The Project Gutenberg eBook of Handbook Of Alabama Archaeology, Part 1, Point Types, by James W. Cambron and David C. Hulse.

Aborigine (L)—a native inhabitant of a country; in America, the Indian.

Acuminate—See Fig. 28.

Acute—See Fig. 27.

Apiculate—See Fig. 31.

Archaic (L)—The culture which followed the Paleo-Indian period and preceded the early Woodland culture in the eastern United States. This was a pre-agricultural, pre-pottery culture. Food was obtained by hunting and gathering. Earliest date (Rocha-Carbon) in Tennessee is about 5000 B. C.

Arrowhead, Arrowpoint (L)—a weapon point generally regarded to be less than 2½ inches in length. Longer points are regarded as spearpoints and knives.

Artifact (L)—an object of human workmanship, especially one of prehistoric origin.

Assemblage—a group of artifacts representing a culture.

Atlatl (L)—the Aztec word for spear-thrower. The device is a wooden stick with a hand grip at one end and a spur or hook at the other which fits into the socketed end of a spear shaft. The device lengthens the throwing arm and gives greater force to the spear.

Auricle—applied to the ear-like parts of a projectile point.

Auriculate—having auricles or ear-like parts. See Fig. 33-38 & 63.

Autotype (G)—a specimen not belonging to the primary material but identified with an already described and named type and selected by the nomenclator himself for the purpose of further illustrating his type.

Barb—a barbed shoulder of a point. See Fig. 13-14.

Base—the proximal end or area of a point nearest the haft. In describing point types, the base is assumed to be the lowest part of the point, thus the distal end is the uppermost part.

Basal Constriction—See Hafting Constriction.

Basal Grinding (L)—the grinding away of the sharp basal edges and lateral edges near the base of a projectile point to prevent cutting of the lashings.

Basal Notching—See Fig. 39-41.

Basal Thinning (L)—produced to remove small, longitudinal flakes from the basal edge of a projectile point. See Fig. 68.

Baton Flaking—removal of flakes from stone by striking blows with a baton-like tool. A method of direct percussion flaking.

Beveled—See Fig. 23, 24, 64 and 69.

Beveled Base—See Fig. 69.

Biconvex—See Fig. 1.

Bifaced (L)—a term applied to flaked stone artifacts that have been worked on both faces.

Bifurcated Stem—See Fig. 61.

Blade—that part of a projectile point above the hafting area.

Blade Scar—a uniface scar surface resulting from a blade having been struck from a core. As another blade is struck from the core, it bears the blade scar of the previous blade.

Bulb of Percussion—a bulb resulting from a conchoidal fracture of stone.

Bulbar Depression—the depression left from the bulb of percussion when a blade or flake is struck from a core.

Ceramic (L)—pertaining to pottery.

Chalcedony—a flint-like stone with a waxy appearance. Alabama sources are usually nodular.

Channel Flake (L)—a long flake removed longitudinally from the face of a blade to form a flute or channel.

Chert (L)—an impure variety of flint.

Chip—See Flake.

Chronology (L)—the arrangement of events, or the material representing them, in the order of their occurrence in time.

Collateral Flaking—See Fig. 71.

Concave—See Incurvate.

Conchoidal (L)—shaped like half of a clam shell; refers to the characteristic fractures resulting from pressure and percussion flaking of flint.

Conglomerate (L)—conglomerate rock is composed of rounded pebbles and sand cemented together into solid rock.

Conoidal Theory of Flint Fracture—the theory that ideally a cone will be punched out of a piece of flint when it is struck with sufficient force.

Contracted Pointed—See Fig. 54.

Contracted Rounded—See Fig. 53.

Contracted Stem—See Fig. 52.

Core (L)—a stone, usually flint, from which flakes have been removed by percussion.

Corner Notched—See Fig. 40.

Cotype (G)—an example of the original series when there is no holotype, the describer having used a number of examples as of equal value.

Culture (L)—the way of life of a group of people, comprising all their activities and beliefs. Archaeologically, a culture is represented by the material remains left by a group.

Cultural Complex (L)—a group of traits whose associations in time and space indicate that they were the products of the activities of a specific human group.

Deposit (L)—any accumulation laid down by human occupational activities.

Diagonal Notches—See Fig. 40.

Direct Percussion—flaking flint by striking it directly with a hammerstone or other object.

Distal (L)—when applied to a bone, it is the end farthest from the body.

Distal End—when applied to a projectile point or other hafted artifact, it is the end farthest from the point of attachment.

Drift—an implement, usually made of antler, used in indirect percussion flaking.

Ear—See Auricle.

