ArrowPoint

Other artifact type

Antler Point

Also called Antler Tine Point, Socketed Antler Point, Conical Antler Point, Antler Projectile Point

Antler PointArchaic: a diagnostic trait of the Green River shell middens, about 4000–1000 B.C. (Ford and Willey 1941, cited in Jefferies 2008; Henderson and Burdin 2006); early Middle Archaic at Modoc, Illinois (Illinois State Museum); Fort Ancient, about A.D. 1000–1750, at the Slone, Florence and S. S. Clay Mound sites, Kentucky (Henderson 2008).Middle Archaic to Protohistoric

Key facts

Age
Archaic: a diagnostic trait of the Green River shell middens, about 4000–1000 B.C. (Ford and Willey 1941, cited in Jefferies 2008; Henderson and Burdin 2006); early Middle Archaic at Modoc, Illinois (Illinois State Museum); Fort Ancient, about A.D. 1000–1750, at the Slone, Florence and S. S. Clay Mound sites, Kentucky (Henderson 2008).
Cultural period
Middle Archaic to Protohistoric
Culture
Green River Archaic; Fort Ancient; Mandan
Material
Deer antler tine; sometimes bone (Jefferies 2008; Illinois State Museum).

More from the Archaic period

Description

An antler point is a projectile tip made from the end of a deer antler tine, or sometimes from bone, usually conical, with a hollow socket bored into the base to take the end of a dart or arrow shaft. Ford and Willey (1941) listed socketed antler or bone points among the diagnostic traits of the Archaic, and Green River Archaic hunters sometimes armed their spears with drilled antler tips (Jefferies 2008; Henderson and Burdin 2006).

Archaic makers removed tines by score-and-snap: they cut part way around the tine, or through its hard outer layer, and snapped it off, then ground the tip sharp. Early Middle Archaic points from the Modoc site, Illinois, still show long grinding striations (Illinois State Museum). At the Fort Ancient S. S. Clay Mound, Kentucky, antler fragments with their tips cut off were found with finished antler points (Henderson 2008).

The points tipped atlatl darts and, later, arrows. Plains peoples sharpened antler tips and fastened them on arrows, and Moorehead (1910) figures bone arrow points from a Mandan village; Hodge (1907) lists antler, bone, horn, shell, wood and copper among arrowhead materials besides stone. The key trait is a ground antler tine tip with a socket bored into its base.

Size

More information needed.

Distribution

Eastern Woodlands, especially Kentucky and Illinois (Green River shell middens, Modoc, Fort Ancient sites), and the northern Plains (Mandan villages) (Henderson and Burdin 2006; Illinois State Museum; Henderson 2008; Moorehead 1910).

Additional information

Look for a sharpened tine tip with a socket in the base and grinding marks along the body. An antler flaker has a blunted, crushed tip and no socket (Bell 1980). Hollowed antler pieces with a socket but no point may be handles for awls or other tools (Illinois State Museum; Bell 1980), so check the tip. An atlatl hook has a hook spur and a fitting end rather than a point (Arkansas Archeological Survey). At S. S. Clay Mound antler points occur both loose in the mound fill and with burials (Henderson 2008, citing Funkhouser and Webb 1928).

Similar types

Types that are easy to confuse with the Antler Point artifact.

Sources

  1. Jefferies, Richard W. 2008. The Archaic Period. In The Archaeology of Kentucky: An Update, Vol. 1, edited by David Pollack, pp. 193-337. State Historic Preservation Comprehensive Plan Report No. 3. Kentucky Heritage Council, Frankfort.archaeology.ky.gov (opens in a new tab)
  2. Henderson, A. Gwynn, and Rachel Burdin. 2006. Hunters and Gatherers of the Green River Valley. Kentucky Archaeological Survey Education Series No. 7. Kentucky Heritage Council and University of Kentucky, Lexington.kentuckyarchaeologicalsurvey.org (opens in a new tab)
  3. Illinois State Museum. 2017. Raw Materials and Technology. Archaic Period zooarchaeology exhibit. Illinois State Museum, Springfield.zooarch.illinoisstatemuseum.org (opens in a new tab)
  4. Henderson, A. Gwynn. 2008. Fort Ancient Period. In The Archaeology of Kentucky: An Update, Vol. 2, edited by David Pollack, pp. 739-902. State Historic Preservation Comprehensive Plan Report No. 3. Kentucky Heritage Council, Frankfort.
  5. Moorehead, Warren K. 1910. The Stone Age in North America, Vol. 2. Houghton Mifflin, Boston and New York. Objects of Bone.archive.org (opens in a new tab)
  6. Hodge, Frederick W. (editor). 1907. Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico, Part 1. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 30. Smithsonian Institution, Washington. (Entry Arrowheads.)archive.org (opens in a new tab)
  7. Bell, Robert E. 1980. Oklahoma Indian Artifacts. Contributions from the Stovall Museum No. 4. University of Oklahoma, Norman. Flint Knapping Tools, pp. 59-61.samnoblemuseum.ou.edu (opens in a new tab)
  8. Arkansas Archeological Survey. n.d. Antler Atlatl Hook. Artifact of the Month. Arkansas Archeological Survey, Fayetteville.archeology.uark.edu (opens in a new tab)

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