CAST #P-43

SCOTTSBLUFF
TYPE I POINT
FINLEY SITE
(AVAILABLE CAST)
A PALEO-INDIAN BISON KILL SITE
EDEN, WYOMING
EST. 8,500 TO 9,500 years ago
COPYRIGHT NOVEMBER 30, 2003 PETER A. BOSTROM
Cast of a Scottsbluff Type I point from the Finley site.
CAST #P-43
SCOTTSBLUFF TYPE I POINT (CAST)
EDEN, WYOMING
FINLEY BISON KILL SITE
FOREST FENN COLLECTION

    This Scottsbluff Type I point was found on the Finley bison kill site in Sweetwater County near Eden, Wyoming sometime in the 1940's. It's a spear point that dates to the Paleo-Indian period and it was probably propelled through the air with a throwing stick (atlatl). This point was classified by H. M. Wormington as a Type I Scottsbluff point. It's made of an opaque dark colored chert and measures 2 13/16 inches (7.1 cm) long.

THE FINLEY BISON KILL SITE

    The Finley site is a Paleo-Indian bison kill site. It was discovered in 1939 by O.M. Finley. Various excavations of the site in the 1940's produced 24 projectile points. Six were classified as Scottsbluff points, and eight as Eden points. One complete Cody knife was also found.
    The Finley site is located in a large sand dune field and evidence shows that it was once used as a sand dune trap by Paleo-Indians. Two different kinds of extinct bison were found in the bone bed, B. bison antiquus and B. bison occidentalis. Approximately 58 bison are represented and they were apparently killed in midwinter.

SCOTTSBLUFF POINTS

    Scottsbluff points were named by C.B. Schultz and E.H. Barbour in 1932 for points of this style found with bones of extinct bison near Scottsbluff, Nebraska. 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.
    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.
    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. Scottsbluff points date somewhere between 7,500 B.C. to 6,500 B.C.

"REFERENCES"

1957, Wormington, H.M., "Ancient Man In North America", pp.124-127.
1978, Frison, George C., " Prehistoric Hunters of the High Plains", pp.181-188.
1985, Perino, Gregory, "Selected Preforms, Points and Knives of the North American Indians," Vol. I, p. 348.
1987, Justice, Noel D., "Stone Age Spear and Arrow Points of the Midcontinental and Eastern United States", pp. 47, 47.

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