Arrowhead Collecting On The Web

These 6.5” & 7” Mahogany Obsidian Knife Blades,
Discovered In Clark County, Nevada In 2000 A.D.,
Exhibit Excellent Parallel Oblique Pressure Flaking.
These two “Mahogany”
Obsidian knife blades were
recovered on private land
in Clark County, Nevada,
near an area where motorcycles and ATVs had
been racing. It is truly
amazing that these two
“High Desert Knives”
from the mid Archaic
to the Classic periods,
5500 until 500 B.P.,
survived in this
virtually undamaged
condition until they
were found about
2000 A.D. Ex
Clifford Carney
collection.
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© 2011. All rights reserved.
Franklin Scott Crawford, Carrollton, Texas
www.ArrowheadCollectingOnTheWeb.com
www.StoneBreaker-FSC.net
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An American Heritage
An Acquired Mastery Of The Natural Environment
And Material Resources Is Clearly Demonstrated
By High Quality Hunting
Tools & Projectile Points
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Volcanic Lava Flows: A Source For The Natural Glass, Obssidian. A Brittle, Extraordinarily Sharp Material. Skilled
Knappers Preferred To Make Hunting Weapons And Tools Frrom Obsidian. This Quality Resource Traded Far & Wide.
Obsidian arrowheads, from the
Lake Shasta area, found by Jennifer
Peterson in 2008, are shown here at
actual size. Much of the obsidian
used by native peoples across
northern California was obtained
from Glass Mountain, foreground,
and Little Glass Mountain in
Siskiyou County, some 50 miles
east of Mt. Shasta.
A black Obsidian “Northern
Side Notched” dart point
found near Goose Lake in
Modoc County, in northern
California, in the 1960s, by
Pat Welch. Actual size is 2-7/
16” long by 1-1/16” wide at
the base. Shown here at
twice actual size. The
“Northern Side Notched”
dart point was in use from the
early to the late Archaic
period, from 9000 to 3000
B.P. A smaller arrowhead
with the same basic design
was the “Desert Redding”
which was used in the Classic
to Historic Phase, from 700
to 200 B.P. A variant of the
Redding is famous as the
“Ishi” points, made by the
last of the Yana/Yahi Indians
in the early twentieth century.
A transparent Obsidian
“Shasta” variety of the
base notched “Gunther”
style arrowhead, found near
Modoc Lake in Modoc
County, in northern
California, in the 1960s, by
Pat Welch. Actual size.
A translucent gray Obsidian
“Shasta” variety of the base
notched “Gunther” style
arrowhead, found in Siskiyou
County of northern California,
in 2008, by Jennifer Peterson.
Actual size. Shown on cover.
Ground level photograph of huge obsidian boulders at the edge of a flow at Little
Glass Mountain in northern California, some 45 miles east of Mt. Shasta. Shot in
2010 by “Nikonicon”.
Volcanic Obsidian: A Natural Glass. A Brittle, Extraordinar
rily Sharp Material. Skilled Knappers Produced Hunting
arily
Weapons And Tools From Obsidian. These Tools Performedd Exceedingly Well, Were Easy To Maintain & Re-Sharpen.
This is a 12” x 18” case of Ernie Cowles’ finds.
Most have COAs. These photographs are from
Randy McNeice, with artifacts from his
collection. Third from the left is the largest
complete “Humboldt” ever seen by Bill
Jackson. The same for the huge “Nightfire”
third from the right. Mostly from the “OO”
Ranch in Harney County, Oregon, in the 1930s.
Shown here at about 88% of actual size.
The inset photograph is an as yet “unclassified” Paleo blade. It measures 7-1/2” long, and is ground
half way from the base, along the edges. Ben Stermer’s COA says “Re-sharpenings have reduced the
original size of the blade by at least one-third.” Found by Ernie Cowles on the “OO” Ranch in Harney
County, Oregon, in the 1930s. Shown here at its actual size. Original blade length was about 11”.
Volcanic Obsidian: A Natural Glass. A Brittle, Extraordinar
rily Sharp Material. Skilled Modern Knappers Enjoy
arily
Making Hunting Weapons And Tools From Obsidian. Masteering
ring This Beautiful Stone Is Still A Challenge.
