The Ottawa Area's Newest Archaeological Discovery
by
Gordon D. Watson and Jean-Luc Pilon**
The
specimen on the left is a beautiful example of a lanceolate dovetail
point of the Early Archaic St. Charles Cluster, according to Noel D.
Justice (1987) of Indiana University. Some of the salient
characteristics of the specimen and indeed the type are the ground,
convex base and the deep and narrow corner notches as well as lateral
bevelling and quite often, edge serration. This point type occurs in
the southern U.S. from Kentucky to Alabama and northern Florida. It is
common in the U.S. Midwest (Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio)
and dates between 8000 and 6000 years B.C.
The
specimen on the right is a much smaller, triangular variety of St.
Charles Cluster dovetail point. It exhibits the marked edge bevelling
and edge serration often found on this point type.
In
Ontario, Early Archaic dovertail points similar to the St. Charles
points, are not well documented. Three possible examples (the three
specimens on the right of this photograph), were found in the late
nineteenth D.H. Price Collection at the Canadian Museum of
Civilization. All three were found in southwestern Ontario (Elgin
County to be precise, but then that's where Mr. Price seems to have
been active). They are shown on the right along with the Cutts point
(the one on the left). Arthur Roberts (1985) did not describe any
points of this type during his survey of Southern Ontario Pre-Ceramic
occupations.
Late
Archaic Glacial Kame burials have provided projectile points that bear
a good ressemblance to the Cutts point. The three points in this
photograph were found at the Hind site and recently published in Ontario Archaeology
No. 59 by W.S. Donaldson and S. Wortner. The specimen on the left is
especially similar to the Cutts point. In fact, one can see how the
general shapes of these Glacial Kame points and the much earlier St.
Charles dovertail points ressemble each other.
And
now, its your turn. Here are the obverse and reverse views of the Cutts
point, the Nation's Capital's most recent archaeological discovery. The
projectile has a thin elliptical cross-section with grinding along the
convex basal portion, although this grinding is absent in the central
portion of the base where short flakes were apparently removed at a
later time. The lateral edges do not exhibit serration or bevelling,
although they are carefully finished. What do you think it is? Send us your comments and thoughts.
Click here to see the references cited on this page.
**Jean-Luc Pilon
Canadian Museum of History
Hull Québec
CANADA
J8X 4H2
This page was launched December 11, 1996 and updated December 1 2015.
Copyright © 1997, 1998, 1999 The Ottawa Chapter of the Ontario Archaeological Society Inc.