Red Ochre

The blades in the second row are a cache from central Tennessee.  Most of these blades will be found in c cache environment.

NAME: Edward Scully named the Red Ochre point for examples recovered from the Red Ochre mound site in Fulton County, Illinois.

AGE: Robert Bell recovered 56 examples of this type with 4 Turkey Tail points in a burial that dated between the Late Archaic and Early Woodland periods from 500 to 1000 B.C.All of the Red Ochre blades recovered had use wear along the edges.

DESCRIPTION: This is a medium to large blade that is generally ovate in shape with a flat or sometimes convex basal edge.Recovered examples ranged between 6.3cm and 20.4cm in length with an average of 10cm.The width of the blade is typically ½ it’s length with the widest point midway of the blade.The blade is formed with broad, random flaking and shorter secondary retouch flaking along the blade and basal edges.  The dominance of percussion flaking may suggest that this blade is a preform for the Adena Turkey Tail with which it is so often associated.

DISTRIBUTION: The typical distribution of this type is along the lower Missouri and Illinois rivers, but also occurs in western and central Tennessee and northwestern Alabama.