Garth Slough

The Garth Slough is a small to medium, expanded-barbed point. Barbs are prominent and usually obtuse. These points measure between 47 mm and 33 mm and average 40 mm in length. The cross-section is bi-convex. The shoulder barbs are usually expanded and broad; the barb ends may be obtuse or straight. The blade is usually incurvate; rarely, recurvate or straight. Most examples are finely serrated with an acute distal end. The stemmed hafting area is formed by diagonal notches. The stem is straight. The base may be straight or excurvate, thinned, and may be ground and some examples.

Remnants of blade scars may be evident on the faces. Random, secondary flaking may leave a median ridge and some examples. The flaking and some fine retouching produced find serrations along the blade edges. Broad flakes were removed to form the basal notches.

The type was named for examples from surface sites in the Garth Slough area in Morgan County, Alabama. The type is found on transitional Paleo to Early Archaic sites in northern Alabama. One example was recovered from the bottom of stratum 2 (Early Archaic) at Flint Creek Rock Shelter. What appears to be a smaller variant of the type was recovered from level 5 at Danger Cave, Utah. Radiocarbon dates from this level range from 6863 ± 500 BP at the base of the level to 3893 ± 240 BP in the topmost part of the level. One example was recovered from Cave Springs, level 9, stratum 3, in association with Big Sandy, Cave Spring, Colbert Dalton, Decatur, Fraser, Greenbrier Dalton, Jude, Lerma Rounded Base, Paint Rock Valley, and Stanfield points.

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