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SANDIA POINTS
SANDIA CAVE SITE
SANDOVAL COUNTY, NEW MEXICO
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COPYRIGHT MAY
31, 2010 PETER A. BOSTROM
These thirteen Sandia points were all found during the excavation of
Sandia Cave. Seven of these points have contracting stems that come
to a rounded point. They are designated as type I Sandia points. The
other six points have truncated bases, some of which are either
slightly concave or almost straight. One or more of these points may
also be described as fluted. The truncated base points are
designated type II Sandia points.
It's interesting that most of the Sandia projectile points are
complete. Most habitation sites would be expected to produce a good
percentage of broken points.
Bruce Bradley examined the Sandia points
several years ago at the University of New Mexico's Maxwell Museum.
He found several oddities concerning various aspects of the points.
The first thing he noticed is that they didn't look as if they all
came from the same location. Some looked fresh as if they were
protected from weathering while others looked like they were laying
on the surface and polished by wind blown sand. Another thing he
noted as strange is they were made by radically different chipping
techniques. Some were made by using fine pressure flaking while
others were very roughly made with percussion flaking. But what is
most interesting is that he observed that, "Two of them clearly
showed modern alteration." One of them had a shoulder that was made
with a grinding wheel and you could see little facets. He also
detected metal marks on another point suggesting that a nail might
have been used to remove some of the flakes.
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