Paleoindian Projectile Points

The land that we refer to today as Jamestown Island has been in use by Indigenous Peoples for over 10,000 years. The earliest time period associated with humans in Virginia is the Paleoindian period, which encompasses four sub-occupations: Pre-Clovis, Clovis, Mid-Paleo, and Late Paleoindian. Artifacts from these periods of occupation are predominantly lithics, or stones which were modified by people.

Though no mid-late Paleoindian points have been identified in the Jamestown collection thus far, three Clovis points have been recovered from mixed contexts during excavations of the fort. The points are quite different from each other, but each has diagnostic fluting (channel going up the center of the point – difficult to see in the photographs) that is associated with the Clovis time period (9200-8800 BCE). Clovis points are often made of high-quality materials such as cryptocrystalline cherts. All of Jamestown’s points are made of quartzite, a much-less desirable material, but not uncommon for Clovis points. Unfortunately, only one is complete and one of the points appear to be unfinished – likely broken and discarded during production. Manufacturers of Clovis points were very skilled and the points are usually quite well made.

Additionally, Jamestown’s collection contains a single point that is morphologically consistent with points recovered from Pre-Clovis (14,000-9,200 BCE) sites in Virginia. However, contextual information (i.e. stratigraphy and radiocarbon or other scientific dating methods) is vital when classifying points from this time period as they do not have a defining characteristic like fluting. As it came from a disturbed context, all archaeologists can say about this point is that it is Lanceolate-Triangular, meaning that it is an elongated, triangular shaped lithic. Later triangular points in the collection display a wide array of variation on the triangular form, so this similarity to pre-Clovis projectile points could be coincidental.

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