Lerma

NAME: The Lerma Point base, which is the older form, was named by MacNeish and reported by Suhm, Krieger and Jelks in 1954 from their work in Texas.The type site for this point is the Canyon Diablo site in Tamaulipas, Mexico (Mahan, 1955).

AGE: Examples of this type found near Mexico City were recovered with mammoth remains.Examples at this site were found at the same levels as rounded base examples, but appeared to be slightly older.This was not the case in the Texas sites.At the Quad site an example that had been worked into a drill, which frequently is the case, was found in association with Big Sandy, Dalton and Crawford Creek points.Cambron suggests a transitional Paleo to Early Archaic association for the type.

DESCRIPTION: The Lerma Pointed Base is a medium to large lanceolate point with a pointed base.The 20 Lerma Pointed Base examples recovered from 15 sites in the Tennessee River Valley by Cambron measured between 104mm and 48mm with an average of 74mm in length.The blade averages about 10 percent of its length and is formed with flakes that often hinged and may suggest the use of a baton in percussion flaking.The blade is excurvate to straight.Some secondary flaking occurs along the blade edges.The widest point of the blade occurs in the lower 1/3 of the blade at what appears to be the top of the hafting area.Rejuvenation seems to have occurred above the hafting area where more controlled and sometimes fine pressure flaking produces a narrowing and smoother blade surface.The cross section may be lenticular or plano-convex.The distal end begins as an acute point, but is reduced eventually to a drill.The basal end is an acute to broad point.Many of the examples from Tennessee are made from Ft. Payne chert.

DISTRIBUTION: Lerma points are distributed throughout Central America into Texas and eastward to at least Alabama and Tennessee.