Menu
This is a medium to large, stemmed point with oblique-horizontal flaking on the blade faces. Fifteen examples from the Elk River site on the Elk River in Limestone County, Alabama measured a maximum of 92 mm and a minimum of 48 mm length. The cross-section is usually by convex; rarely, plano-convex. The shoulders are usually tapered and may be expanded. The blade is excurvate; the distal end, acute. The hafting area is usually a straight-stem but the stem may be expanded or contracted with a straight or, rarely, excavate basal edge. One example could be described as having shallow side notches. About one fourth of the original series have lightly ground bases.
One or both faces are shaped by oblique-transverse flaking. Retouch is minimized since the oblique flaking, in most cases, carries from the blade edges to near the center of the face and occasionally almost formed a median ridge. The transverse-oblique flaking is similar to that seen on the faces of some Angostura, Scottsbluff and Brown Valley points and Cape Denbigh artifacts illustrated by Warrington (1957). This flaking technique was also used on some late Neolithic Danish daggers.
The point was named for the Elk River site and Elk River in Limestone County, Alabama. The type was listed in the depth distribution charts at Flint Creek Rock Shelter in the Middle Archaic Stratum (10 examples) and Woodland Stratum (2 examples). Two examples of Elk River points from the Perry site, Lu25, and Seven Mile Island in Lauderdale County, Alabama, were used to illustrate the high art of flint flaking. Examples from level 8 and 9, zone 8, at Stanfield-Worley Bluff Shelter indicate a Late Archaic association. Examples were recovered from zones A, B, C, and D at Flint River mound, AM48. At Little Bear Creek, CT8, 6 examples were recovered from the five-foot level and 1 from the six-foot level. This again indicates a Middle to Late Archaic type. Since most of the associations of this type in the North Alabama and South Tennessee areas are within the shell mound period, this type very likely appeared before 5000 years ago. It is probably not associated with the Western point types with similar flaking.
Information for this article was derived from James W. Cambron and David C. Hulse, Handbook of Alabama Archaeology, Alabama Archaeological Society