The background photograph on these two pages
shows “Silver Sheen” Obsidian cobbles on the
top of an ancient lava flow at Glass Buttes, in
eastern Oregon’s Lake County. Throughout the
pages of this publication, modern made reproduction projectile points are shown in oval
cropped images.
Right: This transparent “Midnight Lace”
Obsidian Archaic “Dovetail” style blade,
made in 2005 A.D. by the author. This
obsidian is from Glass Buttes.
Below: This modern-made “Holland”
Paleo style spear point is “Silver Sheen”
Obsidian from Glass Buttes. Pressure flaked
by the author in 2007 A.D.
Above: This modern-made
early Archaic period
“Cascade” style spear
point or knive blade
is made from opaque
“Brown” Obsidian from
Glass Buttes. Made by
the author in
2005 A.D.
Right: Classic to Historic Phase
“Desert Redding” style modern made
arrow point, pressure flaked in 2009 A.D.
by the author. Left: A modern made corner
notched “Rose Springs” style arrowhead,
Development to Classic Phase. Made in
2009 A.D. by the author. Both are Midnight
Lace Obsidian from Glass Buttes.
Jasper & Agate: Hard, Tough Quartz Materials. Hunting Weapons
W
And Tools Made From Agate & Jasper Were Both
Functional & Beautiful. Heat Treatment Of Stone Chips Mad
de Knapping Arrowheads Possible. Held In Awe Today.
Photograph by
Ken Gibson.
This red Jasper “Rogue River” variety of the “Gunther”
style arrow point was found near Shady Cove in Jackson
County of southern Oregon in the 1960s by Harvey Huber.
An amber Agate “Rogue River” variety of the
“Gunther” style arrowhead found near Dog Creek
in Jackson County, Oregon, by Don Chandler.
Jasper: A Hard, Tough, Water-Deposited Quartz. Hunting Weapons
W
And Tools Made From Heat-Treated Jasper Are
Often Quite Colorful. This Resource Of The Pacific Northwe
est Was Used Effectively For Thousands Of Years.
Northw
west
These five colorful Jasper “Rogue River”
variety of base notched “Gunther” style
arrowheads were found in Jackson County,
Oregon, in the 1960s and 1970s by Dean
Thompson. Shown actual size.
A matching pair of red and tan Jasper “Gunther
Barbed” arrowheads found by the Pat Welch in an
apparent cache in Siskiyou, California in 1970.
The pair are shown greatly enlarged to observe
the details of the work and materials. The inset
photo shows them at their actual size.
A red and yellow Jasper “Molalla”
variety of the base notched “Gunther”
style arrowhead, found at Klamath
Lake in Klamath County, Oregon, in
1958 by Jim Garvin, Sr. Actual size.
A red and yellow Jasper
“Columbia Plateau”
corner/base notched
arrowhead from the
Willamette River valley,
in western Oregon, in the 1950s. Ex Daryl Baker
“Oregon Territory” collection. Actual size.
A Jasper “Cascade” lance point or knife, bought
from a trading post in Brownsville, in Linn
County, Oregon, by the author’s father, Benjamin
F. Crawford, about 1960. Early Archaic to Middle
Archaic, 8000 to 4000 B.P. Actual size.
A red and brown Jasper “Desert
Sierra” arrowhead found by D.C.
near Crump Lake in Lake County,
Oregon, in the 1950s. Ex Michael
Hough collection. Actual size.
A Kalapooya Jasper nodule from the
Willamette River valley in western Oregon.
This red and yellow jasper was widely used
for projectile points and other tools.
Materials such as this were highly prized for
tough tools and sharp hunting weapons by
the native peoples.
Generally, jasper requires heat treating to
make it more easily knapped. This process
was used to prepare chips and small spalls
of jasper for pressure flaking.
A Jasper “Scottsbluff” spear point found by the
author in Linn County, Oregon in 1964 or 1965.
Early Archaic, 10,000 to 8000 B.P. Actual size.
Agate: A Hard, Tough Water-Deposited Silica Material. Hun
nting Weapons And Tools Made From The Various Regional
Huunting
Types Of Agate Are Both Functional & Beautiful. Heat Treat
ting Made Knapping Easier. Highly Prized By Collectors.
