FRAZIER, Kneberg (Kneberg, 1956): A-40
GENERAL DESCRIPTION: This is a medium-sized, narrow, triangular point with a well thinned basal edge.
MEASUREMENTS: "In size these points range from 2 to 2¾ inches." (Bell, 1960.) Alabama examples are slightly shorter. Measurements of 4 plesiotypes, including the illustrated example, are: length—maximum, 51 mm.; minimum, 45 mm.; average, 49 mm.: width at base—maximum, 25 mm.; minimum, 21 mm.; average, 23 mm.: thickness—maximum, 8 mm.; minimum, 6 mm.; average, 7 mm. Basal depth on one incurvate base example was 1 mm.
FORM: The cross-section is flattened. The blade is excurvate. A slightly serrated appearance is found on some examples as the result of retouching along the blade edge. The distal end is acute. The hafting area includes an undetermined basal portion of the blade which is more or less parallel along the basal edges. The basal edge is usually straight but may be slightly incurvate; it is thinned and, rarely, ground.
FLAKING: Large shallow flakes, removed to shape the faces, were followed by shorter deeper flaking along all edges. The secondary flaking along the basal edge is usually broader and longer than that used along the blade and hafting area edges. Some retouching along the blade edges results in a finely serrated appearance.
COMMENTS: This point is named after the Frazier Site in Benton County, Tennessee. The illustrated example is from Cambron Site 389 in Limestone County, Alabama. No examples were recovered from control sites in the Tennessee Valley. The type is comparatively rare in Alabama and the cultural association is not known, but it usually appears in surface collections from early Archaic sites. Kneberg (1956) suggests a late Archaic association in Tennessee and a "probable time period from about 1500 B. C. to early centuries A. D." The point is similar to Paint Rock Valley points but is narrower. The base is not as incurvate and the flaking is usually better controlled.