Bascom

NAME: James Roshto named the Bascom blade for the Bascom site in southern Georgia. Blades with rounded basal edges were referred to as Rocker Base blades Ripley Bullen identified these blades as Morrow Mountain related. Cambron and Hulse named a very similar blade the Maples point from sites along the Elk River near the Maples Bridge.

Age: All of the names listed above are given for the same large unfinished blade form that dates to the Late Archaic period between 4100 and 3900 BP.

Description: The descriptions of all of these blades describe them with large, shallow flaking and little or no pressure flaking along blade edges.The basal edges or “stems” are either flat or rounded.These seem to be preforms for such large Late Archaic points as the Savannah River, Pickwick and/or Ledbetter points.The distribution for these large blades seems to mirror these same point types.

Distribution: These blades are widely distributed across Georgia. Most are made of coastal plains chert with only a few quartz examples like the one from Richmond County.

Information for this article was derived from John S.  Whatley, Early Georgia: An overview of Georgia Projectile Points and Selected Cutting Tools, The Society for Georgia Archaeology, Vol. 30, No.1 2002