Point of the Month

Each month we will be featuring a specific point style, considering how it may have been made, what it was commonly made out of, as well as its possible uses. Since this our first installment for "Point of the Month" it should make sense to go with a point style that is easily recognizable and local for Pennsylvania. 

Article By: Steve Nissly

The Susquehanna Flintknappers take their name from the Susquehanna River and its drainage.  One of the most well  known point types in the realm of the Northeastern artifact collecting world also takes its name from the River and its Valley, the Susquehanna Broadspear.  The broadspear in its various forms was a major type in the Susquehanna and Juniata drainages.

For me the romance with this type began as a young child visiting one of the most well known artifact collectors who lived in the state, Larry Fry, who my father and grandfather knew as a fellow farmer. I owe my fascination of these types, to him, as he freely would show me his collection, one of the finest, of large thin bladed Rhyolite and jasper broadspears. It spurred my interest in hard rock knapping, the mastery by these ancient people of the raw materials such as Rhyolite, quartzite and argillite, still puts me in a state of awe today. Maybe more so since I have been working with these materials and realize even more how difficult the level of mastery they had was.

Super Thin Authentic Broadspear

In the Susquehanna Valley, Susquehanna Broadspears range in age from 3595-3290 B.P., while Perkiomen Broadspears range from 3720-3640 B.P. (East et al. 1999). At the Memorial Park site on the West Branch of the Susquehanna, Canfield Island/Susquehanna components date to ca. 3000, to 3500 B.P.

  The most distinguishing characteristics of this time period are the large, wide, and thin projectile points, or “broadspears” (Witthoft 1971). Broadspear types include Lehigh/Snook Kill, Perkiomen, and Susquehanna styles. Broadspears are usually very well-made, exhibiting superior workmanship on both good and decidedly poor- quality raw materials.

Generally, two trajectories are recognized for broadspear manufacture. Cresson (1990) provides an excellent review of broadspear manufacturing techniques. Large broadspears were made from blanks derived directly from quarry contexts. Their surfaces usually exhibit several large, well-controlled percussion-flake scars; these flake scars allowed the biface to be rapidly thinned while maintaining its width. Small broadspears could be made from recycled large variants, but most commonly were made from smaller flake blanks derived from large bifaces or cores.

Assorted Broadspears by the Author

Initially , broadspears were viewed as cutting implements, points, or perhaps, fishspears (Ritchie 1969). Experimental use and the examination of a number of archaeological assemblages have led some researchers to question the viability of the broad blade types as projectiles. Though conceived as a study in fracture patterns, Truncer’s (1990) experiments with Perkiomen broadpoints indicated that they tended to “bounce” off a deer carcass rather than penetrate its hide. 

Hafted modern made Broadspear

Some authors, thus, hypothesize that the high edge angles and width of these points were unsuited for use as a spear or dart tip. Custer (1996) believes that broadspears represent special function tools, likely for the processing of game animals, while Wall et al. (1996) suggest that broadspear preforms served a variety of purposes including use as cores, knives, and scrapers.

Modern made lashed broadspear

Cresson’s (1990) comprehensive study of broadspears from the New Jersey region suggest these tools functioned primarily as cutting tools with secondary use as projectiles and perforators. His research is part of a growing body of literature that suggests that Broadspears served as cutting tools, while other bifacial implements served as projectile points (Cresson 1990, Custer 1995, Miller 1998). In Cresson’s view, narrow bladed/ stemmed points such as Bare Island and Lackawaxen points were much more suitable for hunting. Points with narrow blades are much more likely to penetrate the hide of an animal than are broader bladed forms. Studies suggest that the tip of a point must begin penetrating an animal hide immediately upon impact or it will tend to “bounce” off the target. The wide tip of many broadspears is unsuitable for the quick penetration needed for use as projectile tips, although a minority were used a projectiles. Often, the “small” variants of the broadspear form exhibit impact damage indicative of use as projectile points (Cresson 1990).”

Authentic Highly Resharpened Broadspear

The most common material is Rhyolite. Practically all projectile points in PA and New York are made of the purplish and blue sometimes striped rhyolite that originated in Franklin and Adams counties PA in the vicinity of Gettysburg, PA Possibly only ten out of a 1000 points will be made of other materials, which include jasper, black flints and argillite from the South Mountain of Lebanon County PA. Other lesser material also shows up on occasion.

The Susquehanna broadspear rhyolite industry that utilized this lithic material, lived on the main river drainages, nowhere within the region where the material originated and in close proximity of the rhyolite source has there been found a site attributed to this culture.  There are sites more than two hundred miles from the source of this stone where the only lithic material on the site was Rhyolite, and all flakes and chipped stone was of Rhyolite.

Authentic Susquehanna Preform

Rhyolite is a lava flow that were cooled deep in the Earth and then later metamorphosed by both heat and pressure.  It outcrops in massive beds in the area’s of its source but does not extend far outside it main locations. And one other most interesting item was the fact that likely more than half of the drills found in the Susquehanna Valley are made of Rhyolite and are based on the same basic shape as the Broadspear itself and were likely made from broken or damaged spear points. Many show extensive wear from being utilized in the repair of soapstone vessels. Both of these items, drills and soapstone, are characteristics of the Susquehanna broadspear culture and will remain as possible subjects for future articles.

Rare PA Chalcedony Broadspear made by the Author