Epps

The Epps point was named by Ford and Webb (1956) from specimens collected at the Poverty Point site in northeastern Louisiana.

Epps points are relatively narrow, triangular-blade points with straight or more commonly slightly curved blade edges. Most of the 53 blades recovered at Poverty Point have lenticular profiles, but five have a median ridge on both faces, while one has them only on one face. Wide, deep notches into the corners and sides of these points produce roughly squared shoulders without barbs. These notches also leave flaring stems with rather narrow necks, but the stemmed bases are not as wide as the shoulders. The occasionally narrow neck is a characteristic feature of the type.

The flaking, usually precise, produces fairly thin points, except on those that have median ridges. Some points are delicately retouched along the blade edges. Two examples from the Poverty Point site had fine edge serration produced by ripple flaking; three others were beveled on the right-hand edge of the face.

There is some variation in size. The length ranges from 3.7 to 8.2 cm; an average of 5.1 cm. The width ranged from 1.8 to 3.1 cm, and averaged 2.6 cm. From the neck the average point stem expands toward the base that is about 18 mm wide. The stem is approximately 1/3 of the total length in short points and one quarter of their total length in longer ones. Epps and Motley points have almost identical stems in both shape and size.

The Epps point is found in peripheral areas of the Poverty Point site in northeastern Louisiana. It is found in west-central Mississippi and southeastern Arkansas in areas where Poverty Point type artifacts occur.

The type is best represented from Poverty Point culture sites in the lower Mississippi Valley for which a number of radiocarbon dates are available. These range from about 1300 BC to 200 BC.

Information for this article was derived from James W. Cambron and David C. Hulse, Handbook of Alabama Archaeology, Alabama Archaeological Society