Folsom points were first discovered in the twenties at an Early Man kill site near Folsom, in northeast New Mexico. The points were associated with the remains of an extinct form of giant Late Pleistocene bison. These finds were among the first to demonstrate the great antiquity of man in the New World. [Illustration: _Folsom_] Folsom points are symmetrically lanceolate in shape, and are broadest at mid-section or somewhat nearer to the tip. They are fluted on either one or both faces; flutes usually extend up almost an entire face. Upper lateral edges are ordinarily gently rounded, while the lower lateral edges are usually straight and either parallel-sided or slightly contracting towards the base. The base is consistently concave, in some examples, markedly so. Similar to Clovis points, stem edges near the base may be gently recurved. Average dimensions are: length 3.0 to 8.0 cm., but averaging 3.0 to about 5.0 cm., and width from about 1.5 to nearly 3.0 cm. Workmanship is usually quite delicate, with initial shaping by either direct or indirect percussion or pressure. Initial flake scars on point faces, where preserved are irregular. Delicate secondary edge thinning was by pressure, during which the basal concavity was probably produced and a nipple left preparatory to fluting. Vertical fluting was probably produced by indirect percussion. The latest research suggests that Folsom points may be dated between 10,000 and 11,000 years ago. Excavated sites producing Folsom points have in most all cases also produced the remains of giant bison, but not mammoth, which may have become extinct by the advent of Folsom Man. Folsom points have been discovered in both excavated and surface sites in most parts of the Southwest, including the Clovis type site in eastern New Mexico, numerous sites in most other portions of New Mexico, at the Lubbock, Lipscomb, Scharbauer, and Kincaid Sites in Texas, the Lindenmeier, Linger, and Powars Sites in Colorado, the Hell Gap Site in Wyoming and the MacHaffie Site in Montana. HELL GAP POINTS This recently defined Early Man projectile point has been named after a group of quarry sites in the Hell Cap Valley near Guernsey in east-central Wyoming.