CAST #P-113

EDEN POINT
FINLEY SITE
A PALEO-INDIAN BISON KILL SITE
EDEN, WYOMING
EST. 8,500 TO 9,500 years ago
COPYRIGHT DECEMBER 30, 2013 PETER A. BOSTROM
Cast of an impact fractured Eden point, Finley site, WY.
CAST ILLUSTRATED
 CAST #P-113
EDEN POINT
EDEN, WYOMING
FINLEY BISON KILL SITE

    This Eden point was found on the Finley bison kill site in Sweetwater County near Eden, Wyoming sometime in the 1940's. Although broken it's a good example to show very uniform collateral pressure flaking and the diamond cross-section of a skillfully made Cody Complex Eden point. This point was broken from impact which caused a bend-break type of fracture. It's made from a semi-translucent dark amber colored chert and measures 2 5/16 inches (5.9 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.

EDEN POINTS

    Eden points were first discovered in Yuma County, Colorado blow-outs during the 1930's but none were found in situ until the spring of 1940 when Harold J. Cook spent several days digging in a site discovered by O. M. Finley. The Eden point was named by H. M. Wormington after the town of Eden, Wyoming. The Eden type site was named the Finley site in honor of O. M. Finley who discovered it.
   Eden points are one component of the Cody Complex. An estimated age for these spear points is somewhere between 9,000 to 8,500 years ago. They are found from southwest Texas to northwest Wisconsin to eastern British Columbia. Eden points are known for their exceptionally well done parallel pressure flaking and diamond cross-section. The people that made them were hunting large animals like bison.

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