pip N^f' 2^5"/' JOHN H. KERR RESERVOIR BASIN — MILLER 



105 



TABLE 2. — Detailed measurements of the five subtypes of ovate projectile points- 



Continiied 



A number of the Catalonian shouldered Solutrean-like blades of the 

 Old World, closely resembling those recovered by Harrington (1933) 

 from Gypsum Cave and called the "Gypsum Cave point" ^ for the New 

 World, have been recovered from sites within the John H. Kerr Re- 

 servoir basin area. These carefully finished blades are made from 

 flakes which have been thinned by precise surface flaking, supposed by 

 some people to have been performed by pressure flaking and by others 

 by percussion chipping "by means of blows delivered by skillfully 

 wielded small hammers" (Moir, 1927 p. 110) . The entire surface is 

 beautifully chipped by the removal of fine transverse flakes, and a 

 broad, comparatively flat, tapering, centrally placed stem or peduncle 

 is mounted above a triangular-shaped body so that on either side are 

 carefully finished pomts or barbs as shoulders. 



Blade sizes demonstrate a considerable range not only for the 

 reservoir area but from coast to coast of the United States. The 

 longest specimen in the reservoir area was found to measure 78 mm. 

 in length, while the shortest is within the 27 mm. limit. Usually, in 

 the smaller types the peduncle or stem is only, what might be called, 

 formative or rudimentary, depending upon whether one wishes to term 

 it the precursor or degenerative form of this particular blade. 



* "Augustine points by Dick have pointed bases and wider range than Gypsum Cave and 

 Manzano Cave. Similar specimens have been found in Mexico and the possibility may be 

 considered that it was the makers of these artifacts who first Introduced maize into the 

 Southwest" (Wormington, 1949, p. 100). 



