MORROW MOUNTAIN ROUNDED BASE, Cambron (DeJarnette, Kurjack and Cambron, 1962): A-61-b
GENERAL DESCRIPTION: This is a medium to large, rounded base point with an excurvate blade.
MEASUREMENTS: Ten plesiotypes from Limestone County, Alabama, and Lincoln County, Tennessee, provided the following measurements: length—maximum, 58 mm.; minimum, 37 mm.; average, 45 mm.: width—maximum, 41 mm.; minimum, 24 mm.; average, 30 mm.: thickness—maximum, 10 mm.; minimum, 7 mm.; average, 8 mm. Larger examples are known from North Alabama, especially from the Stanfield-Worley Bluff Shelter (DeJarnette, Kurjack and Cambron, 1962).
FORM: The cross-section may be flattened or biconvex. Blade edges are excurvate and rarely serrated. The distal end is usually acute but may be mucronate. The hafting area is rounded and thinned, but rarely ground.
FLAKING: Variable, random flaking was used to shape the faces. Some examples were finely retouched along the blade and hafting area edges, while others were not retouched at all. In general the flaking is cruder than that of Morrow Mountain or Morrow Mountain Straight Base. Local flints and cherts were used to make the points.
COMMENTS: The type was named because of similarities and associations with Morrow Mountain points (Coe, 1959) from sites near Morrow Mountain in the North Carolina Piedmont area. The illustrated example is from Cambron Site 76 (Pine Tree) in Limestone County, Alabama. The type was listed as Gypsum Cave by Cambron (1958a). At the Stanfield-Worley Bluff Shelter (DeJarnette, Kurjack and Cambron, 1962), four examples were associated with Burial No. 11 and two examples were found in association with Burial No. 8 along with Morrow Mountain points and other early Archaic points and tools—including a drill made from a Morrow Mountain Rounded Base point. At the University of Alabama Site Ms 201 in Marshall County, Alabama, one example was recovered from Level 1. In the Tennessee Valley of North Alabama the type is found on early Archaic sites. This type is similar to Gypsum Cave points, dated in Nevada at between 6000 and 8000 B. C. (Coe, 1959). An early Archaic association in Alabama is suggested.