were definitely Cody Complex. After a somewhat extended photoshoot, I pulled the Scottsbluff point out of its sandy grave. My heart sank when I saw that an impact fracture had taken off the tip of the point.   

Figure Four. Scottsbluff point with a blunted tip.  

I yelled out the PG-13 version of "DRAT!". Quite frankly, even though I had found a tremendous artifact I was disappointed because of the broken tip. My first reaction was that this beautiful 2.8 inch-long Scottsbluff point ended its useful life by hitting bone or rock and fracturing its tip. I pocketed my find and went back to hunting for the rest of the day. It wasn't until I got home later that night and had a chance to study the point that I realized that the original Scottsbluff point was probably decommissioned because of an impact fracture and the creative Cody Complex knapper recommissioned the point into a stone tool by intentionally creating a double-sided burin for use in scraping wood and hides (figure five).

Figure Five. Twin burin edges with a chisel tip. 

My interpretation of the history of this Scottsbluff point goes something like this; The maker of this Scottsbluff point used a dendritic jasper as the raw material. The dendritic jasper looks like some of what I find on the Hartville Uplift of Wyoming. The finished projectile point at some stage suffered damage to its tip. Instead of repairing the projectile point, the Cody Complex knapper refurbished the broken point into a knife form with double burins. He or she removed burin spalls on both sides of the impact fracture (figures five and six). Then the innovative knapper created a chisel-like edge on the rounded tip. He or she could have used this Scottsbluff knife form as a burin, knife, scraper, and chisel for use on meat, bone, wood, and hides.

Figure Six. Chisel tip is well polished.  

The raw material at the tip of this Scottsbluff knife form has a different color and texture than the rest of the artifact. I attribute this to polish or use-wear from the way its owner used it.  There is evidence that the  owner might have re-tipped or repaired the chisel and burins once or twice since that area of the knife form has a different flaking pattern than the rest of the biface.          

Another important feature about burins when found in Paleoindian contexts, they seldom show use wear on the edge near where the burin spall detached in front of the striking platform. Instead, use-wear is usually found on the edge adjacent to the striking platform or tip. In the case of this last Scottsbluff point, the most use wear was at or near the tip.

So, there you have it. A couple of Cody Complex burin examples. You will have to read the SHADOWS ON THE TRAIL Pentalogy to see how the Folsom Complex used burins. All the information needed to order your copies of my book series is below. 

Don't miss out on a prehistoric adventure you will never forget!  

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V is for Pleistocene Violence and S is for SHADOWS ON THE TRAIL!

CLICK THIS LINK for SHADOWS ON THE TRAIL

What was the Pleistocene like for humans around 10,700 years ago? In the SHADOWS ON THE TRAIL I wrote about what I thought life was like for a particular tribe of Paleoindians called the Folsom People. I believe prehistoric humans not only had to deal with the large and fierce predator animals of the Pleistocene, but also predatory humans, as well. You might disagree with my last point, but the evidence from some of the prehistoric skeletons found would indicate that it was not one big happy human family in Prehistoric America. You might also have the opinion that there were so few humans around ten thousand years ago, that the chances of different tribes coming together was slim and when they did meet, why would they be hostile, there were enough resources for everyone!  

2000 B.C. Cain and Able were a different time
and place than SHADOWS ON THE TRAIL,
but human nature was the same.

My belief is that violence and coveting thy neighbor's belongings is inherent in humans' nature and always has been, even at the dawn of human time. Below is a passage from SHADOWS ON THE TRAIL, in which a tribe of humans called the Mountain People want what another tribe has and the Mountain People will resort to violence to obtain it. I hope you enjoy. 
       
To'sarre watched Ei Hanit disappear over the hill and then led the other two warriors back up to the boulder on the hill so that they could watch the village. The people in the village kept up their festivities at the campfires until the moon was high in the sky and then one after another they retired to their tipis for sleep. The last person went to sleep in early morning, leaving just two sentries sitting at a campfire. To'sarre pushed away from the boulder and walked quietly towards the warriors’ camp. As he walked, he blew hard into his hands trying to warm them up. It was a cold summer night and not a good night to be without a campfire. To'sarre found Ei Hanit asleep, lying against the base of a large boulder. To'sarre reached out with his left hand, touching the shoulder of Ei Hanit. All of a sudden, To'sarre’s forearm felt excruciating pain when Ei Hanit’s right arm flew up from his lap, driving To'sarre’s arm up into the air. Then as quick as a rattlesnake, Ei Hanit’s left hand gripped To'sarre’s throat and pulled him close to his face.

“What do you want?” Ei Hanit hissed.

“It is almost dawn and the people in the village will be moving about,” To'sarre replied, struggling to speak through his constricted windpipe.

“Gather the warriors on the hill,” Ei Hanit said, shoving To'sarre away.

On the hill, Ei Hanit and To'sarre looked down on the village. The village was completely dark, except for the flames coming from one campfire.

“Two sentries at that campfire,” To'sarre said. “No wolf dogs to warn them.”

“Send our two best warriors to kill the sentries, quietly,” Ei Hanit ordered. “Then attack from this side of the village. The river will prevent them from escaping to the north. Go tipi by tipi and kill everyone except women and children. They can carry our plunder and be our slaves.”

“What about the old?” To'sarre asked.

“Kill them all,” Ei Hanit replied.

To'sarre nodded to Ei Hanit and turned to leave. Ei Hanit grabbed him by the arm and demanded, “Kill them quietly!”

To'sarre crept down the backside of the hill. To'sarre understood why the Mountain People needed food and supplies from other villages, but he could not understand killing people for the sake of killing. However, To'sarre knew better than to ignore Ei Hanit’s orders, otherwise, Ei Hanit would have him and his family killed.





You are going to have to read SHADOWS ON THE TRAIL to find out what happens next, but I can guar-an-tee you that what happens will both surprise and shock you. 
 


Once you have read the SHADOWS ON THE TRAIL, then you can read the rest of the trilogy and JOIN THE ADVENTURE!  

 

  



  

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!