Texas arrowheads stone tools

Look for a finely sanded cutting bit on the sharp edges of axes and celts. Consult with local artifact hunters, archaeologists and museums with help in the identification of type and classification of your stone tool.

Identify projectile points and bladed tools by their overall outline and the shape of the base. Each culture living in a particular time period had constraints on the shape of their tools, as if they were copied from a template. Pay attention to the base and classify it as articulate, with pointed ears, basal-notched, corner- or side-notched. Stemmed points with rounded "beaver tail" bases are indicative of the Adena culture.

Define the point's silhouette as triangular, leaf-shaped or lanceolate. Compare the shapes with those in an identification guide. Do lots of research and talk to knowledgeable people before attempting to identify Native American stone tools. It costs to keep things going. Paypal or a credit card in Paypal. It's safe and YOU really help. Stone was the one hard and easily found material the Indians had. So they used it to make tools.

Most stone tools were shaped by chipping. But, many were shaped by grinding them with abrasive stone or sand. The chipped stone is usually chert or flint of one type or another. Chert is a stone with glass-like qualities. When chipped it leaves a smooth surface. It also leaves a very sharp edge.

Flakes from good quality chert are as sharp as the sharpest razor. Not all chert is the same. It varies in color and quality. A preform is an unfinished tool - a blank set up to make something out of.

People often confuse a preform with a finished tool. They can tell it is worked stone. And a preform can make a pretty good chopper if needed. We find two kinds of preforms.

One type is discarded preforms. While chipping out the preform, the Indian found a flaw inside the stone that made it unworkable to make a tool and so threw it away. The other kind is a sort of blank. Burnishing Stone — Small pebbles with a smooth texture on the surface were used to polish or burnish pottery, bone, and wood. Burnishing creates a high luster on the object being burnished.

Butted Biface — This artifact also referred to by some archaeologists as fist axes or carcass cleavers , were used to cut meat or soft plants. The shape of the butted biface is generally oblong or pear-shaped. There is a rounded natural cobble surface on one end that serves as the grip for the hand. The opposite end edge often exhibits extensive glossy polish from cutting. According to Turner and Hester , the seem to be ideal tools for butchering, but the working edges are typically to thin and delicate for heavy chopping.

The researchers concluded that two of the specimens contained residue of floral material similar to, if not, sotol. One specimen contained residue of fish, and one contained residue of faunal material. They date to the Late Archaic period of Texas prehistory, circa B. Their definition of an adze is an object which is flat, thin, and more or less rectangular in shape, polished, and having a sharp bit.

Shafer views the difference between celts and adzes on the basis of bit morphology. Specimens with bifacially beveled bits are celts, and specimens with unifacially beveled bits are adzes. Excellent examples of spatulate celts were found at the George C. Ceremonial Object — An artifact or object used for ceremonial purposes. Also referred to as amulets, these objects could be anything used in a ceremonial context. At Baker Cave 41VV in Val Verde County, the following objects believed to have served as ceremonial objects were found taken from Word and Douglas : grass wound about twigs of the mescal shrub Sophora secundiflora ; shed antler of a whitetail deer placed under a boulder; an unused pit containing twelve prickly pear internodes tied with strands of split sacahuisti The nodes were neatly stacked in three layers ; 53 sotol or lechuguilla flower stalks driven into the floor; small grass-lined pit completely filled with flint chips and a broken leaf-shaped biface from the same nodule; two bowl-shaped, grass-lined pits filled with fiber.

Davis site 41CE19 in Cherokee County, caches of Alba arrow points one believed to be the remains of a quiver of arrows , a large chert knife or sword, as well as numerous other grave goods were found Shafer Chip — A flake fragment lacking the point of impact. These are part of the reduction sequence associated with the manufacture of stone tools. Chips are usually present at sites where stone tools were made or refurbished.

Chisel — Skinner et al. According to Shafer , a chisel if the correction definition is followed archaeological specimens should have either battered proximal ends and bifacially beveled bits. Or, they may be long, slender forms with sharp, mostly unifacially beveled bits. Chopper — According to Turner and Hester , the term chopper is often used to describe a cobble or a large piece of stone with a few flakes removed from one end.

This artifact was used for a variety of tasks such as severing joints of game, splitting and fracturing bone and woodworking Word and Douglas The opposite end of a chopper is usually rounded, and the chopper edge can be bifacial or unifacial.

