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Name: Ripley P. Bullen named the Citrus blade for Citrus County, Florida. The diagnostic characteristics of the Citrus blade and its context of recovery have led to the conclusion that it is the knife form of the Hernando family of points. Bullen’s study was based on his research with Walter Askew at the Askew site in Citrus County, Florida.
Description: The Citrus is a medium to large-sized blade measuring 1.75 to 3 inches in length. The blade was developed through random percussion flaking with fine pressure flaking along the blade edges. Blade edges are typically convex to straight and meet at an acute distal end. Occasionally concave blade edges are encountered in northern Florida that meet at an acuminate distal end. The cross-section is lenticular and thin. Workmanship is good to excellent. Blade edges extend to the convex basal edge. The Hernando family of points that include the Citrus blade comprise the only basally notched point types in Florida. The Citrus differs from the Hernando point in that ity is larger and always displays a convex basal edge. The basal corners are sharper than the earlier, straight-based Culbreath point. The basal notches create a wide, expanding central tang.
Age: Citrus points were recovered from the Bay Cadillac site (8HL2398) in Tampa, Florida. The site contained fifty late Transitional period burials with an overlying midden dating to the late Manasota through Safety Harbor period. The projectile point types recovered from the older site component included the Citrus, Hernando, Culbreath and Newnan types. At the Canton Street site in St. Petersburg, Florida, Citrus blades were recovered at depths between 12 and 18 inches. The primary ceramic types at that depth were Pasco Plain and sand-tempered plain sherds. Other projectile points recovered at that depth included the Hernando, Lafayette and Culbreath types. This would again suggest a late Transitional to Deptford association. Six Citrus blades were recovered from a mound near Blue Springs in Volusia County, Florida in context with a 10 inch Lithic Dagger and sand-tempered plain and Deptford Check Stamped pottery. All of these factors seem to place the Citrus blade in a late Transitional to Deptford period context between 2,000 and 1,700 years old.
Distribution: The Citrus blade distribution is more limited than the Hernando type. The Citrus is found from central to northern Florida while the Hernando can be found as far west as central Alabama and as far north as the Savannah River. One large, well made Citrus point was recovered from Upson County, Georgia near Georgia’s Fall Line.
