DALTON POINTS
EARLY ARCHAIC PERIOD
9,000 to 10,500 years ago

Dalton Cache
Olive Branch Site
Alexander Co., Illinois

    These ten Dalton points are part of a cache of 13 found on the Olive Branch site in southern Illinois. They were all made of white Burlington chert.
    Archaeological excavations since 1986 at the Olive Branch site near Thebes Gap on the banks of the Mississippi River have yielded thousands of flaked stone tools, chiefly of the Dalton culture. In terms of sheer quantity of artifacts, the Dalton occupation at Olive Branch is most important. A radiocarbon date of 9,200-9,100 years ago has been obtained for the upper zone of the Dalton occupation. (1997 Richard Michael Gramly PhD.).

DALTON POINTS
(CASTS)
Olive Branch Site
Southern Illinois

    These casts of five Dalton points show some of the different styles of spear and knife points made by the Dalton people. They had as many different types of spear points as some of the later cultures had arrow point styles.
    The black Dalton point at the left is part of a cache of 11 similar examples found on the Olive Branch site. It's made of Pitkin chert and measures 3 5/8 inches long.

DALTON POINT
Olive Branch Site
Southern Illinois

    This Dalton point is probably the best example out of 13 found in a cache on the Olive Branch site in Alexander Co., Illinois. The pressure flaking on this point is very even. It's made of white Burlington chert and measures 5 1/4 inches long

DALTON POINT
Olive Branch Site
Southern Illinois

    This Dalton point is also from the cache of 13 found many years ago on the Olive Branch site. It's another very good example of Dalton flaking.

DALTON POINT
Stoddard Co., Missouri
Floyd Ritter Collection

    This Dalton point is larger than average for this type of Early Archaic Knife. Dalton points of this quality have been found in caches in Missouri, Illinois, and Arkansas. Although no human bones have been found it is suspected that some of the better made examples were placed with burials. The Sloan site in northern Arkansas produced many caches totaling 144 Dalton points along with various other stone tools. Radiocarbon assays for these points generally range from approximately 9,000 to 10,500 years ago. This point measures 8 1/16 inches long.

DALTON POINT
Calhoun County, Illinois
Bobby Onken Collection

    This Dalton point is made of white Burlington chert and is much longer than average. It was made by a very skilled craftsman. The "hollow ground" flaking is very well done. This manufacturing technique of pressure flaking was used almost exclusively by the Dalton people.

SLOAN DALTON POINTS
Missouri & Arkansas

    Sloan Dalton points are the largest flaked stone artifacts made during the Early Archaic period by the Dalton people. These two examples measure over 10 inches long. Dalton points of this size are very rare. One early document from the 1940's records one that was 15 inches long.

DALTON DRILLS
Southern Illinois
Pete Bostrom Collection

    The Dalton point is one of the best designed spear points from the Archaic Period. They were resharpened so much that many end up looking like drills. Although many may have been used as drills quite a large number of them just end up, through a process of resharpenings, to look like drills.

DALTON POINTS
IMPACT FRACTURES
Illinois & Missouri

    The way stone artifacts become broken from use is an important area of study by archaeologists. These three Dalton spear points were most probably broken upon impact after the spear on which each was attached some 9,000 years ago was thrown. Some are broken along the edge like a burin break pattern (center) while others are broken on the face sometimes driving back long narrow flakes that look like flutes (right).

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