FORT ANCIENT, Bell (Bell, 1960): A-39
GENERAL DESCRIPTION: This is a small to medium, thick, triangular point that may be serrated.
MEASUREMENTS: Bell (1960) lists the length as from about 30 mm. to 50 mm. and the width as about 15 mm. or less. The illustrated example measures 32 mm. long, 14 mm. wide, and 6 mm. thick.
FORM: The cross-section is usually biconvex. The blade is usually straight but may be slightly incurvate near the distal end or, rarely, excurvate. Blade edges may be serrated. (Serrated examples are more readily identified.) The distal end may be keenly acute or acuminate. The base may be straight or excurvate. It is usually thinned and may be slightly expanded.
FLAKING: The point displays random flaking which is usually broad and fairly deep, with some fine retouch near the distal end. The serrations on the serrated examples are the result of the removal of broad regular flakes from the edge of alternate faces, leaving an irregular pattern along the blade edges. Occasionally the basal edge was retouched as well as thinned by removal of broad flakes.
COMMENTS: "The Fort Ancient points are associated with the Feurt Focus of the Fort Ancient aspect of the Ohio Valley. The Fort Ancient point has been recognized among archaeologists, both amateur and professional, in the Ohio region for a number of years." (Bell, 1960). The illustrated example is from Cambron Site 27, Limestone County, Alabama. This Woodland-Mississippian site has produced Fort Ancient, Madison, Jacks Reef Corner Notched, Knight Island, Swan Lake and Copena points. One Fort Ancient point was recovered from Level 1 at University of Alabama Site Ms 201 in Marshall County, Alabama. Bell (1960) dates the type at some time from about 1200 A. D. to 1600 A. D. Morgan (1952), in summarizing the prehistoric Indian cultures of the Ohio region, says of the Fort Ancient aspect of the Mississippian period: "Their trait assemblage is indicative of a people with a mixed cultural background, both Woodland and Mississippi elements being involved. White trade goods at one site show that some of these people were probably still in existence as late as the last quarter of the seventeenth century."