Folsom man and his spear point had only just begun to worry conservative
anthropologists when A. E. Jenks—who was to champion skeletons of early
man in Minnesota—noted, in 1928, a still finer type of flint in the
collection of Perry and Harold Anderson, of Yuma County, Colorado. It
was long and narrow, with parallel sides and a triangular point, and
looked rather like a half-bayonet without its Folsom flute. It was
consummately chipped by pressure over its whole surface. These artifacts
were at first known as Yuma, but now they are called Eden, after a site
in Eden Valley, Wyoming, where they were found _in situ_.[22] They are
easily the finest job of flint knapping in the New World, equaled only
by the later neolithic daggers of Egypt and Scandinavia (see
illustrations, page 158). This might be a good argument for Eden points’
being neolithic, if artifacts with Eden chipping had not been discovered
in association with Folsom tools and also with the fossils of extinct
mammals. Evidence from a site near Cody, Wyoming, indicates that the
Eden industry as a whole is younger than the Folsom. The Eden points
found there are nearer 7,000 than 11,000 years old,[23] for the soil in
which they lay was formed during a moist period late in that interval of
time. Eden and similar points are fairly widespread; some have been
found in Canada and in Alaska.[24]
Anthropologists now recognize two chief varieties of Eden points. One of
these is beautifully patterned by long, parallel pressure flakes that
cross the blade obliquely on a low diagonal. In the other, parallel
flakes meet on a center line. The base and lower edges are usually
ground. There is often a single or a double shoulder for hafting. Many
anthropologists list another type, the Scottsbluff; it is flaked like
the Eden, but shorter and wider, and it has a definite stem with
right-angle notches.
[Illustration: THE FINEST FLINT WORK OF EARLY MAN
_Two varieties of Folsom and Eden points, and the Plainview type,
which has been called unfluted Folsom or Yuma-like. The Plainview
was found in Texas. (Upper left, after a cast from the Laboratory of
Anthropology, Santa Fe, New Mexico; upper right, after Wormington,
1944; the Eden point, after Howard, 1935; the Plainview, after
Krieger, 1947; the second Eden, after Wormington, 1944.)_]
The Plainview Point
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