Corsicana — How many times have we heard the expression, I am going to build a better mouse trap. Even though it usually didn’t have anything to do with mice or a mouse trap it was just an expression about trying to construct something different and better. An inquisitive person is someone who decides what he or she is currently using is not getting the job done so it is necessary to go about trying to figure out a better method of accomplishing what is needed.

The earliest Native Americans across all of North America were using projectile points which more or less are lancelot in shape and we refer to these people as Paleo people. Somewhere around 10,000 years ago, they started modifying the basic shapes of their points into an oval shape with either side or comer notches. In essence, this change in shape brought about the first appearance of barbs and shoulders which would inflict more damage on an animal when struck with the atlatl dart point. The barbs would allow the point to stay imbedded in the fleeing animal.

In today’s article I am going to illustrate several of the points I have been discussing recently. Up until recently we thought these projectile points belonged to states such as Oklahoma, Arkansas and Missouri. They say a picture is worth a thousand words but any picture of an artifact is very limited in that it is only two dimensional. With any artifact, if you really want to understand what you are trying to describe, you need to have a three-dimensional view which means you need to hold it in your hand. Recently with high-powered computer generated programs, one can get a three-dimensional view on the computer screen and most of these programs will allow you to rotate and look at an object from almost any viewing angle. I am not one of those who is fortunate to have this program or better yet the knowledge as how to run it.

The first point illustrated is known as the Jakie Stemmed. Remember I have written previously about the fact the blade of a point will not allow you to identify the piece. You absolutely need the lower base and stem. If you will note, the stem of the Jakie Stemmed is spread outward, sort of bowlegged and the notches are cut in from the lower side. I could not find an illustration of one of these points which better illustrates these points as being side notched. In Texas we have a couple of points, Martindale and Uvalde, which share some of the same characteristics with the Jakie Stemmed. However, these Texas points are found down in Central Texas and South Texas. The ears on a Martindale look like a fish’s tail if you were to turn the point sideways. Other typical traits found on the Jakie Stemmed points are the stems are ground up to the barbs plus commonly found beveling on the left side of the blade and beveling in the notch on the right side of the stem. This is the exact opposite of what the earlier Dalton people were doing in that they always beveled the right hand side of the blade. Better mouse trap, maybe. The dates for these points puts them in the late Early Archaic or into the early Middle Archaic, roughly 6,000 years B.C. to around 4,000 years B.C.

The second point is known as a White River point named after a river in northern Arkansas. In some ways to the untrained eye, one might think these are the same points as the Jakie Stemmed based on the general shape of the stem, but I assure you they are different. White River points are truly side notched and the notching is fairly narrow. Grinding of the stem up to and including the notch is common. They are well made and the ones I have seen in the Buddy Jones collection in the Gregg County museum are all made out of high quality Ouachita or Ozark cherts. I might also mention the fact the points in Gregg County are worn-out examples. Most archeologists think the White River point is a decedent of another slightly earlier point known as the Graham Cave point named for the Graham Cave site in Missouri. There are some slight differences between the earlier Graham Cave and the White River.

Point number three is a Cache River. Just like the White River it is also side notched, but if you will note, the base of the stem on the Cache River is straight and the White River stem is concaved. Picky aren’t we? But the differences are real and site after site has produced one or the other, but the two have never been found in a good stratified context in the same level. The Cache River is older than the White River. The notches on the Cache River are very narrow and usually would allow for only a single piece of sinue to be inserted in the ground notches when hafted. The name also originated from a river in Missouri and Arkansas.

In Texas there aren’t any points which are very similar to either the Cache River or the White River. Since I have seen examples of both in the Buddy Jones collection, there is a very good chance examples might be found in Navarro County.

Next week: Other better made mousetraps

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Bill Young is a Daily Sun columnist. Want to “Soundoff” on this story? E-mail: soundoff@corsicanadailysun.com