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MOUND 72
POINT
CAHOKIA MOUNDS STATE HISTORIC SITE
MADISON & ST. CLAIR CO.,
ILLINOIS
OWNED BY THE PEOPLE OF ILLINOIS
COPYRIGHT JULY 31,
2008 PETER A. BOSTROM
CAST
ILLUSTRATED
CAST
M-12
MOUND 72 POINT
CAHOKIA MOUNDS STATE HISTORIC SITE
MADISON & ST. CLAIR CO.,
ILLINOIS
OWNED BY THE PEOPLE OF ILLINOIS
This arrow point was found during the excavation of mound 72 in one of
three caches that together contained approximately 1200 stone projectile
points. Two groups were hafted on arrow shafts and the other group was
placed
within some type of fragile container that did not survive. Mound 72
contained several different styles of projectile points. The majority of
them represent point types familiar to the Cahokia area. But several
other examples are "exotic" forms that originate from as far away as
Arkansas and Oklahoma.
The mound 72 point offered here, as a cast, was found within
a group of 106 other examples. They were discovered within a much larger
cache. All the points in this cache were laid out in a straight line
suggesting they were once hafted onto arrow shafts. The style of these
points vary somewhere between Agee and Hayes points. Most of these point
types originate from Arkansas and Oklahoma. All of the points in this
group are corner-notched and serrated. The bases vary from straight to
rounded and diamond shape. This point is serrated, corner-notched and
the base has been nicely pressure flaked into a diamond shaped. All of
the 107 points in this group are made of a dark black or blue-black
chert. This point measures 1 3/8 inches (3.4 cm) long.
MOUND 72
CAHOKIA MOUNDS STATE HISTORIC
SITE
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS
CACHE OF BLACK
CORNER-NOTCHED SERRATED POINTS Approximately
seventeen different styles of arrow points were found in mound 72. They
vary
from simple unnotched triangular points to some that were both serrated
and notched with recurved blade edges. They were also made from many
different types of chert such as silicified sandstone, Burlington,
Dover, Kaolin and Pitkin cherts.
Mound
72 is a very complicated prehistoric mound structure. It was started as
a single mound built over a large post pit. Sometime later two more
mounds were added
then finally all three mounds
were capped into one large mound. After five digging seasons and
two thirds of the mound had been excavated, 272 burials were
uncovered. Many of these were mass graves, with the burials of victims of
apparent sacrifice. Four males in one burial had their heads and hands
removed. Another group were laid out in a row and tightly bound on cedar stretchers.
Many
of the burial offerings were made of exotic materials brought from
great distances. Copper was brought from the Great Lakes area, mica from
the Smoky Mountains and shell from the Gulf Coast. Mound 72 dates to
approximately 950 A.D.
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