That's really cool. I know next to nothing about points. In 1981 I took a coworker that hunted points to the Round Mt. area of east OK, Adair Co. about six miles from AR boarder. He told me to look for anything white in the creek. I think he called the rock chirt??? Anyway, he found what he called a Dalton point. Said it would be close to 10k years old. Man, this thing looked like it was made the prior day and placed in the creek by its artist.
Chert is pretty much the dominant material that artifacts are made from all over the U.S. It's the equivalent of saying "flint". Yup, Dalton points are very old, and they are commonly found around here. They date in the early Holocene, right after the melting of the last great ice age - 8,000 B.C. to 6,000 B.C. (roughly). One of the only "datable" Dalton age sites in the United States is here in Mayes county, Oklahoma -the Packard site. One of the oldest known examples of prehistoric artwork came from here in Oklahoma, from the Cooper site. It's a bison skull with a lightning bolt painted on it, thought to have been created over 10,000 years ago.
It would amaze you what can be found on some of the waterways in Oklahoma, mammoth and mastodon are not uncommon. There are many extinct species that we had in Oklahoma that most people didn't realize: camel, musk ox, giant sloth, saber toothed cat (smilodon) and many more.
That's a VERY good question and one that I get asked a lot. You cannot carbon date stone. What you can date is what it's associated with (bones, charcoal, etc).
The forms are pretty consistent. Certain people and cultures made only certain styles, whatever worked best for them in their area. By getting dates from multiple sites you can get a pretty good idea when each of these styles were made and it all starts falling into place. For instance, when we find Cooper Zone Stamped pottery and shards, they will ALWAYS TL (thermoluminescence) date in the 1,900 to 2,500 B.P range. The are found ONLY with Hopewell cultural artifacts, therefore we can safely assume that the Hopewell points found with them date in that range.
I live in Kay County and our flint is called kay county chert. Grey when found, but pink when heat treated.
I've knapped flint/chert into points in the past for a hobby.
I love the ones with a fossile in the point.
Recently found a Dalton (I think) in the Arkansas river while riding ATV's.
First pic will be the Dalton, second, some points knapped in the past, and a display of some "bird points" I knapped. Contrary to popular lore, the bird points were not used for hunting, but as gifts to others.
Neanderthal, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. Your the expert.
I've knapped flint/chert into points in the past for a hobby.
I love the ones with a fossile in the point.
Recently found a Dalton (I think) in the Arkansas river while riding ATV's.
First pic will be the Dalton, second, some points knapped in the past, and a display of some "bird points" I knapped. Contrary to popular lore, the bird points were not used for hunting, but as gifts to others.
Neanderthal, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. Your the expert.
I live in Kay County and our flint is called kay county chert. Grey when found, but pink when heat treated.
I've knapped flint/chert into points in the past for a hobby.
I love the ones with a fossile in the point.
Recently found a Dalton (I think) in the Arkansas river while riding ATV's.
First pic will be the Dalton, second, some points knapped in the past, and a display of some "bird points" I knapped. Contrary to popular lore, the bird points were not used for hunting, but as gifts to others.
Neanderthal, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. Your the expert.
Good looking points, Dennis. Knapping takes a lot of patience..and band-aids. Your first point is a Dickson or Gary, with the very end of the stem missing. It's made of a permian fossiliferous chert called Fouracre (foraker), it's found all over around Ponca and up into Kansas. Florence "A" (Kay Co. ) is by far the most prevalent material in your area. I actually used to hunt around Ponca quite a bit, the river and Kaw both. Helluva lot of points up there.
Calling them "Birdpoints" is a misnomer, most people thought that they were so small that there's now way they could have been used for large game, they have to have been used for taking birds and other small prey. However, that's not true. The "bird" points are actually the true arrow heads. They have been found associated with skeletal remains of large game in many places. 2 years ago, a friend of mine excavated bison skeletal remains in SW Texas, where 5 small Washita "birdpoints" were found in the ribs. Each of those points were around 1" in length. These very small stone tips have been found in bison, deer, and even human remains. 90% of what people call "arrowheads" are knives or other tools.
Do you have that on CTRL+C, CTRL+V?
