Folsom and Other Paleoindian Artifacts in the Missouri River Valley, North Dakota

This chapter focuses on record detailed information about an aggregate of Folsom projectile points and preforms and a smaller number Goshen, Clovis, and other early Paleoindian projectile points that have been found in eroded surface contexts in the Missouri River valley, North Dakota. The high degree of resharpening evident in this collection is consistent with the friction haft, re-use explanation of why the Folsom point was fluted, in which intensive resharpening of elongated primary forms is a central element of the model. A small number of percussion scars joining the distal margin on Face 2 are heavily smoothed and rounded, indicating that percussion flaking occurred in two episodes and that artifact transport occurred between the two sequences. Distal to this broad zone of smoothing, two broad and high undulation ridges are clearly smoothed. Just distal to this, in the distal one-half of point, three linearly aligned streak zones or linear smears occur.