Santa Fe

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John Powell[i] first reported the Santa Fe point (Figure 5.7a-c) in a Late Archaic context. John Goggin[ii] (see Chattahoochee Dalton, Chapter 2), first applied the “Santa Fe” name to a Dalton form.

The Santa Fe is a medium-sized point measuring 1.5 to 3 inches in length. The point is a long, slender lanceolate shaped form developed through random to controlled collateral percussion flaking. Workmanship is excellent to good. The pressure flaked blade edges are slightly convex and meet at an acuminate distal end. Many examples have shown smoothing at the distal end from wear. The basal corners are straight to expanding, pointed to slightly rounded and are often slightly smoothed. The basal edge is concave and may also be slightly smoothed. The smoothing here would not be as extensive as the Chattahoochee Dalton form.

Sante Fe points have been recovered from numerous Late Archaic sites,  The Johson’s Lake site in Marion County contained a thermally altered example recovered with a Clay point that displayed the same treatment.  The points were made of the same material and had the same degree of patination while a much earlier Beaver Lake point from the ame site was heavily patinated to a chalky texture. The Tick Island site in Volusia County contained three examples of the Santa Fe point in a predominately Late Archaic context. 

Charles Fairbanks described the recovery of one example associated with an Elliott Point fire pit and fiber-tempered clay balls at the Four-Mile Village site ((8WL035) in Walton County, Florida,  The example was of tan flint and has moderate basal and lateral smoothing. Other Four-Mile Village projectile points include crude Stemmed Archaic forms typical of the Late Archaic period and a Bradford point. Many of the chert fragments seem to have been thermally altered.[iv]

Sears[v] described one example “reminiscent of an non-serrated Tallahassee point” from Mound B at the Fort Center site. That mound dated to A.D. 260. Goggin illustrated one example that is very late,[vi] as being from the Thursby Mound site in Volusia County. This example is either a holdover or sparse evidence of the form’s endurance into the St. Johns II period.

The consistency of these recoveries demonstrates a Late Archaic to early Woodland affiliation for the Santa Fe point, dating from 5,000 to 1,500 years BP. Conclusive evidence on the true age of the Santa Fe point came from a fishing site along Bird Creek in Levy County (8LV501) that yielded exclusively Santa Fe points.[vii] The context suggested that the primary purpose for the type in this application was a fishing implement such as a spear or harpoon. This may explain their frequent occurrence in rivers. The site yielded no evidence for dating; however, itwas inconsistent with other Paleoindian site models,[viii] but it was consistent with Woodland site models. The most conclusive evidence came from the Reddick Bluff site in Walton County, Florida.[ix] At this site both Putnam and Santa Fe points were recovered in association with animal remains and Norwood fiber-tempered ceramic sherds from Unit 9 of Block 1.

Examples of the Santa Fe point have been recovered from Tampa Bay to the St. Johns River and northward to southern Georgia. The widespread temporal and geographic distribution of the type tends to discourage an exclusively early Dalton affiliation, but substantiates the Late Archaic context.

[i] Powell, John, Points and Blades of the Coastal Plains: A Guide to the Classification of Native American Hafted Implements in the Southeastern Coastal Plain Region. American Systems of the Carolinas, Inc 1990:38)

[ii] Goggin, John M., An Early Lithic Culture From Central Florida. American Antiquity, Vol. 1, 1950:46-49)

[iii] Jahn, Otto L., and Ripley P. Bullen, edited by Adelaide K. Bullen and Jerald T. Milanich, The Tick Island Site, St. Johns River Florida. The Florida Anthropologist, Vol. 31:4 1978: Figure ⁵⁵p

[iv] Fairbanks, Charles H., Additional Elliot’s Point Culture Sites, The Florida Anthropologist, Vol. 12:4, 1959:95-99

[v] Sears, William H., Fort Center An Archaeological Site in the Lake Okeechobee Basin. (Reprint) University Press of Florida, Gainesville, 1994:78

[vi] Goggin, John M., Space and Time Perspectives in Nortern St. Johns Archaeology, Florida. Academic Press, Inc., 1952:Plate 7d

[vii] Mikell, Gregory A., Two Sites of Interest in the Withlacoochee Bay Area of Levy County, Florida. The Florida Anthropologist, Vol. 49:2, 1996:89

[viii] Dunbar, James and Benjamin I. Waller, Distribution of Paleoindian-Indian Projectiles in Florida. Florida Anthropologist 30:2, 1977:79-80

[ix] Mikell, Gregory A., The Bird Creek Site, The Florida Anthropologist, Vol. 50, 1997:83-93