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Native American Projectile Evolution

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Zuma:
This has nothing to do with modern abo stuff.
What I would like to discuss is the way Native American
 projectile evolution occurred.
Of course most of this will be predicated on speculation.
The actual projectiles themselves give a good amount of clue.
If we start with Clovis and work through Late Paleo-Archaic and the Woodland periods by point style. Could we visualize how and why different types came about, how they were hafted and used.

I like to call it the Bic Lighter Syndrome.
Explanation---back in the day cigarette lighters  were made of silver and other metals. They were very large and artistically made with various scenes, busts and historic motifs. Technical and high quality to be used over and over.

They eventually became smaller, using different fuels and cheaper materials.
Soon they  became personal items carried in purses and pockets.
Sill durable and somewhat treasured.
 And then finally the cheap and dirty throw away plastic Bic.
Well, I look at the Clovis as the Coffee table lighter and the Late Woodland triangle as the Bic.
Any thoughts?

riverrat:
yep same brain wave here. look, heres how i think on it. a clovis point wasnt only a spear point, it was a knife point, it was a tool that was very well made, it was a one tool does all tool. im assuming they had a whole culture around that point design because of what it meant to them.so i imagine they took great pains to make sure it was a very well made tool. however, i bet one day some hunter noticed that hey even the flakes i make making this difficult point cut, hmmm wonder how well it would work....then tried it!. fast forward to woodland times and the bow and arrows, the object of the arrow was to not only puncture the animal they were aiming at. but to cause a wide area or hole to bleed out that animal. heck any piece of stone ,bone, wood , thats sharp can do that. so hence something easy to fasion and still works. i like basic triangles myself though i do adore the fine craftmanship of a clovis point.but would i make a clovis to hunt with? no. why? way to much work compared to basic triangular points.heck ive seen some nice sized clovis points. i could make a heck of a point just from what i seen in flutes that were removed in a few touch ups.so why work so hard on  it? just my thoughts. Tony

Outbackbob48:
Don, here's my .02 The size of the game changed  from Mastidons to Deer and the weapons changed from spears and atl-atl to bowand arrow. Big Clovis points to teeny Triangle bird points in a few thousand yrs. Bob

Dalton Knapper:
Don't overlook the significance of the atlatl. It delivered a projectile to the target with more than a hundred foot pounds of energy that a hand thrown spear could deliver. The point didn't have to be made as well and since you could retrieve your shaft in a atlatl and dart setup, you could have barbs on the point since all you had to do is load up another foreshaft. Than and the game was no longer megafauna in later days. The delivery method in other words had a huge impact (no pun intended) on the was the weapon and point was designed to stay in place from the archaic on whereas Paleo points were designed to stab, be removed and stab again. Clovis and Paleo points didn't have shoulders for a reason - you could thrust and pull the point out and thrust again. Barbed points do not pull out easily - you just shoot the game and reload your shaft with another foreshaft and shoot again with the assistance of an atlatl.

Zuma:
Very good replies.
If I can find a good illustration of what convention
says are the major point types I will.
But I think if we use just  the basics we can try to
match them to time, weather, creatures, geographic
domain,workmanship and the like.
Suggestion in order---
Clovis, other Paleo, corner notched, early stemmed, bifurcate, stemmed
side notched and triangle.

I might start by saying I think the Clovis hinged flute was created to help kill elephants and see where it goes.
Zuma

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