THE FOLSOM PROBLEM ROBERTS 543 



Mention should be made of the distribution of fluted points. The 

 type has been known for a long time and variations of it have been 

 found from the Rockies to the Atlantic, from the Plains Provinces of 

 Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. It is represented in collections in 

 numerous museums and in at least one case has been called by another 

 name, the Seneca River point. It did not attract particular attention 

 until the finds at Folsom. This was largely because most of the 

 examples were picked up from the surface and were without definite 

 significance. The main area of concentration for the type lies in a 

 strip that stretches from Alberta and Saskatchewan in the north to 

 New Mexico and western Texas in the south. Smaller centers are 

 found in the eastern and southern States, notably western New 

 York, Ohio, Tennessee, and in a district along the boundary line 

 between central Virginia and central North Carolina. Only a few 

 sporadic examples have been found west of the Rockies and most of 

 them come from two districts in California, one in the southern part 

 of the State and the other in the northern. There are two main 

 classes of fluted points, one represented by the Folsom, Lindenmeier, 

 and similar forms found in the western plains strip along the Rockies, 

 and a larger, more generalized one embodying most of the character- 

 istics but not exhibiting the same degree of skilled workmanship in 

 their manufacture and for the most part lacking the fine secondary 

 retouch along the edges. The latter form is the one with the wide 

 distribution (pi. 15). The question is whether all should be called 

 Folsom points or if there should be some designation that did not 

 carry the implication of equal age. Dr. Howard and the writer have 

 used the terms Folsom-like and Folsomoid to indicate the distinction, 

 but both have been frowned upon by the archeological taxonomists. 

 H. C. Shetrone of the Ohio State Museum has suggested that the}^ be 

 definitely termed Fluted Points as a class and the various forms 

 then be more specifically designated by place names such as Folsom, 

 Lindenmeier, Clovis, et cetera. This proposal has considerable merit 

 and would remove much present confusion. However, a committee 

 appointed at the symposium on early man decided that the name 

 Folsom should be applied to all. Such being the case it would seem 

 that definite qualifiers should be used, as in the case of Mr. Shetrone's 

 suggestion, and the various examples be known as Folsom-Folsom, 

 Lindenmeier-Folsom, Ohio-Folsom, or California Folsom. 



The significance of the fluted points occurring east of the Mississippi 

 River is open to question. There is still no evidence suggesting their 

 possible age or place in the main archeological picture. The vast 

 majority are surface finds and although there seem to be several 

 centers, as mentioned previously, where they are picked up in com- 

 paratively large numbers, nothing has come to light that would 

 indicate their relationship to the cultural remains present in those 



