CAST #P-16

FIRSTVIEW POINTS
NORTH WESTERN TEXAS
9,000-8,000 years ago
PRIVATE COLLECTION

CAST #P-16
FIRSTVIEW POINT
NORTH WESTERN TEXAS
9,000-8,000 years ago
PRIVATE COLLECTION

   This point was purchased from a rancher many years ago in northwestern Texas. It's been well known among collectors and a few archaeologist for quite some time and is recognized as one of the best Firstview style Eden points ever found. This point was skillfully made with uniform parallel pressure flaking. It also has a pronounced diamond cross section that is a major diagnostic trait of Eden points which is one of the reasons that Firstview points may be thought of just a variety of Eden point. This example represents a newly made spear point that was apparently never damaged before it was lost by its original owner thousands of years ago. The very slight shoulders are the result from only grinding that was done to the hafting or basal area. This Firstview point is made of a white chert of fairly good quality and measures 4 3/8 inches long.
   Firstview points were most probably mounted on a spear that was thrown by an atlatl or throwing stick. It's also logical to believe that they were mounted on short foreshafts which were then mounted onto a long spear shaft. Foreshafts with pre-hafted spear points could then be used in the field to quickly change a damaged point.

by Bruce Bradley PhD.

   This projectile point was produced by a series of controlled flaking stages. The first stage was the production of a biface by controlled percussion flaking. A stage of controlled but selective pressure flaking was then done to make the biface extremely regular and eliminate irregular surface contours. Once this was accomplished each side of the biface was flaked by the removal of a series of pressure flakes which terminated at or near the midline of the preform. Extreme care had to be taken both with platform preparation along the edges and with flake removals. Two or three series of pressure flakes were removed from each face and edge of the point to obtain the regularity in flaking pattern that is evident on this point. It was finished by very fine selective pressure retouch which was also used to produce the indentations of the stem. The stem edges and the base were slightly abraded.
   This technology is distinctive of what has been described as the Cody Complex which includes Scottsbluff and Eden points.
   This specimen is especially well done when one considers the flaws in the raw material that the prehistoric knapper had to work through and around.

Joe Ben Wheat &
The Olsen-Chubbuck Bison Kill Site

   First View points were named by Joe Ben Wheat after the town of Firstview, Colorado. He discovered these Eden-like projectile points on the Olsen-Chubbuck site which is located 10.5 miles southeast of the town of Firstview in Cheyenne Co., Colorado. Olsen-Chubbuck  is a Paleo-Indian kill and butchering site that once contained 190 extinct long-horned bison. The bone bed was first discovered by the owner of the land, Paul Forward, after wind erosion uncovered many of the bones. The first projectile point was discovered by Jerry Chubbuck one day when he noticed the heavily eroded while driving by one day and decided to investigate. The site was excavated within two digging seasons. The first in 1958 and the second in 1960 by Joe Ben Wheat under the auspices of the University of Colorado Museum. The last one of the many thousands of bones that were removed there was done on August 20, 1960.
   This bison kill site produced 27 projectile points of which 21 were complete or nearly whole examples. One or two seem to have been newly made points but the majority of them were apparently resharpened one or more times as the result of previous damage from impact fractures, or edge dulling from cutting. Twenty six other artifacts were also found. These were 3 end-scrapers, 1 side-scraper, 1 thin Alibates knife, 2 utilized flakes, 3 resharpening flakes, 1 hammer/ anvil stone, 3 small stones, 1 limonite pebble, 4 cut, notched or polished bones and 1 bifacially flaked knife.
   Firstview points and the Olsen-Chubbuck site date to and are a part of the Cody Complex. The Plains Cody Complex dates to approximately 7,000 B.C. and perhaps as late as 6,000 B.C. and is best known for Scottsbluff (see Scottsbluff point) and Eden points and the Cody Knife. The most spectacular sites are bison kills where evidence shows these animals were hunted communally. Scottsbluff and Eden points are lanceolate shaped spear points that were made specifically to penetrate (Frison 1978: p 336, figure 9.5c).

References:

1972, "The Olsen-Chubbuck Site", Joe Ben Wheat, pp 1, 3-4, 125-138.
1978, "Prehistoric Hunters of The High Plains", George C. Frison, p 336: figure 9.5c
1987,  "Stone Age Spear and Arrow Points", Noel D. Justice,  p 49.
1991, "Selected Preforms, Points and Knives of the North American Indians vol. 2", p 77.

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