ARCHEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS IN MISSOURI 45 



Socketed conical projectile points were fashioned from antler tips 

 or from suitable secondary tines (pi. 9, h-f). Nine specimens vary in 

 length from 58 to 110 mm., with a diameter at the base of 15 to 19 mm. 

 That most of them represent unfinished objects is suggested by their 

 asymmetry, since they retain the perceptible curvature of the original 

 antler. These irregularities are of minor consequence, however, and 

 could easily have been remedied by a few strokes with a flint flake or 

 knife, as was done on the one shown in plate 9, <?, or by grinding. 

 Oharacteristically, they have a circular cross section throughout, with 

 a tapering basal socket 6 to 19 mm. deep, and the base has been neatly 

 cut so as to leave a square or, less commonly, a rounded or triangular 

 tang at one side. The tang is about 10 nun. wide and of the same 

 length. It is clearly shown in plate 9, c, fZ, and there are evidences 

 that a similar feature has been broken from 6 and e; / seems never 

 to have had a tang. 



Ten sections of rough undressed deerhorn, broken at one end, cut at 

 the other, are believed to represent rejectage from the manufacture 

 of such points as were described above. Some of these have been cut 

 diagonally (pi. 9, g). In others, the incision encircles the antler, 

 curving downward at the point intended for the tang. Four speci- 

 mens show scars left by a square tang, and an equal number a tapered 

 or rounding one. Particularly interesting are the pieces figured as a 

 in plate 9, both from pit 7. Here the tip, about 8 cm. long, was ineptly 

 severed from the antler shaft. The first cut encircled the antler except 

 for a gap of about 12 mm., and a second cut was made about 10 mm. 

 below this gap and parallel to the first. Two diagonal incisions con- 

 nected the ends of the first groove with the second. But whereas the 

 first and second reached the cancellous inner tissue, one of the diagonals 

 did not, and when the tip was broken off a portion of the intended 

 tang remained on the rejected portion of the antler. The two pieces, 

 incipient projectile point and reject, fit each other perfectly. Inferen- 

 tially, the technique unsuccessfully followed in this case was used on 

 all the other points also — cutting through the tough outer plate to the 

 soft inner tissue and then snapping off the tip. 



Unworked tips, cut or broken from the antler, were also common. 

 Some may have been intended ultimately as projectile points; others, 

 perhaps, were due to accidental breakage or else were rejects left over 

 in the manufacture of tools from the shaft. They vary from 80 to 

 150 mm. in length. A few specimens, usually the longer ones, have 

 nicked or bevelled tips, and may have been flaking tools or knappers 

 (pi. 10, c). 



An unusual specimen, not identified as to function, is shown in 

 plate 10, o. It appears to be made of thinly scraped horn, less probably 

 of some heavier mammal bone. Possibly less than half of the orig- 

 inal specimen remains. One long edge and the wide end have been 



