INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this book is to fill a need for the identification of artifacts and to contribute to a unified nomenclature, especially concerning projectile point types in Alabama and adjoining areas.
Considerable material was classified and used to determine types. This includes approximately: 150,000 catalogued artifacts in the collections of the authors from 400 sites, mostly from the Tennessee Valley; about 5,000 Paleo, Transitional Paleo, and early Archaic artifacts from 281 sites classified in "A survey of Paleo-Indian Sites and Artifacts in the Tennessee River Valley;" and artifacts from over 250 sites in 27 Alabama counties, 7 Tennessee counties, 1 North Carolina county, 3 Georgia counties and 1 New York county (see distribution tables of state survey) loaned by Alabama Archaeological Society members and others.
Names and code numbers were assigned to each type of artifact. Combinations of characteristics both cultural and physical, including measurements, shapes, flaking, and materials, were taken from a series of each type and were used to determine each new type. Typical examples were selected to be illustrated and the illustrations were drawn with great accuracy and are considered superior to photographs, and all named points are drawn actual size. Cultural associations were determined by artifacts from excavated control sites. These control sites include Stanfield-Worley Bluff Shelter, Quad Site, University of Alabama Site Ms 201 (Rock House), Flint Creek Rock Shelter, Little Bear Creek Site Ct 8, and Flint River Mound Ma 48. All artifacts from these sites used in this paper were classified by the authors; thus a uniform interpretation of types was assured. Surface collections from more or less culturally isolated sites were also of value in determining cultural associations.
Some projectile points are not distinctive enough to be defined as a type. Provisional types of categories were set up and assigned code numbers in order to place these points in separated groups. Points are not "pushed" into a named type; if the type could not accurately be determined the point was placed in a provisional type. In classifying point types it is well to consider that broken points, points with missing parts, and reworked points can be misleading and can make the example appear to be of another type. Differences in patination and flaking technique of the reworked area of a point are helpful in determining the extent of reworking. In classifying reworked points if the original type can be identified the point is placed in that type. If a point is reworked into a tool it is still classified as a point.
The hafting method and flaking can be helpful in determining point type associations in general as the hafting method nearly always determines the shape of the projectile point. Most Paleo Indian types, including fluted points, are auriculate. With exceptions, Transitional Paleo types were still hafted in much the same way. Side notching and beveling of the blade apparently started in this period. Notching and beveling seems to reach a climax on larger points in the early Archaic period. Stemmed points also became important in this period and persisted in importance through Shellmound Archaic and Woodland periods. Auriculate and notched types reappear in the Woodland period. Pentagonal and triangular types persist through all cultural periods. Small triangular points become important in the Mississippian period.
BASIC POINT SHAPES AND FEATURES
