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 MODERN CAHOKIA POINTS & PIPES
BY GARY MERLIE
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Four Cahokia points made by Gary Merlie.

ABSTRACT:
MODERN-MADE CAHOKIA POINTS BY GARY MERLIE
Back lighted Cahokia point made by Gary Merlie.   Gary Merlie    Back lighted Cahokia point made by Gary Merlie.
GARY MERLIE

AND TWO OF HIS CAHOKIA POINTS.

   All the Cahokia points in this article were made by Gary Merlie. Like many of the people who have taken up the art of flintknapping, he has specialized his area of interest into a particular type of point and manufacturing technique. As you can see he has become very good at making these various forms of Cahokia points.
   Gary has also made some very good looking stone pipes. They are made of pipestone from a source in southern Illinois.

Gary Merlie's hands pressure flaking a point.
CLOSE-UP OF GARY PRESSURE FLAKING A CAHOKIA POINT

CAHOKIA POINTS
MADE BY GARY MERLIE
IN MODERN TIMES

   You might say that Gary Merlie is a specialist----a specialist at making Cahokia points! He's been making them for 17 years now and at 48 years old he should be making them for many more. He lives with his wife near Findlay, Illinois just west of Lake Shelbyville.

Four large picures of Cahokia points.
CLICK ON PICTURE FOR LARGER IMAGE
VARIOUS STYLES OF CAHOKIA POINTS
BY GARY MERLIE

   Beautiful examples of Cahokia points made by Gary Merlie. The three on the right are made of heat treated Kaolin chert. The one on the left is either Crescent or Kaolin chert.

   Gary is self taught. He began experimenting with flintknapping in the mid 80's when he says "I thought I was the only one in the world knapping". Since then he has made hundreds of these beautiful arrow points. His estimate is "well over a thousand".

Old Cahokia point on the left & newly made one on the right.
TWO CAHOKIA POINTS ONE IS NEW AND ONE IS OLD
MARGIE ERB AND GARY MERLIE COLLECTIONS

   Can you tell the difference? The point on the left is made of semi-translucent white Kaolin chert and was found several years ago by Margie Erb in southern Illinois on a site near the Mississippi River. It's an old an ancient Triple-Notched Cahokia point made by a Mississippian culture flintknapper. The point on the right is made of heat treated Kaolin chert and was made by modern flintknapper Gary Merlie.

   The first material he used to make Cahokia points was glass. He says he experimented with that and any other material he could find. He says he didn't find out how knapping was really done until he met Larry Kinsella who showed him the basic techniques.

CONTINUE ON TO PAGE TWO

"REFERENCES"


2002, Personal communications with Gary Merlie.

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