Dalton Forms

DALTON POINT TYPES OF THE SOUTHEAST

CHATTAHOOCHEE DALTON

Name: John Powell named this type for the Chattahoochee River where many examples have been recovered.

 Age: Generally classified simply as Dalton points, the Chattahoochee Dalton would date between 10,500 and 9900 radiocarbon years BP.

 Description: The Chattahoochee Dalton is a lanceolate form measuring between 1 and 3 inches long. The blade is lenticular with excurvate edges. The basal edge is slightly to moderately concave. Basal and lateral smoothing along the hafting area is typical. Rejuvenation can be bifacial or serration forming sharp peaks along the blade edge. The two methods of rejuvenation can lead to confusion with the Woodland period Tallahassee point or the Late Archaic Santa Fe point, neither of which is has basal or lateral smoothing.[1] The Marianna type identified in Florida may be an exhausted form of the Chattahoochee type.

 Distribution: The Chattahoochee Dalton point is the most numerous of all Dalton types in Georgia. A recent survey of Dalton points in Georgia identified three hundred thirty-three Chattahoochee Dalton points from seventy-five counties. Powell suggested that the primary area of distribution for the Chattahoochee Dalton type was throughout North Florida and Southwest Georgia.

COLBERT DALTON

Name: DeJarnette, Kurjack, and Cambron named the Colbert Dalton for Colbert County, Alabama from examples recovered from the Stanfield-Worley Bluff Shelter site in 1962.The type is also referred to by local collectors as the “Square Based Dalton.”

 Age: Radiocarbon dating at the Stanfield-Worley Bluff Shelter gave an uncorrected age of 9649 +/- 450 B.P. These dates suggest a transitional Paleoindian time frame. At the Tensaw Creek Site in Lowndes County, Alabama, Colbert Daltons were recovered with Greenbrier Daltons in a stratigraphic sequence.

Description: The Colbert Dalton is a medium sized point measuring 33 to 54mm (1.25 to 2.25 inches) in length.  The cross section is bi-convex but may become rhomboid through rejuvenation.  The blade often displays collateral flaking and a hip at the sides of the hafting area.  The hafting area is fairly square with straight, smoothed sides and a flat to slightly incurvate basal edge that is also well smoothed.

Distribution: The Colbert Dalton is primarily an Alabama and Tennessee point with only a very few examples known the western Georgia.

GREENBRIAR DALTON

Name: James Cambron and David Hulse named this type for the Greenbriar area of Kentucky Lake in Alabama.

Age: The University of Alabama site in Marshall County, Alabama, gave a date of 9640 radiocarbon years BP. Both their association with other Dalton forms and the date from the University of Alabama site suggest that the Greenbriar Dalton was a transitional Paleoindian type.

Description: The incurvate lateral sides of the halfting area and the incurvate basal edge distinguish this point from other Dalton forms. The basal edge may vary from slightly to deeply concave. Basal and lateral smoothing is always present. As the blade is reduced through resharpening a hip is formed at the top of the halfting area. At this stage the Greenbriar Dalton may become difficult to distinguish from the Hardaway Side-Notched point, especially if the basal edge is only slightly concave. Bifacial resharpening is typical with the Greenbriar Dalton.

Distribution: The SGA survey included 127 points that could be classified as the Greenbriar Dalton type. This makes the Greenbriar Dalton the second most populous Dalton form in Georgia.

HEMPHILL DALTON

DESCRIPTION: The Hemphill Dalton name has been applied to a form that ranges from medium to large in length.  The blade is broad and is developed with random to somewhat collateral flaking and is finished with fine pressure flaking to form serrations on some examples.  The distal end is acute and the blade is convex with a lenticular cross-section.  The basal edge is concave and the basal corners are aricules.  The hafting area is long and straight.  In some examples this forms a “fish tail” appearance with the blade with no shoulders while other examples have strong shoulders or in some cases barbs at the juncture of the hafting area and blade.  Basal thinning is evident, usually formed with long flakes and a central cavity, but other examples have short flakes along the basal edge.

NUCKOLLS DALTON

Note that the second example has two layers of patination, one much older than the second.  This Dalton point was made from a much older point.  The older point seems to have been a Clovis as it appears fluted and has the correct basal form.

NAME: DeJarnette, Kurjack and Cambron appear to have named this variant in 1962, perhaps from the Stanfield-Worley site where it was found at the lowest levels. The point was named for the Nuckolls site in Tennessee.

AGE: The recovery of this type at the lower levels of the Stanfield-Worley site, the materials within the context were carbon dated at 9300 RCYBP.

DESCRIPTION: The Nuckolls Dalton is probably a variant of the Greenbriar Dalton.  The blade appears fairly broad with collateral flaking and a flattened cross section.  The distal end varies from acute to broad.  The sides of the hafting area are concave with a pronounced shoulder at the juncture of the hafting area and the blade, indicative of the Greenbriar Dalton, and the basal ears are rounded or may appear lobbed with a concave basal edge.  The blade is basally thinned and ground.

DISTRIBUTION: The Nuckolls variant is found in Alabama and Tennessee

OCMULGEE DALTON

Name: John Powell was the first to apply the Ocmulgee name to this point type.

Age: It is reasonable to assume that it would date with other classic Dalton forms with a more general identification that have been identified in a controlled context. This being said, the Ocmulgee Dalton type should date between 10,500 and 9900 radiocarbon years BP.[1]

Description: Powell noted the primary characteristics of the Ocmulgee Dalton as having straight sides through the halfting area and a deeply concave and wide basal edge. Basal and lateral smoothing is also present.

Distribution: Powell noted that the primary area of distribution for this type is central Georgia. One hundred fifty-one of the six hundred fifteen Dalton points identified by the SGA survey could be classified as Ocmulgee Dalton points, most of which came from counties located within the central Georgia area.