Guilford

Name: Joffre L. Coe named this type for examples from the Doerschuk site in the Guilford focus of the Carolina Piedmont.

Age: Coe recovered examples from levels above Morrow Mountain points and suggested a date of 6000 BP. John Whatley mentioned that Guilford and Conerly points are probably coeval and reported a date of 5350 BP from the Guilford hearth at a site in Chesterfield County, South Carolina.

Description: Guilford points are medium to large lanceolate blades measuring between 1.5 and 3.5 inches in length. The cross-section is lenticular. Blade edges are excurvate with the widest point at the shoulders. Flaking is randomly done with finished edges. Below the shoulders the hafting area tapers to a concave or rounded basal edge. Blades with a rounded basal edge have been called Guilford Rounded Base (Cambron and Hulse 1990). Whatley cautioned the identification of percussion-made, unfinished preforms as Guilford points.

Distribution: Guilford points are recovered primarily above the Fall Line in Georgia’s Piedmont region.