NO. 4 A FOLSOM COMPLEX ROBERTS 3 



is the top of a hard, compact layer of grayish earth. The artifacts 

 recovered from it had undoubtedly been in top-level material which 

 was eroded away by wind and water. The implements, because of 

 their weight, had remained until picked up. In some places, there re- 

 mained portions of the sand, gravel, and nodule layer which had 

 overlain the compact deposit, and a few objects were found on the 

 contact line between the two. This part of the site did not offer any 

 particular inducements for digging, especially if it was desired to find 

 material in situ. At the close of the first day's inspection the writer 

 was not sanguine over the prospects for getting information beyond 

 that already obtained by Judge Coffin and Major Coffin. 



On the second day, however, when the writer, with Judge Coffin 

 and his son, was exploring the adjacent terrain, the Judge picked up 

 a portion of a Folsom point along the bank of a ravine which cuts 

 through the terrace some distance above the original site. Close in- 

 spection of the precipitous bank in the vicinity of this find revealed an 

 undisturbed and intact layer of midden material 14 feet below the 

 present ground level and 12 feet above the bed of the gully. A brief 

 investigation demonstrated that the deposit, which is a quarter of a 

 mile away from the spot where the majority of the Coffin specimens 

 was found, was a likely place for excavation. Work was started and 

 continued through the month of October and into the first part of 

 November. Some digging was done at other portions of the site, but 

 the major activity was restricted to the deep pit in the gully bank 

 where most of the specimens described in following pages were found. 



The type of point called Folsom has been known for a long time. 

 Variations of the form have been found from the Rockies to the 

 Atlantic, from southern Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. It is repre- 

 sented in collections in numerous museums and in at least one case has 

 been called by another name, the Seneca River point. Except for a 

 few instances,^ it did not attract particular attention despite its peculiar 

 characteristics. This was in part due to the fact that most of the 

 examples were surface finds. Its true significance was established in 

 1927, and the interest focused upon it brought to light many which 

 had previously passed unnoticed. 



Because of a certain amount of confusion and misunderstanding 

 concerning the original Folsom finds, a brief review of the subject is 

 germane to the present discussion. In the summer of 1925 Fred J. 

 Howarth and Carl Schwachheim of Raton, N. Mex., both now de- 



' Beauchamp, 1897, figs. 13, 14, p. 21. Brown, 1926, fig. 45, p. 138. Thruston, 

 1890, fig. 139, pp. 231-232. 



