I only found one stone artifact of Texas Indians today, but it was a good one. This is a point type that I think falls into the category of Early Triangular, with a date of manufacture around 5600 - 5700 years ago, the Early Archaic period in Texas archaeology.
And a close up. Note that one of the corners of the point has been broken off, but the rest of the point is in very good shape. The edges are still fairly sharp.
Well, I'm not an expert in identifying points, but it looks to me like the end of a somewhat longer point. Particularly because it has the shallow groove. Most of the triangular points I've seen don't have the groove, which was to promote bleeding.
> Well, I'm not an expert in identifying points, but it looks to me like the end of a somewhat longer point.
The base of the point is actually finished and isn't a broken edge. It was thinned to a taper by flaking. It's only the right corner (in both photos) that was broken off.
Interesting find. It always makes my heart skip a beat when I stumble across an arrowhead. For a millisecond it dissolves the trappings of modern society and makes me look around and try to imagine what this very ground was like when it came to rest.
I found a forum post on an Arrow Head board about “Early Triangular” that includes a response by the guy who coined the phrase "Early Triangular". Turns out he, Thomas R. Hester, is an Austinite like yourself Kent. He’s a public school teacher of some sort who has apparently penned a DIY manual about digging stuff up.
On another note, are the two of you, Bill93 and Kent, in anyway related:
>Turns out he, Thomas R. Hester, is an Austinite like yourself Kent.
Yes, I've met Tom Hester before when I found an unusual early projectile point in soil material that had been excavated from a building site in downtown Austin and he was the director of UT's Texas Archaeology Research Laboratory. I use the "Field Guide to Stone Artifacts of Texas Indians" that he and Ellen Sue Turner wrote as a basic reference work and, in fact, concluded from it that the point I found was a type known as Early Triangular.
As for Bill93, I'm afraid you've found me out. I am the author of all of the thoughtful posts that Bill93 has made over the years.
Related? You trying to insult Kent? 😉
The benefit is: you are never alone with a split personality!
> > As for Bill93, I'm afraid you've found me out. I am the author of all of the thoughtful posts that Bill93 has made over the years.
Now it makes sense. I should have known it from the use of the middle name. Like “Joe Bob” Briggs, “Jerry Jeff” Walker and good old girl “Elly Sue” Turner mentioned above, how could I not see that “Kent Mick” Millian and
“Bill 9” 3, what with similar Texian style double first names and strikingly similar photos, weren’t one in the same?
That's normally the goal!
Interesting Find!
Wasn't the "shallow groove" a Clovis trait?
> Wasn't the "shallow groove" a Clovis trait?
Clovis points typically are very thin and the thinning was accomplished by removal of large flakes from each side of the base. The opposite side of the point I found (not shown in the photos) shows that the base was tapered by the removal of multiple small flakes that would have been less demanding of knapping technique than the single large flakes that Clovis knappers used.
That arrowhead has a nice color. I found this quartz example in moms front yard a few years ago as I was digging a trench for her fiber optic cable satellite dish, This one also has a corner broken off. It originally looks to have had a "tang" at each bottom corner. It must have taken a lot of skill to make. The Cawtawba and Waxhaw Indians lived in this area.
