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CAREY WEBER'S
ANDICE/BELL POINTS
A LIFELONG JOURNEY OF EXPERIMENT & LEARNING
PAGE 3 OF 4 PAGES
COPYRIGHT FEBRUARY 28, 2003 PETER A. BOSTROM
Carey Weber notching an Andice point.
CAREY WEBER NOTCHING AN ANDICE POINT
PHOTO COPYRIGHT--CAREY WEBER

   This picture shows another angle or view of Carey Weber's "set-up" position that he uses when notching an Andice point. The "lap board" and leather steady the point while the "flat punch" is held in position just before a flake is driven off with the board he uses as a hammer.

    In 1981 Bill Carroll showed Carey the first Andice-Bell-Calf Creek artifacts that he had ever seen. He also demonstrated his hand-held indirect percussion technique for notching them with a copper tool. Carey says that " from that time on I was hooked on notching, and had soon made my first Andice-Bell-Calf Creek replica." Carey says he was never skilled at making large thin bifaces but he says "I seemed to have a knack for indirect percussion flaking and leg-assisted pressure flaking using an Ishi-stick which are two techniques essential for making Andice-Bell-Calf Creek point replicas."

Andice-Bell point made by Carey Weber.
CLICK ON PICTURE FOR LARGE TRIPLE IMAGE

ANDICE POINT MADE BY CAREY WEBER

   This is another very well made Andice point made by Carey Weber. The flaking on this point is generally shallow and narrow, reaching to or beyond the center line of the blade. This example measures 4 inches (10.1 cm) long and 2 1/16 inches (5.2 cm) wide. The notches are 1 1/8 inches (2.8 cm) deep.

  The Gault site in Bell County, Texas has recently become famous for an extensive Clovis deposit found there. In fact some people believe it may be the largest Clovis site in the country. But, before this discovery was made the site was best known for its Andice-Bell deposits. It's estimated that perhaps as many as 3000 Andice-Bell points have been found there. Carey says that he was sought out by many collectors who were digging there and he had a unique opportunity to study their points. The Gault site has produced more Andice-Bell points than any other site in Texas.

Andice-Bell point made by Carey Weber.
CLICK ON PICTURE FOR LARGE TRIPLE IMAGE

ANDICE POINT MADE BY CAREY WEBER

   This is the smallest Andice point out of the seven examples made by Carey Weber and illustrated in this article. This point is made of Texas chert, probably Georgetown. It measures 3 1/4 inches (8.3 cm) long and 1 15/16 inches (4.9 cm) wide. The notches measure 15/16 of an inch (2.4 cm) deep.

  Carey says that the artifacts from the Gault site gave him the opportunity to "study the points from the site that were made available to me, developing and documenting attribute data to answer various questions about how they were made and used, and eventually accumulating data on more than 400 specimens from various parts of Texas." He says that "through this study, I have illustrated and made available data on more Andice-Bell points than all other researchers combined. This 20-year study led me to develop a tool kit and a technique for replicating these points."

Andice-Bell point made by Carey Weber.
ANDICE POINT MADE BY CAREY WEBER

   This long narrow Andice point was notched on a biface with a very convex base. The three main varieties of basally notched points, Andice, Bell & Calf Creek points, usually have a more straighter base. This point was made out of North Hood chert that was collected in Bell County, Texas. It measures 4 5/16 inches (11 cm) long and 2 1/16 inches (5.2 cm) wide. The notches on this point measures 1 1/16 inches (2.6 cm) deep.

  Complete examples of ancient Andice points are rare. Hundreds of broken ones have been found for every complete unresharpened example. Thousands of Andice/Bell points have been found on the Gault site near Jarrell, Texas. This site is considered the type site for these deep basal notched knife forms. Andice points were named after the nearby community of Andice, Texas in Williamson County.

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"REFERENCES"

1985, "Selected Preforms, Points, and Knives of the North American Indians, Vol. I," Calf Creek, by Greg Perino, p.62.
1987, "Stone Age Spear and Arrow Points of the Midcontinental and Eastern United States," Calf Creek, by Noel D. Justice, pp. 59 & 60.
1991, "Selected Preforms, Points, and Knives of the North American Indians," Andice, by Greg Perino, p. 4.
1991, "Selected Preforms, Points, and Knives of the North American Indians, Bell, by Greg Perino, p. 21.
2003, "Carey Weber - A Flintknapping Biograqphy," (unpublished report), by Carey Weber.
Personal communications with Carey Weber.

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