I’ve written before about Aniakchak’s small chipped stone points. Here’s one we just found while cataloging the last bags from our 2005 field season. It’s bifacially flaked (in fact, it’s a biface with none of the original ventral flake surface remaining). It measures a mere 10.3 mm in length, 6.0 mm in width, and 1.8 mm in thickness. My guess is that archaeologists would typically interpret these small points as part of a toy. The number of small points at Aniakchak, however, makes this interpretation unlikely.
Looking at the photo as I write this post, I’m struck again at the tiny size, of this otherwise standard contracting base point. I am intrigued to see it is missing a portion of the haft – perhaps an indication of use? I look forward to the time when we are done sorting and cataloging and I can look at all the points from the site and start some real analysis.
[...] but Brian thinks they are more likely to be tools. He’s certainly finding a lot of them, and he keeps on finding them. How many points do you have to find before you start thinking they have a serious [...]
By: Nine Points on a Finger « Then Dig on July 18, 2011
at 4:52 pm