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ETLEY POINTS
LATE ARCHAIC PERIOD
3000 TO 1000 B.C.
LOWER ILLINOIS & MISSOURI RIVER VALLEYS
PAGE 2 of 2 pages
COPYRIGHT OCTOBER 31, 2005 PETER A. BOSTROM
Large Etely point.
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ETLEY POINT
 CALHOUN COUNTY, ILLINOIS
PRIVATE COLLECTION

     This Etley point is a fine example. Although it does not have the classic wide barbs on the shoulders, it does have a recurved blade edge and large stem on the base. It also has steeply angled blade edges near the point. This Etley point is made of a tan colored Burlington chert and it measures 7 7/8 inches (19.7 cm) long and 1/2 inch (1.2 cm) thick.

     Most Etley points are made of un-heat treated white Burlington chert. Only a small percentage have color. The quality of stone didn't seem to matter to the Etley knappers. Most of their points were made from rough textured chert. Very few were made from fine grained glossy chert.

Five Etely points.
ETLEY POINTS
 MISSOURI & ILLINOIS
GLEN LEESMAN COLLECTION

     This picture shows various examples of different styles of Etley point bases. The point on the right has deeply corner notched shoulders and the two points on the left have downward sloping to straight shoulders. The stems are straight, expanding and contracting.

   Most Etley points were not made with great care. They are not very symmetrical and in fact, a high percentage of them are rather crudely made. The majority of them have huge flake scars on both sides. They were made with percussion and pressure flaking. The preform reduction process was done with percussion and edge trimming and basal notching was done with pressure flaking. Today's skilled flintknappers can make an average sized 4 or 5 inch Etley point in 30 to 60 minutes.

Etely point.
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ETLEY POINT
 MISSOURI
GLEN LEESMAN COLLECTION

    The most distinguishing feature of this Etley point are its very wide barbed shoulders. It was probably used as a knife that had a short handle made of either antler, bone or wood. This point is made of white Burlington chert and it measures 5 1/4 inches (13.3 cm) long and 7/16 inch (1.1 cm) thick.

   Etley points were apparently used as knives. But the needle-like points on some of them suggests they could also have been used as daggers. Some Etley points may even have been used on thrusting spears. Their large size allowed them to be resharpened several times. Greg Perino reports that they range in size from 3 to 11 inches long. Average lengths for Etley points, reported from different sites, range from 3 1/4 to 6 3/4. Burial sites have probably produced the largest and finest crafted examples. Habitation sites have produced the largest numbers of Etley points.

Etley and Wadlow point.
WADLOW AND ETLEY POINT
 JERSEY COUNTY, ILLINOIS
GLEN LEESMAN COLLECTION

      Etley points are often times found with Wadlow points. The two examples pictured above were found together on a site in Jersey County, Illinois. It's believed that some Wadlow points are un- notched Etley points. But because there is such a wide variation of length, width and thickness within the Wadlow type it seems that a large percentage of them were never intended to become Etley points. Some Wadlow points are actually longer that the longest Etley point. They have been recorded up to 18 inches 45.7 cm) long. Both of these points are made of white Burlington chert. The Etley point measures 7 3/8 inches (18.7 cm) long and 7/16 inch (1.1 cm) thick.

   Etley craftsmen produced many different types of artifacts. Some of the artifacts found on their sites are Wadlow points, Stone Square Stemmed points, bannerstones, copper awls & celts, grooved axes and plummets.

Etley point, Pike Co., Missouri.
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 ETLEY POINT
 PIKE COUNTY, MISSOURI
GLEN LEESMAN COLLECTION

     This is a "classic" example of a very large Etley point. It has an expanding stem that was formed by corner notching. Because of its narrow width there are only small barbs at the shoulders. The blade edges are slightly recurved and the point is sharp. This Etley point was made from a fairly course piece of Burlington chert and it measures 9 inches (22.8 cm) long and 9/16 inch (1.4 cm) wide.

   Many hundreds of pounds of Etley points must have been surface collected and excavated from farmers fields over that last 150 years. They are so common that their numbers may even be measured in  tons. Most of them are large and were made of lightly colored chert so it's easy to see them laying on cultivated ground. The Etley point represents just one of a vast number of different types of stone tools from this area of the county---------but its great size makes them stand out in the crowd.

"REFERENCES"

1985, Perino, Gregory, "Etley," Selected Preforms, points and Knives of the North American Indians, p.127.
1987, Justice, Noel D., "Etley Cluster," Stone Age Spear and Arrow Points of the Midcontinental and Eastern United States, pp. 146-149.
2005, Banks, Alan, "Some Information on the Etley," Central States Archaeological Journal, Vol. 52 April, pp. 90-98.
Personal communications with Glen Leesman.

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