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Bruce Bradley writes, in reference to Dalton point manufacture that: "Fluting has two expressions: 1. technological, and 2. morphological. Technological fluting is where basal thinning is done by the removal of one or more flakes that proportionally reduces the longitudinal thickness of the biface. This involves the removal of flakes that travel past the point of maximum longitudinal thickness. It makes no difference whatsoever if the resulting flake scars are retained in subsequent flaking. Morphological flutes, on the other hand, are simply basal flake scars that extend past the point of the hafting element and are visible on the finished object." |
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It's difficult to determine how many Dalton points were basally thinned by fluting. Early stage preform channel flakes (flutes) were removed by late stage preform pressure flaking. Only late stage (morphological) flutes are visible on Dalton points. |
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Paleo and Early Archaic people were fluting many different types of projectile points and knives. Some of these different types are Clovis, Folsom, Crowfield, Cumberland, Barnes and Dalton points. They range in size from less than an inch (-2.5 cm) to over 9 inches (22.8 cm) long. The Clovis culture produced the majority of all fluted points in North America. |
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In most cases, particularly with Dalton projectile points, fluting was done for one or two reasons. That was to either thin the hafting area or thin the longitudinal thickness of the preform. But some archaeologists have suggested other reasons. Especially for Folsom points which have a high percentage of fluting failures. Whether they were fluted or not, Folsom points performed in the same lethal way. Frison and Bradley writes that "An argument can be made that the fluting process was an art form or was performed in the realm of ritual." |
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Early and late stage Dalton preform bases, broken from fluting failures, represent an ancient thinning technique. The process is an invention of North American Paleo-Indians. For whatever reason, fluting was no longer in use by the end of the Early Archaic period. |
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"REFERENCES"
1974,
Goodyear, Albert C., "The Brand Site: A Techno-Functional Study of a
Dalton Site in Northeast Arkansas," pp. 22-24. |
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