Archaic Spear Points and Knives
During the Archaic period, people made flint spear points in a variety of shapes reflecting the various uses intended for the points as well as the different traditions of the hunter-gather cultures living in different regions of the continent. Some of the "points" actually may have been attached to short handles and served as the blades of knives. Others may have been both point and knife. These would have been attached to foreshafts that could have been detached from spear shafts and used to butcher animals. When they were attached to the spear or dart shafts they could be used to hunt game (some times with the atlatl). None of these points seem to have been used as "arrowheads" as the bow and arrow was probably not introduced into Ohio until around AD 500.
This is a selection of spear points and knives used by Archaic hunters and gatherers.
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References and Suggested Reading
- Justice, Noel and Suzanne K. Kudlaty. Field Guide to Projectile Points of the Midwest, Indianapolis, Indiana University Press, 2001. - Available from Amazon.com
- Lepper, Bradley T. Ohio Archaeology: An Illustrated Chronicle of Ohio's Ancient American Indian Cultures. Wilmington, Ohio, Orange Frazer Press, 2005. - Available from Amazon.com
- Otto, Martha P. and Brian G. Redmond. Transitions: Archaic and Early Woodland Research in the Ohio Country. Athens: Ohio University Press, 2008. - Available from Amazon.com
- Prufer, Olaf H., S.E. Pedde, and R.S. Meindle, editors. Archaic Transitions in Ohio and Kentucky Prehistory. Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 2001. - Available from Amazon.com
- Yerkes, Richard and Linda M. Gaertner, "Microwear Analysis of Dalton Artifacts", in Sloan, A Paleoindian Dalton Cemetery in Arkansas, edited by Dan F. Morse, pp. 66-68. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1997.
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Citation
"Archaic Spear Points and Knives", Ohio History Central, July 1, 2005, http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=1254
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