Safety Harbor

Photo courtesy of Paleo Enterprises

The Safety Harbor point, illustrated by Gordon R. Willie (1949), is named for examples from Safety Harbor periods sites, specifically Perish Mound I in Manatee County, Florida. The type is probably a knife form of the Pinellas point, which was also widely used by the Safety Harbor culture. The Safety Harbor point is a medium-sized, triangular point averaging about 2 inches in length. The blade edges are straight and meet at an acute distal end. The basal corners are at sharp angles. The wide, shallow incurvate basal edge, that measures a little more than half the length of the blade, and the random style of flaking, distinguish it from the earlier Santa Fe point of the Late Archaic periods. Workmanship is typically very fine.

The Safety Harbor point seems to have been developed and most heavily used by the Safety Harbor culture (Willey 1949). One example was recovered from the Parish Mound I with Tampa and Ichetucknee points as well as European trade goods. It does not typically appear in Weeden Island, Hickory Pond or Alachua sites in north-central Florida. One example was reported from a Weeden Island midden site in northwest Florida by Gordon R. Willie, probably results from trade with the Wakulla Weeden Island and Ft. Walton people. The type is otherwise fairly localized to the region of Tampa Bay, Florida. The point would seem to date as early as A.D. 900 during the late Weeden Island II period along the central Gulf Coast region through the safety Harbor periods ending about A.D. 1700.