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Lloyd Schroder collection
The name “Swift Creek” was first applied to this family of points by Calvin B. Jones and Louis D. Tessar (1996) in their report on the Block-Sterns site (8LE148), from which the two examples illustrated above were recovered. The type included three subtypes. The expanded base example was recovered from an area above feature 30 in the South Berm area of the Block-Sterns site. The side notched forms were recovered from the West Berm area. The corner notched form was recovered from feature 29 in the South Berm area.
The examples illustrated by Jones and tester range from 1.5 to 2.5 inches in length. The blade is developed through random flaking. Many of the expanded in corner notched forms display and acumen and distal end. Side notched forms tend to have an acute distal end. Both expanded base and corner notch forms tend to have angular shoulders, but they do not develop barbs. Side notched forms have a weak shoulder with a wide, sweeping notch that terminates at the basal corner. The basal edge of all forms is flat to concave. The side notched form may also have a convex basal edge. Most examples with a flat to convex basal edge also display a slightly upward angle at the corner. Heavy basal thinning is present on most examples with flaking that extends up the length of the stem. Most examples have also been basally smoothed.
The reference made by Jones and Tessar that compares the Swift Creek point to Cambron’s (1973) description of the Copena stemmed point is supported by strong evidence with the Block-Sterns site of its close relationship with the Copena culture of central Tennessee. The evidence included Copena type points, quartz and gray Dover flint. Throughout the Copena cultural area, these have also been referred to as Baker’s Creek points. In Florida, the corner-notched and expanded-based varieties can be compared to Bullen’s Columbia and Taylor points of the same period depending on blade length. The side-notched variant has no comparable counterpart in either the central Tennessee Copena culture area or in Florida. Other Florida side-notched forms of this period include the Bradford and Jackson points. These points share no other diagnostic traits with the Swift Creek side notched point the distribution of Swift Creek points seems to be limited to those sites which had close cultural ties with the Copena culture. There has been no evidence of any recovers of these points in the Swift Creek sites along the mouth of the St. Johns River in northeast Florida.
