A few points I found

[dr00bie]

A buddy was building a house, and when they graded he started finding a lot of shards of flint and other tools. We collected there a couple of times, and here is the majority of my finds,



I am wondering what the point on the far right is, it is in the best condition out of all of them, and it is a little different than I have seen before.

Thanks,
Drew

[arappaho]

Allright Dr00bie, I'll jump in here and give you my 2cents worth.
Looks like your buddy built his house on top of an early Archaic
site which dates to about 6-9000 BC.
Point names differ from area to area, which is unfortunate, but you know how it is. You can't put three different archs in a room together and expect to get a consensus.
Anyway, the point you are asking about is a good question.
I would call it a Kirk, as I would the one in the top left corner.
The one in the top left is classic Kirk, well made of high quality
material. ( I like the change in the material as it goes toward the point. Looks like it flows into a breccia?)
Your Kirk on the right looks different but not enough to knock it out of the same ballpark. The differences could be because of the difference in material. It could be a harder material to work, so it is alittle more bulbous and the base not as well defined. What if
those Kirk guys were sitting around that spot, like you and your buddy do today, and one of them said,' I wonder how this rock from the next hill over works? It's a lot closer than the good stuff
two days walk away.' So he tries it, and then he and his buddy
have a good laugh about how it turned out, and he tosses it down there where you found it, never used.
That might be why it was still whole?
Anyway, I know all you wanted to know was what kind it is.
I'd have to throw it in with the Kirks at about 7000 BC. The oldest
one in the picture is the top row middle. My guess is that is a Palmer which dates to around 8000 BC., the predecessor of Kirk.
The two in the middle row left of the quarter are the same. The far left one was obviously broken at some time and resharpened
into the point you have there. If they are not the same type, they are real close in age which I would guess to be around
2000 BC.
Note: All the above is just my opinion and other different opinions
are more than welcome. Joe

[snakewrangler]

If i remember correctly the Archaic Period of Indian occupation was the only period in which you find shell middins. That could possibly a location of an Archaic "community".

Arappaho please correct me if I am wrong.

Kyle

[bammer]

Here are some Ohio Points.
Collected in the fields after plowing.

[arappaho]

Okay, Snakewrangler, I think I understand where you got that idea.
Middens are created by the accumulation of refuse or trash. At favorite
shellfish collecting and eating areas huge mounds of discarded shell
can build up. Those mounds that date to the Archaic period are older
so they are more notable. You hear more about them, but you and a
few of your buddies on a weekend fishing trip could eat a few bushels
of oysters, throw the shells in a pile and start your own midden!
Example: I worked for a while on an excavation of a shell mound/midden
on the NC coast that covered over an acre. At the outer edge of that
midden we were finding occupations that dated around 1000 AD. But
as we worked our way into the center of the area we kept finding older
and older periods of occupation. So the guys that started that shell trash
pile were covered up by the next guys and so on and so on for maybe
thousands of years.
Those mounds whose origin can be traced back to Archaic times are
called Archaic even tho people were adding to the pile up into the Woodland
period. Which is what I did with Dr00bies' post. Even tho he has artifacts that
date to the Early, Middle, and Late Archaic, it looks like he found more of the
Early period. Midden from that early a time are very rare.
Also, you can have a midden that doesn't have any shell in it.
I've mentioned this site before but Google, Indian Knoll, Kentucky, and
check out some of the sites about that Archaic Shell Mound. The stuff they
made is beautiful.

And I do not want to monopolize this forum, but........
Bammer, I love that material you got up there! That's the stuff.
I won't even try to name and date those because Ohio typology
is very different from NC and the southeast. Nice pic. The two in the
middle have 'impact' fractures. The one on the right has been
resharpened and the one on the left hasn't.
I'm going to have to send you some of that Savannah River chert
after I get done sorting and checking it out. I think you'll like it.
Joe

[bammer]

Thanks,
I dont have much experience in the identification.
It just boggles my mind to find something that perhaps is thousands of years old that someone took a decent amount of time and skill to make.
Maybe it killed a deer or something, or was shot at an enemy invader or something.
I love to knap, I sure am good at making smaller rocks from bigger ones, and now and then I even make a decent point.

[dr00bie]

Thanks for the responses! The area I live in, Wytheville, VA was apparently an Interstate for the archaic people. There are tons of burial sites that are in the area, and most have been studied extensively by Virginia Tech and other state departments. The area where these points came from is below a burial ground that was studied by some outfit out of Richmond in the late 50's.

Thanks,
Drew