Early Archaic—an early phase of the Archaic culture that may be represented by notched projectile points and is considered pre-shellmound in North Alabama.

Excurvate Base—See Fig. 48.

Excurvate Blade—See Fig. 16.

Excurvate-Incurvate—See Fig. 21.

Expanded Barbs—See Fig. 14.

Expanded-Pointed—See Fig. 34.

Expanded-Rounded—See Fig. 36.

Expanded Shoulder—See Fig. 12.

Expanded Stem—See Fig. 51.

Expanded Stem Side Edges—See Fig. 57.

Face—the area of a projectile point or tool between the edges. This may include the blade and hafting area.

Flake—in flint work it is a thin piece split from the parent material or core; to remove flakes from parent materials in flint work.

Flake Scar—a scar on the parent material resulting from the removal of a flake.

Flaking—the removing of flakes from a core or artifact in flint working.

Flaking Tool—an implement used in flaking stone tools; it is often made from an antler tine.

Flat Flaking—See Shallow Flaking.

Flattened—See Fig. 4.

Flute or Flute Scar—the scar left on the face of a projectile point as a result of fluting or removal of a channel flake.

Fluted Cross-Section—See Fig. 6.

Ground—areas, especially hafting area edges, that have been abraded smooth.

Haft (L)—a handle (or shaft); to provide with a handle.

Hafting Area—the area of a point or tool that receives the lashings, etc. in hafting procedures; the proximal end of a projectile point.

Hafting Constriction—a hafting area that is constricted along the side edges.

Hammerstone (L)—a hard pebble showing battering from use as a hammer.

Hinge Fracture—when the terminal end of a blade or flake, being struck from the parent material, makes a sharp dip into the material causing a deep fracture, it is called a hinge fracture. If a fracture of this type occurs during the removal of a channel flake from a projectile point it usually breaks at the terminal end of the channel flake.

Holotype (G)—among the primary types a holotype is the original specimen selected as the type, and from which the original description (protolog), or the original illustration (protograph), is made.

Homotype (G)—a homotype is a specimen not used in the literature but identified by a specialist, after comparing with the holotype.

Horizontal Shoulder—See Fig. 7.

Horizontal Transverse Flaking—See Fig. 72.

Impact Fracture—a fracture of a projectile point resulting from impact during use; a shattering of the distal end of a projectile point as a result of impact with a resistant object.

Incurvate Base—See Fig. 47.

Incurvate Blade—See Fig. 17.

Incurvate Stem Side Edges—See Fig. 56.

Indirect Percussion—flaking flint by striking a drift which has been placed against the flint.

In Situ (L)—in place.

Inversely Tapered—See Fig. 8.

Lanceolate—shaped like the head of a lance; of leaves, etc., narrow, and tapered toward the apex, or (sometimes) toward each end.

Lithic (L)—pertaining to stone.

Main Flute—the central flute struck from the face of a projectile point. This is usually the longest flute occurring during multiple fluting of a projectile point.

Median Ridge—a ridge left along the center of the blade of a projectile point during manufacture.

Midden (L)—the deposit of refuse generally present on a village site.

Mississippian Culture (L)—the culture that appeared in the Southeast around 1000 years ago. Shows strong Mexican influences and is associated with many groups ancestral to the historic Muskhogean speaking tribes of the Southeast.

Mucronate—See Fig. 29.

Multiple Fluting—multiple fluting is the result of the removal of more than one channel flake from one face of a projectile point. This is usually accomplished by two primary flutes and a main flute being made.

Notched Blade Edge—See Fig. 26.

Oblique Transverse Flaking—See Fig. 73.

Obsidian (L)—a volcanic glass; may be black, brown, or green in color.

Obtuse—See Fig. 30.

Obverse Face—as a means of identifying the faces of projectile points, the obverse face is the one without marks, such as site number, etc.

Paleo-Indian (L)—a name assigned to nomadic groups who were the first inhabitants of the new world. Their culture was comparable to that of the late Paleolithic of the old world.

Paleolithic (L)—a term applied to the Stone Age of the old world. During this period man had no knowledge of plant and animal domestication and no knowledge of pottery and metals.

Parallel-Angular Blade—See Fig. 19.

Parallel Blade—See Fig. 18.

Parallel-Pointed—See Fig. 33.

Parallel-Rounded—See Fig. 35.

Patina (L)—an adhesive crust or discoloration produced by weathering of an object. It does not necessarily imply great age.

Percussion Flaking (L)—removal of flakes from stone by striking blows with a stone or other hammer.

Pitch of Striking Platform—the degree of angle resulting from the removal of flakes from the base of a point to make a striking platform.

