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| Home: Resources: Journal: Volume 1: Blanton: 2.2 Other Hafted Bifaces |
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| Brief and True Report of Projectile Points from Jamestown Rediscovery as of December 1998 Dennis B. Blanton, Veronica Deitrick, and Kara Bartels | |||
2.2 Other Hafted Bifaces
A total of 98 other hafted biface types were present in the sample, including two drills. They represented time periods from the Late Archaic (4000 BC) to the Middle Woodland (AD 900). Many of these could not be dated (n=67) due to damage or a general lack of distinguishing characteristics. The most common identifiable type (n=12) was Rossville/Piscataway, defined by a contracting stem on a relatively small hafted biface. These dated primarily to the Middle Woodland period. At least 17 of the hafted bifaces examined could be placed within the Late Archaic period. Most of these were similar to bifaces of the Savannah River type, although they maintained a smaller stem form. Six side-notched points, likely dating to the earlier part of the Late Archaic period, were also identified. Most of these artifacts are believed to originate from earlier prehistoric occupations on Jamestown Island. Archaeologists working in the vicinity of the Jamestown settlement have routinely recovered prehistoric artifacts from several periods (Cotter 1958). The Jamestown Rediscovery project is no exception as prehistoric ceramics from the earlier Middle Woodland period occur fairly frequently in later excavation contexts along with these hafted bifaces. Some of these, however, are artifacts that may have been collected elsewhere and brought to the fort by the English or the indigenous population. One indication of collection activity is the presence of a stemmed hafted biface that is rounded and polished from tumbling on a beach, clearly an item that was moved from a shoreline site to Jamestown. |
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Copyright 2000 by The Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities Comments Editor |
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