Treaating
The large stone in the
background of this
photograph is “Paiute
Agate” from eastern
Oregon. This material
was highly prized for
tough tools and sharp hunting weapons by the
native peoples. Generally, agate requires heat
treating to make it more easily knapped. This
process was used to prepare chips and small spalls
of agate for pressure flaking.
This 3/4” Agate “Eastgate”
arrow point, from Linn County
in the Cascade foothills of
western Oregon, was found in
the early 1960s by the author.
This modern-made “Plainview” or
“Black Rock Concave” Paleo style
spear point is “Paiute
Agate” from central
Oregon. Made by
the author in
2007 A.D.
An Agate “Gunther” or
“Kalapooya” arrow point from
central Oregon, ex Daryl
Baker’s “Oregon Territory”
collection. Found in the 1950s.
Actual size, 13/16” long.
A Chalcedony or
Agate “Gunther
Barbed” arrow
point, found
in Oregon’s
Columbia
Basin in 1962
by Pat Welch.
Actual size,
1-9/16” long.
This “Coumbia Plateau” arrow point from
Yeager Island near Vernita, Washington, on
the Columbia River, is made from Agatized
Palm Wood from the cliffs above the site.
Found by Ernie Cowles in the 1930s.
Shown actual size, 2-1/2” long. Randall
McNeice collection and photograph.
This modern-made “Scottsbluff”
spear point is “Polka Dot
Agate” from central
Oregon. Made by
the author in
2007 A.D.
The large white stone is also “Paiute Agate” from eastern Oregon. Its surface
shows where large chips were removed with “soft hammer” percussion strikes
along the edge. Usually this was done with antler or bone batons or with
quartzite or sandstone hammerstones, which are considered “soft” in contrast to
harder types of stone. Hard hammer blows could tend to crush the agate rather
than drive off useful chips or flakes.
Volcanic Basalt: A Hard, Tough Material. Hunting Weaponns And Tools Made From Basalt Endure. Once The Initial
Manufacturing Effort Was Invested By A Skilled Knapper, Thhese Tools Performed Reliably For Generations.
Volcanic basalt is your
quintessential hard,
heavy rock. Vast quantities of the earth’s crust
are made of basalt, while
much of the continental
mass is made of granite,
which is lighter and much
more crystalline in structure. Fine grained basalt
can be broken by percussion, as the curved
surfaces on this chunk demonstrate. Basalt was
used all over the world to make strong, tough
tools. This example is from India.
These early and middle
Archaic period Basalt
dart points are from the
Silver Lake area in
eastern Oregon.
The top three are
“Gatecliff” points, 5000
to 3000 B.P.
The middle, bifurcated
base point may be a late
Paleo/early Archaic
period “Windust” point,
10,500 to 8000 B.P.
The middle two on each
side, slanting upward, and
the right middle one,
slanting down (which is
shown approximately
actual size, 2” long), are
“Cold Springs” side
notched points, 5000 to
4000 B.P.
The left middle one,
slanting down, and the
two at the bottom, may be
“Wendover” points, 7000
to 5000 B.P.
Found in the early 1950s
by Vernon Imel, and are
ex Jess Anders’ “Great
Basin” collection.
Three needle sharp Basalt “Wallula Gap Rectangular Stemmed” arrow points, found near
Portland, Oregon along the Columbia River in
the 1950s by John Cockrell. Wallula Gap
arrowheads were used in the Columbia River
basin of Oregon and Washington during the
“Developmental” to “Historic” Phase, from
1000 to 200 years B.P. The middle example of
these three arrowheads measures 1” in length.
This Basalt “Clovis Knife” was found in the 1950s in eastern Oregon,
ex Duttweiler collection, Ohio. It is 6-3/4” long, 1-1/2” wide and no
more than 3/8” thick. A clue to the culture of this blade is found by
examining the knapping process. The wide percussion flake scars
which reach most of the way across the blade are “overshot” flakes.
A highly skilled use of soft hammer percussion removed these wide
flakes from the face of the basalt blade. This left an almost flat surface
with uniform thickness to the entire blade. The edges were trimmed to
the shape and form required. This “overshot” knapping process was
used almost exclusively by the Paleo Indian period “Clovis” culture.