Plano-convex (L)—a term used to describe an object that is flat on one face and convex on the other.

Plesiotype (G)—a plesiotype is a specimen not belonging to the primary material but identified with an already described and named type and selected by someone else than the original describer for the purpose of further illustrating the type.

Pointed Base—See Fig. 42-45.

Pointed Stem—See Fig. 62.

Pressure Flaking (L)—shaping a stone such as an arrowpoint by removing flakes from the edges by pressure with a pointed implement made of material such as bone or antler.

Primary Flaking—the first rough series of flakes removed in shaping blade or hafting area edges of projectile points or tools.

Primary Flute—usually one of two short flutes removed from the basal face of a point in order to leave a striking nipple.

Projectile Point (L)—a pointed artifact used on a spear, arrow or dart.

Proximal End—the end of a projectile point to which a haft is attached. This is part of the hafting area.

Quartz (L)—a material frequently used in projectile points and other artifacts. When quartz is clear and colorless, it is called rock crystal; milky quartz is milky white; smoky quartz is a cloudy brown color; rose quartz is a pale red color; sugar quartz is the color of brown sugar.

Quartzite—a granular form of quartz, often quartz fragments cemented together.

Random Flaking—See Fig. 74.

Recurvate Blade—See Fig. 20.

Resolved Flaking (L)—the method of striking flakes from a flint core by directing the blow inward. A resolved flake struck off in this manner is thinner and narrower at the percussion end; the flake is thicker and wider at the opposite end, and, when it does not extend the full length of the core, it usually ends in a hinge fracture.

Retouch (L)—a term applied to the secondary removal by pressure of small flakes from the edge of a flaked stone artifact to produce sharpness.

Reverse Face—the reverse face of a point may be designated as the one with the site number, etc., marked on it. This is assumed to be the less finished side.

Reworked—a projectile point or other artifact is said to be reworked when the shape has been altered by flaking, grinding, etc., either by the manufacturer or other people.

Rhomboid—See Fig. 2.

Rind—a deeply weathered area on the outer surface of a nodule or chunk of flint or like material.

Rounded—a term applied to a relatively symmetrical curved area of a projectile point.

Rounded Base—See Fig. 46.

Rounded Stem—See Fig. 53.

Secondary Flaking—the removal of small flakes, usually by pressure flaking, with a piece of bone or antler. The secondary flaking along the edge of the blade of a point is usually designed to finish the blade edges.

Serrated—having intentional toothed projections along an edge.

Shallow Flaking—the removal of shallow flakes in shaping a projectile point or tool.

Shellmound Archaic—that part of the Archaic period when shellfish middens were formed as residue of the gathering economy of the people in an area.

Shoulders—See Fig. 7-12.

Side Notched—See Fig. 39.

Spall (L)—waste flake struck from a larger piece of flint.

Spear Thrower (L)—See Atlatl.

Stem—a type of hafting area of projectile points. See Fig. 50-54.

Straight Base—See Fig. 49.

Straight Blade Edge—See Fig. 15.

Straight Stem—See Fig. 50.

Straight Stem Side Edges—See Fig. 55.

Stratification (L)—formation in strata or layers. When village site deposits show more than one stratum formed by successive occupations by groups of people, the lowest stratum is the oldest.

Stratigraphy (L)—the arrangement of strata with respect to position in which they were laid down by human occupation or from natural causes.

Striking Nipple—a nipple left near the center of the striking platform where a drift may be set to strike the main flute. Usually the nipple is formed by the removal of two primary flutes.

Striking Platform—a prepared basal edge of a projectile point. This edge is beveled to a degree of pitch that will allow a drift to be set at the proper angle to strike off a channel flake.

Tapered—See Fig. 9.

Thinned—See Fig. 68.

Trait, Culture Trait (L)—any object or other evidence that is the result of human behavior or action.

Transitional—of, pertaining to, characterized by, or involving transition; intermediate. In archaeology, usually pertaining to evidence of transition from one culture to another.

Transitional Paleo-Indian—a cultural period intermediate between Paleo-Indian and Archaic.

Typology (L)—a study of arrangement of specimens separated into types.

Unifaced (L)—a term applied to flaked stone artifacts that have been worked on one face only.

Variant—in projectile point typology a variation of the type described as of the original series.

Vein Quartz—a relatively pure type of quartz found in veins in igneous areas.

Woodland Culture (L)—a widespread culture in eastern America which appeared in the Southeast about 2000 B. C. The presence of pottery differentiates it from the Archaic which preceded it.

Worked—in projectile point descriptions, describes an area of an artifact that has been shaped or altered by man—such as the removal of flakes along a blade edge.

GLOSSARY

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