CAST #P-5

TYPE II
SCOTTSBLUFF POINT
BEAVERHEAD CO., MONTANA
7000 TO 6000 B.C.
FORREST FENN COLLECTION
Scottsbluff point cast.
CAST #P-5
TYPE II
SCOTTSBLUFF POINT
BEAVERHEAD CO., MONTANA
FORREST FENN COLLECTION

   This Scottsbluff point was found in southwestern Montana in 1895 in a gold miners sluice box. Of its six previous owners, the second individual, A. Dr. Frank Linderman, wrote "It was found by a placer miner at considerable depth near Red Rock Lake, Montana in 1895. This prospector gave it to me in a saloon in Dillon, Montana in 1896". Virgil Russell purchased it in 1945 and wrote, "this is probably one of the finest Yumas ever found". Yuma was a name used in earlier years for several different types of Cody complex points.

SCOTTSBLUFF POINTS

   Scottsbluff points were named by C.B. Schultz and E.H. Barbour in 1932 for points of this style found with the bones of extinct bison near Scottsbluff, Nebraska. (Wormington 1957:118).
   Scottsbluff points have a wide distribution area. They are found in west central Canada and the Rocky Mountains as far northeastward as Wisconsin and as far south as northwestern Louisiana, southwestern Arkansas, Texas and Oklahoma. (Perino 1985:348)
   There are two main types of Scottsbluff points plus one lesser variation in Wisconsin. Type I points possess triangular or parallel-sided blades with weak shoulders and broad stems. Flaking is usually a transverse parallel style but can also be irregular. Type II points are nearly the same as Type I except they have wider triangular blades and have thin lenticular cross sections with more clearly defined shoulders. The type III has slight basal ears on some specimens in Wisconsin. (Justice 1987:46,47)
   Scottsbluff points are diagnostic of the cody complex in the plains along with Eden points and Cody Knives. A single Scottsbluff point was stratigraphically the deepest diagnostic artifact in the Cody complex zone at the Claypool site in Colorado, where a series of Eden points and Cody knives were found. (Justice 1987:47)
   Scottsbluff points belong to the Cody phase approximately 8,000 to 9,000 years ago along with Eden points and Cody Knives. These people were Plano hunters who lived on the western plains and hunted the next largest living animals, after the megafana had disappeared, the bison. They hunted by "drive-hunting" where large numbers of animals were driven into box canyons or ravines where they could be trapped and killed.

Type II Scottsbluff point shown triple exposed.
SCOTTSBLUFF POINT
THIS IS A TRIPLE EXPOSURE OF THE ORIGINAL ARTIFACT

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