A very special meeting with two archeologists

By Bill Young CNHI

Corsicana — I have been working as an avocationlist archeologist for 40 years and I consider myself to be very fortunate to have not only met but worked with some of the top-notch archeologists in the southwest. Two weeks ago, two of these archeologists came to spend the entire day with me and discuss nothing but archeology. One of the archeologists, Dr. Alan Skinner from Dallas is the first archeologist I met when he was working at Southern Methodist University. We have been friends ever since and have worked together on numerous projects. The other archeologist, Dr. Don Wyckoff (pronounced Y-Koff), is the number one archeologist in Oklahoma. He has been involved in archeology for 50 years.

Every year the Texas Archeological Society holds an annual meeting at different locations in Texas. Wherever the meeting is held, there must be a local sponsoring archeological society which is responsible for making all of the arrangements such as a large enough hotel with several meeting rooms and a large block of rooms available to the attendees. Nearly every year, there will be 300 or more people attending the annual conference. Anyone attending the conference may chose to present a paper on any subject related to archeology and each presenter is limited to a 15-minute presentation. At most conferences there will be several presenters giving papers in separate rooms at the same time so each person attending the conference must choose which paper he or she wants to hear. There also may be several symposiums going on from time to time which may last for several hours. A few papers may be given on Friday afternoon but the majority of the presentations are given on Saturday. If there is an unexpectedly high number of presentations, the remaining papers will be given on Sunday morning. Also on Sunday, there usually will be one or more bus field trips to a specific historic or archeological site. The annual business meeting for the society is held on Friday where members discuss the location of next years conference and the annual field school held each year for one week in June.

This year’s field school will be held near Medina on a large archeological site containing artifacts dating from the Early Archaic, 8,000 years B.P., to the Late Prehistoric, 1,000 years B.P. Everyone attending will have the opportunity to excavate, record, wash, number and bag artifacts plus surveying for new sites. One group will get to work on a possible early Texas military site.

About 35 years ago, my wife Bobbie Jean and I attended the annual conference which on that particular year was held at Amarillo. On Sunday, one of the field trips was going out to see the National Alibates Flint Quarry. Anyone who has been involved in Native American archeology in Texas has heard of or seen the Alibates quarry. The chert harvested at this site by the Native Americans for at least the past 13,000 years is some of the most colorful chert found in North America and has been found traded over much of the United States. On the bus out to the site, I discovered I was sitting next to Dr. Wyckoff and I don’t remember how the discussing got started about Folsom versus Midland points but we discussed the subject all the way to the flint quarry and all the way back. We were not really arguing but each one of us happened to have our own opinion. Many archeologists in those days thought Midland points were nothing more than un-fluted Folsom points and in fact un-fluted Folsom points do exist. There are a couple of reasons some Folsoms are not fluted. One is the fact the pre-form biface was originally made too thin to flute. A classic Folsom point is only three millimeters thick in the center flute area not much thicker than a razor blade. To achieve this thinness, the Folsom point maker first had to thin a biface into a very thin piece of chert just prior to striking the flutes. If he produced an unusually thin biface, he would not be able to strike the flute so rather than throw the piece away, he simply utilized it as an un-fluted Folsom. On the other hand, a Midland point looks very similar to a Folsom but the flaking is slightly different and the sides of a Midland tend to be tapered more than Folsom. Just prior to attending the meeting at Amarillo, I visited with another avocationlist archeologist who happened to have about 40 Midland points found at the type site near Midland. Since I was able to handle these pieces, I fully understood the differences between the two point types. However, on the bus trip to the Alibates Flint Quarry, I could not help but think here was I, an avocationlist archeologist with only a few years experience and no formal education in archeology, arguing with one of the top archeologists in the United States. Neither one of us gave in to the other and over many years, every time we have met or e-mailed each other, we always spend a little time still discussing the differences. Recently Dr. Wyckoff sent me a publication authored by Dr. Vance Holliday, another one of the nation’s top archeologists. He put together a very impressive article about the dates for all of the various Great Plains sites in America. In one paragraph he mentions the fact most archeologists today think Midland is a separate point from an un-fluted Folsom. When I read this paragraph, I thought I had won my case but reading on in the manuscript, I discovered where Dr. Vance Haynes, another top archeologist, disagreed about Midland being different. Win one and lose one.

For many years, one particular Paleo point known as a Plainview has brought about a considerable amount of confusion when someone is trying to describe a point with parallel sides similar in shape to a Clovis but not fluted. From time to time, someone in this part of North Texas will find what everyone was calling Plainview. A few years ago, I discussed this problem with two archeologists; both have excavated and handled what are true Plainviews. They both told me what we are finding in this area is not Plainview but something else, currently un-named. Recently I e-mailed Dr. Wyckoff and asked if he would he be interested in writing an article about what Plainview is and what we should be calling these things found here and in eastern Oklahoma. He answered back that he would give this some consideration. On the day he came to visit me, he brought a sack of approximately 300 Paleo points, mostly broken, found in one area in Oklahoma. After looking at all of these specimens together, he stated there wasn’t any way he could put together a good manuscript dealing with this issue and I would agree. The resharpening process which changes the original shape of a point, especially early man points, makes it impossible to determine what is and what is not Plainview. Maybe after we discover and excavate many more buried sites, we will be able to settle this problem.

Next week: Archaic societies of the Mid-Continent