BIG SANDY, Lewis and Kneberg A-10
(Cambron and Hulse, 1960a): A-11
GENERAL DESCRIPTION: This is a small to medium, side-notched point. The basal edges and/or notches are usually ground. The blade edges may be serrated and/or beveled.
MEASUREMENTS: The range of measurements of 14 examples from an excavation on the Quad Site (Cambron and Hulse, 1960a) are: length, 35-56 mm.; width, 18-20 mm.; thickness, 6-8 mm. Measurements of the illustrated example are: length, 41 mm.; shoulder width, 20 mm.; width at base, 21 mm.; notch depth, 4 mm.; notch width, 6mm.; thickness, 6mm. Later unground examples from the Big Sandy Site in Henry County, Tennessee, range in length from 44 mm. to 89 mm. and average near 64 mm. (Bell, 1960).
FLAKING: The flaking is variable, but usually is good. Random flaking is usually employed to shape the faces of the blade and hafting area; retouch is evident along the edges. The side notches appear to have been made by broad percussion flaking. Rare examples show oblique flaking (Kneberg, 1956).
FORM: The cross-section is usually biconvex but may be rhomboid, plano-convex, or median ridged. The blade may be excurvate or straight. Of the 22 whole and broken examples recovered, 62% are beveled on one side of each blade face and 8% are serrated. The distal end is acute. The hafting area is side-notched. The notches average about 5 mm. deep and 7 mm. wide, and are nearly always ground. Of the 22 measured examples, 43% have incurvate bases, 32% have slightly excurvate bases, and 25% have straight bases. The bases are usually thinned, and 50% of the 22 examples have ground bases. The part of the hafting area between the notches and the base may be straight or auriculated. Rarely, the basal edge is parallel pointed.
COMMENTS: The point is named for the Big Sandy I phase of the Archaic period (Lewis and Kneberg, 1959). The illustrated example is from Hulse Site 38 (Pine Tree), Limestone County, Alabama. Examples were found in association with a fluted midsection, Wheeler, Dalton, and Quad points on the Quad Site (Cambron and Hulse, 1960a). Ritchie, in New York (1961), described the type as the Otter Creek point. The type was dated at Stanfield-Worley Bluff Shelter by radiocarbon method at near 10,000 B.P. (DeJarnette, Kurjack and Cambron, 1962). Similar examples from Danger Cave, Utah, were listed by Jennings (1957) as types W4, W25, and W26. Type W4 was recovered only from Level II, where the radiocarbon dates were 9789 ±630 B.P. and 8960 ±340 B.P. This type was described in earlier editions of this book as Big Sandy I. An unground variant, also described in earlier editions of this book as Big Sandy II, Code, No. A-11, were numerous in the Three Mile Phase at the Eva Site (Lewis and Lewis, 1961). Kneberg suggests a date of from 3500 B.C. to 1000 B.C. for this variant (1959).
BIG SANDY AURICULATE, Cambron (This Paper): A-133
GENERAL DESCRIPTION: This is a small to medium sized, side-notched point with auriculate, incurvate base and excurvate blade edges. The basal edges and/or notches are nearly always ground.