Turner and Hester state that cores can sometimes be mistaken for choppers, although some cores were actually reused as choppers. This is a very common artifact type in Texas and was used throughout Texas prehistory. Clear Fork Tool — Clear Fork tools sometimes referred to as gouges were used in woodworking tasks as scrapers or adzes rather than gouges. This statement is Clear Fork tools may be unifacially or bifacially flaked and are usually triangular to sub-triangular in form.

The edge angle of the bit end usually varies from 60 to 75 degrees. They have been found associated with Paleo-Indian occupations and lasted through the Middle Archaic. Their study using macroscopic, microscopic, and edge angle studies confirmed this artifact type as a tool for working with wood.

The artifacts analyzed for this article were found in Dimmit and Zavala counties. Most are from site 41DM14 in Dimmit County. Several specimens are illustrated. Cobble Tool — Tools made from water-worn cobbles often found in lag deposits of streams. Cordage — Cordage is formed when two or more strands of plant fiber are twisted together in an opposite direction to the twist of the strands Word and Douglas The finished product can be used as string or rope depending on the thickness and strength.

Similar findings have been reported at other rockshelters in the Lower Pecos region of Texas. Core — Don E. They are found throughout the state and date to all periods of Texas prehistory. The raw material from which cores are created may be found in the form of natural cobbles found on the land surface, in lag deposits of stream beds, and as fragments of tabular or ledge chert.

A polyhedral blade core is one in which long, thin blades are removed. An excellent illustration of this artifact type is depicted in an article by William W. Birningham and James E. Bluhm Because this specimen is similar in shape and technology to many of the Clovis blade cores from Central and South-Central Texas, it is believed to date to Paleo-Indian times.

McReynolds illustrates hafted corner tangs and one with leather or cordage tied around the tang as a means of carrying the artifact. Corner tang bifaces are commonly found in Central Texas and adjacent areas and date to the Late Archaic period of Texas prehistory.

According to Turner and Hester , some specimens have edge wear suggesting they were hafted and used as a knife, and some have been reworked as drills see illustration in Turner and Hester A recent experiment by William A. The presence of corner tangs as grave goods is an indication that they may have served as ceremonial objects as well. According to Weber , many of the shapes encountered in Texas sites are the result of re-sharpening episodes.

The most comprehensive manuscript regarding corner tang artifacts was published by The University of Texas at Austin Patterson , and one issue of La Tierra Volume 11, Number 2 is dedicated to this artifact type. Also referred to as a spear point. Dart points date from the Paleo-Indian period of Texas prehistory through the Archaic period. They were phased out as the bow and arrow became popular. Dart points were made from a variety of materials see arrow point above. Patterson b believes that in Southeast Texas there was a trend toward the use of smaller dart points in later times.

He suggests that smaller, lighter spears may have been used. Beveled dart points are commonly found in Texas.

Edge beveling can occur during the manufacturing process to produce a desired form, or it can result from the re-working of a point to repair a break or other forms of damage. The significance of beveled edges on projectile points is discussed in an article in La Tierra by Patterson and Sollberger This artifact type is very common at archaeological sites where tools were made and refurbished.

Debitage is not usually taken from a site by relic collectors; therefore, it is sometimes the only evidence that an area was occupied in prehistoric times. Often found in blowouts. They are made solely through percussion. Examples from Texas have been found in Brewster County Crook Digging Stick — Pointed wooden implements used in planting of crops. They are used to create holes in the ground in which to plant seeds.

Discoidal — Pecked ground stone artifacts, circular in shape, and concave on both sides. Some specimens have a central hole. Probably used as ornaments. In Texas, this artifact type is usually found in Caddoan sites. A good example was found at the George C. Shafer believes it was used as a gaming stone.

Drill — A stone tool also referred to as a perforator with a long, narrow shaft or bit that was probably used for working wood, shell, and hide.

These artifacts date to the Archaic and Late Prehistoric periods of Texas prehistory. In some cases, the distal tips of projectile points were reworked, ostensibly to function as a drill. Alba arrow points found at the George C. Photographs of Central Texas drills some from reworked dart points appear in a report by Shafer et al.

Drills are common throughout Texas. Some of the smaller drills may actually be awls. Illustrations of this type appear in Turner and Hester Ear Spool — Ground stone or ceramic artifacts used as ear decoration.

