Goshen Point and Mill Iron Site

CAST #P-6

GOSHEN POINT
MILL IRON BISON KILL SITE
11,000 YEARS AGO
Goshen point from the Mill Iron site.
CAST #P-6
GOSHEN POINT
MILL IRON SITE
CARTER COUNTY, MONTANA

This Goshen point is the finest crafted example that was excavated from the Mill Iron site. This point is very thin and has well done parallel pressure flaking on both sides. It is unique also because of the neatly flaked rounded point. Why the person that made it put a rounded rather than a sharp point like most of the Goshen points found on this site is unknown. One or two other Goshen points, found on other sites, are also known to have rounded points.
This point measures 3 1/8 inches long.

MILL IRON SITE

The Mill iron site is located in Carter County, Montana in the southeastern part of the state. It's now believed that it represents the Goshen Cultural Complex as it was described at the Hell Gap site in southeastern Wyoming. There are now five accelerator dates on the site that average over 11,000 years before present. It remains to be proven if Goshen is a Clovis variant or if it should be placed somewhere between Clovis and Folsom. Technologically, all of the necessary lithic technological developments are present in Goshen to do actual fluting.
This site contains a single component and is buried under 1.5 to 1.8 meters of sterile deposits. One area is a camp site meat processing area and a short distance away is a bison bone bed that appears to be a deliberate piling of articulated and disarticulated bones and is not an actual kill area. Goshen projectile points demonstrate a wide range of variation, much of which results from reworking of broken specimens. (Frison, George C., 1991 pp 133-150)