534 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 19 3 8 



The American Museum of Natural History and the Colorado 

 Museum cooperated at the site in 1928. Dr. Barnum Brown headed 

 the expedition, taking charge of the actual excavations, and several 

 graduate students in anthropology under the supervision of Dr. Clark 

 Wissler, head curator of anthropology at the American Museum, 

 assisted bj making a survey of the surrounding area in search of 

 caves, rock shelters, or camp sites where the makers of the points might 

 have lived. The survey had negative results, but the diggers were 

 more fortunate. Additional bison skeletons were found with accom- 

 panying points, and numerous specialists — archeologists, paleontolo- 

 gists, and geologists — went to check the evidence. Consensus was 

 that the finds were a reliable indication that man was present in the 

 Southwest at an earlier period than formerly supposed and that they 

 constituted one of the most important contributions yet made to 

 American archeology. Most of the critics of previous years became 

 enthusiastic converts and endorsed the Folsom materials. While 

 the finds and their establishment as authentic were significant, of even 

 greater consequence was the fact that Folsom paved the way to more 

 considerate and unbiased studies of other discoveries indicative of an 

 earlier New World occupancy and made it possible for those interested 

 in that subject to continue their investigations without inviting the 

 stigma of charlatanry. An ever increasing tendency to condemn 

 arbitrarily any occurrence even slightly suggestive of antiquity gave 

 way to the more reasonable attitude of letting the facts decide the case. 



The points associated with the bison bones differed from the ordi- 

 nary types scattered over that portion of the Southwest. They are 

 leaf-shaped blades characterized by a longitudinal fluting on each face. 

 One of the examples found in 1926 (pi. 1, fig. 1, a, b), at first glance 

 appears to have a channel on one side only, but that is due to the fact 

 that the basal portion is missing and that the break occurred just 

 above the end of the groove. This feature is apparent when the 

 photograph (pi. 1, fig. 1, b), is examined closely. In addition to the 

 channels, the points have a secondary chipping along the edges that 

 bespeaks a highly developed stone-flaking technique. Owing to the 

 proximity of the site to the town of Folsom, these points were generally 

 referred to as Folsom points, and later were definitely so named by 

 Mr. Figgins. Because the site represented the scene of a kill rather 

 than a camp, other artifacts were scarce, a portion of a nondescript 

 flake knife and a generalized type of scraper being the only additional 

 forms; hence, for a time the point was the only implement recognized 

 as Folsom. 



The layer of bones and implements at Folsom were in a deposit of 

 dark clay containing lenses of gravel and small concretions of lime. 

 This alluvial stratum probably represents an old bog or water hole 

 that was the principal reason for the presence of the animals. At the 



