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 Civilization
Hull QuÈbec
CANADA
J8X 4H2
This page was launched
December 11, 1996 and updated March 9, 2009.
Copyright © 1997, 1998, 1999
The Ottawa Chapter of the Ontario Archaeological Society Inc.