It was not until roughly 9,000 years ago that prehistoric hunters began making fully stemmed points, as seen in the Early Split-Stemmed series, such as Gower and Hoxie.Ĭhanges in some projectile point forms may signal changes in hafting technology, as well. Mary’s Hall and Golondrina-Barber styles-as well as several Early Archaic lanceolate forms with contracting bases, such as Angostura and the unusually thick Thrall points. At the Wilson-Leonard site, Wilson points were followed by additional Paleoindian lanceolate forms-the Plainview-like St. (There is no direct evidence of this and some experts believe that lanceolate-tipped spears were also hurled with atlatls.) Prehistoric hunters, however, did not settle on the stemmed form to the exclusion of the earlier lanceolate type. The use of stemmed dart points at this early time period may indicate experimentation and advances in weaponry systems, such as use of the atlatl as a dart-throwing device. While we cannot know all the reasons for this new entry among Paleoindian hunting kits, the Wilson point was among the first signals of more widespread changes to come as prehistoric Texans began to develop regionalized Archaic lifeways. Unlike the more common lanceolate points still in use during that time period (and by earlier Clovis and Folsom cultures)-all of which were well-suited to thrusting lances or spears that could easily be withdrawn from animals-Wilson points were crafted with small barbs and a thick, heavily ground, expanding stem. Found at the Wilson-Leonard site in Williamson County in a circa 11,000-year-old cultural zone (as well as at other less securely dated sites across mainly central and south Texas), Wilson points were used by a people who buried their dead and practiced a broad-spectrum economy. The adoption (or perhaps invention) of the stemmed point form in Texas did not occur within a single time period, however, but rather in fits and starts, with a single stemmed point type-Wilson, or “Early Stemmed”-preceding others by some 2,500 years. The rather radical change in weaponry style from the more-streamlined lanceolate points used throughout most of the preceding Paleoindian era marks a distinctive technological shift. Throughout the 9,000-year span of the Archaic era, hunters used stemmed projectile points of varying styles, sizes, and forms to tip their weapons.
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