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DALTON FLUTING
REVERSE HINGE SNAPPED PREFORM BASES
OLIVE BRANCH SITE
 EARLY ARCHAIC
ALEXANDER COUNTY, ILLINOIS

10,000 TO 11,000 YEARS AGO
I OF 2 PAGES
COPYRIGHT JUNE 30, 2005 PETER A. BOSTROM
End view of an early stage Dalton preform.
END VIEW OF EARLY STAGE PREFORM
OLIVE BRANCH SITE

     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."

6 early stage fluted Dalton preforms with hinge fractures.
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EARLY STAGE DALTON FLUTED PREFORMS
OLIVE BRANCH SITE
ALEXANDER COUNTY, ILLINOIS
PRIVATE COLLECTION

     These six early stage fluted Dalton preforms were found during the excavation of the Olive Branch site in southern Illinois. They represent fairly rare examples of Dalton fluting failures. They were broken when an attempted was made to thin the preforms by striking a prepared platform on their bases, using percussion. This fluting technology was applied in order to longitudinally thin the preform. Instead of removing a portion of the surface of the preform the channel flakes plunged downward causing them to break apart.

     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.

Early stage fluted Dalton preform with hinge fracture.
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EARLY STAGE DALTON FLUTED PREFORM
OLIVE BRANCH SITE
ALEXANDER COUNTY, ILLINOIS
PRIVATE COLLECTION

     This early stage fluted Dalton preform was found on the Olive Branch site in southern Illinois. It was broken during the fluting process when the channel flake hinged downward.

    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.

Dalton point base with pressure flake basal thinning.
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DALTON  POINT BASE
OLIVE BRANCH SITE
ALEXANDER COUNTY, ILLINOIS
PRIVATE COLLECTION

     This broken Dalton point, from the Olive Branch site, illustrates one of the more typical basal thinning techniques that Dalton knappers used to make their points. Instead of one large channel flake this example was basally thinned by removing multiple flakes by pressure flaking.
    It's possible that this Dalton point was actually fluted during its early phase of preform development. Late stage pressure flaking may have removed all traces of a channel flake.

    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."

Hardin Barbed points with thinned bases.
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BASIL THINNED HARDIN BARBED POINTS
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS

PRIVATE COLLECTION

     Hardin Barbed points appear just after Dalton points. A small percentage have very large channel flakes removed from their bases. They represent some of the most recent examples of large flake basal thinning, that might even be called fluting. Both of these examples are believed to have been found in the southern Illinois region and they were made from Burlington chert.

    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.

"REFERENCES"

1974, Goodyear, Albert C., "The Brand Site: A Techno-Functional Study of a Dalton Site in Northeast Arkansas," pp. 22-24.
1982
, Frison, George C. & Stanford, Dennis J., "The Agate Basin Site," p. 211.
1983, Morse, Dan F. & Morse, Phllis A., "Archaeology of the Central Mississippi Valley." p. 72.
1985, Perino, Gregory, "Selected Preforms, Points and Knives of the North American Indians," p. 97.
1987, Justice, Noel D., "Stone Age Spear and Arrow Points, of the Midcontinental and Eastern United States," pp. 40-42.
1991, Storck, Peter L., Imperialists Without A State: The Cultural Dynamics of Early Paleoindian Colonization As Seen from The Great Lakes Region," pp. 156-158, Bonnichsen, Robson & Turnmire, Karen L., "Clovis Origins and Adaptations."
1997, Bradley, Bruce A., Sloan Site Biface and Projectile Point Technology," Dan F. Morse, "Sloan, A Paleoindian Dalton Cemetery in Arkansas," p. 55.
1999, Bradley, Bruce & Frison, George, "The Fenn Cache, Clovis Weapons & Tools," p. 65.
2002, Gramly, Richard Michael, "Olive Branch: A very Early Archaic Site On The Mississippi River," p.186.

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