Some were covered with copper. Eccentric Chert Artifact — Chert artifacts with notches sometimes deep along the edges appear to have served a religious or ceremonial purpose rather than being functional as projectile points. Common in Mayan sites, they are very rare in Texas. Fiber Loop — A loop of fiber made of split lechuguilla, sacahuisti, or sotol and yucca. Examples from Baker Cave 41VV are two-ply and three-ply. The function of this artifact type is not known Word and Douglas Figurine — Figurines are artifacts made to resemble human or animal shapes.

They are typically made of stone or clay. Although this is not a common artifact in Texas, examples are known to exist. One of the better known Texas figurines is a tublar stone pipe found at the George C.

This object one of several figurines found at the site was part of a funerary offering in the burial mound at this famous Caddoan site. A figurine head believed to have been traded from Mesoamerica was found in a cache in Kleberg County Krieger ; Hester , a fired clay figurine was found in Bexar County Chandler b , and a serpentine figurine was found associated with a stone gorget in Kleberg County Hester Flakes, however, can provide useful information as to the method and stage of reduction and tool manufacture that took place at the site.

The size of a flake varies depending on which technique was used for detachment. Flakes are often referred to as debitage or waste material. Flakes are divided into three categories, primary, secondary, and interior or tertiary. Primary flakes are the first to be removed in the reduction process and contain cortex on their outer surface. Secondary cortex flakes contain lesser amounts of cortex plus flake scars from previous removals. Interior flakes contain no cortex and are sometimes used in the manufacture of flake tools and arrow points.

The size of a flake, however, is not always a true indicator of the final product. The production of a small arrow point especially when made from a cobble may produce primary, secondary, and tertiary flakes, and some of the primary flakes can be as large as those produced when making other tools such as dart points.

An example of the tool making process is presented in Hester Thinning Flakes are those flakes removed from a preform either by pressure or by percussion to thin the piece for artifact manufacture Crabtree Flakes which were used for various tasks such as cutting or scraping are classified as utilized flakes. Since flakes are abundantly available in those areas where stone manufacture was performed, they make easily accessible tools with no additional work.

Any sharp flake could be utilized and discarded when it became dull. Word and Douglas suggest that, for this reason, they were used as cutting tools more often than scraping tools. Serrated flakes, believed to have been used for a specialized task such as cutting wood, were also found at Baker Cave.

Flakes are found throughout Texas. Most are made from locally obtainable materials; however, foreign materials such as obsidian are sometimes found. An overview of a project designed to identify specimens of obsidian at Texas sites is presented by Hester b. The age of flakes without a known association with other diagnostic artifacts cannot be determined through any current form of analysis available to archaeologists today.

Flakes with cortex are an indicator of primary reduction and interior flakes with no cortex present are an indicator of later stage reduction. Sometimes flakes can be traced to a known source, and this may be an indication of trade when they are found a long way from the known source.

Examples are hammerstones, billets, and antler tines. Most were made from flowering stalks of monocotyledon, though one example was made of an unidentified tree or shrub Word and Douglas Funeral Good — Any artifact found in association with a burial. In East Texas pottery and caches of arrow points are commonly found with the deceased. Galena lead — A raw material used in trade for the manufacture of artifacts.

Gorget — This artifact type is a form of prehistoric jewelry. In Texas, examples are made of slate and shell, and they have been found as grave offerings. Gouge — Gouges are stone tools that were used for woodworking. They are similar in appearance to the Clear Fork Tool. This inference is based on recent functional studies of tools similar in shape from the Rio Grande Plain Hester et al.

In a report authored by Shafer and Baxter , the term gouge as applied to artifacts from a survey in Atascosa and McMullen counties, is not intended to imply function. Rather, it was employed by these researchers as a matter of research convenience and reference. Gouges from their study area are tools that are usually wider at one end, and the wider end is beveled. It is this wider end that served as the use edge of the tool. Shafer and Baxter divide gouges from their survey into five descriptive categories.

Gouges have also been reported from the Upper Navasota Reservoir Prewitt This artifact type is found throughout Texas, and it dates from Paleo-Indian to Late Prehistoric times.

Replication experiments with modern gravers were conducted by Land This artifact is found throughout Texas. The raw material categories illustrated in these photos are described in informal terms; other archeologists often have different names for the raw material sources or other views on the material's distribution.

The best reference for raw materials in the Texas area is Dr. Unfortunately, this study has been out of print for several years and may be difficult to find. Where possible, I have keyed the descriptions below to Dr. Banks' monograph.