My first arrowhead!- Any ID help appreciated

[grasshoppa]

I found this in southern Rhode Island
I would very much appreciate any help identifying it and the material it is made of.
Thank you.

 

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[Steve in PA]

Nice one! You should post it in the Indian Artifacts forum

 

[against the wind]

Very nice,
It's baffling that after all my years of treasure hunting,,
that I have never recovered an arrow head.
Congrats to you.

 

[vpnavy]

I moved this request from Today's Finds! over to Artifact Forums > North American Indian Artifacts for more exposure.

 

[grasshoppa]

Thank you for the move. Kind of you.

 

[1320]

This link may get you close. Scroll down to the bottom, to the right side of the page, there's an example that looks very close to yours. Congrats, that's a beauty that you've found.

Genessee Projectile Point

 

[The Grim Reaper]

Not sure if it's a Genessee Point or not. Genessee's are an Archaic type and that one looks more Woodland to me. Not exactly sure on the type, but I would lean more towards a Chesser type if it is indeed a Woodland type.

Is there any grinding on the basal areas? It would feel smoother than the rest of the Point if it's ground.

 

[RVRoamer74]

Nice arrowhead.....

 

[grasshoppa]

Not sure if it's a Genessee Point or not. Genessee's are an Archaic type and that one looks more Woodland to me. Not exactly sure on the type, but I would lean more towards a Chesser type if it is indeed a Woodland type.

Is there any grinding on the basal areas? It would feel smoother than the rest of the Point if it's ground.

I do not see any grinding. Looks flaked at the base. (I assume basal refers to the base) Here is a side view:

 

[creekhunter]

Nice find!

 

[1320]

Not sure if it's a Genessee Point or not. Genessee's are an Archaic type and that one looks more Woodland to me. Not exactly sure on the type, but I would lean more towards a Chesser type if it is indeed a Woodland type.

Is there any grinding on the basal areas? It would feel smoother than the rest of the Point if it's ground.

I can't find any data to support that Chesser types have ever been found in Rhode Island, too far East according to the known distribution patterns.

 

[Charl]

Well, here's a spooky fact. I saw the thread, and before I clicked on it, I said to myself, this was found in Rhode Island. Don't ask me how I did that, lol. But I am from RI, and I'll just go with Vosburg. They have two types of stems, long or short.

New York State Museum - Projectile Point Type Collection

New York State Museum - Projectile Point Type Collection

The are not at all uncommon in southern New England....

 

[Charl]

Not sure of the material on your point. Looks somewhat like Jasper, although that would be an unusual lithic for a Vosburg. Anyway, just for comparison, here are a couple of quartzite Vosburgs from Rhode Island....

 

[The Grim Reaper]

I can see Vosburg as the type. Good call Charl and hard to dispute someone from the state.

 

[grasshoppa]

Well, here's a spooky fact. I saw the thread, and before I clicked on it, I said to myself, this was found in Rhode Island. Don't ask me how I did that, lol. But I am from RI, and I'll just go with Vosburg. They have two types of stems, long or short.

New York State Museum - Projectile Point Type Collection

New York State Museum - Projectile Point Type Collection

The are not at all uncommon in southern New England....

Awesomesauce!
I am going to contact a local rockhounding organization that I am a part of to see if I can narrow down the material type. I don't want to compromise the arrowhead by doing a novice hardness test. If there are any other thoughts about the material or type please let me know. I assume my fellow Rhode Islander is correct as I am sure he knows far more than I do. I have been looking at http://www.projectilepoints.net/Points and I am overwhelmed trying to figure out the subtle differences. I was looking at a variation called "heavy duty" but it does not look like that is a true type as acknowledged by the site.
I appreciate the help more than you know.

 

[Charl]

Awesomesauce!
I am going to contact a local rockhounding organization that I am a part of to see if I can narrow down the material type. I don't want to compromise the arrowhead by doing a novice hardness test. If there are any other thoughts about the material or type please let me know. I assume my fellow Rhode Islander is correct as I am sure he knows far more than I do. I have been looking at http://www.projectilepoints.net/Points and I am overwhelmed trying to figure out the subtle differences. I was looking at a variation called "heavy duty" but it does not look like that is a true type as acknowledged by the site.
I appreciate the help more than you know.

There is an excellent guide to Projectile points found in southern New England available from the Massachusetts Archaelogical Society on their website, from their bookstore. But that's worth it only if you really plan on getting into actually artifact hunting. The guide was written by the late Jeff Boudreau. Here's a photo of the cover.

As far as the material, well, certainly don't test it in any way, lol. It's too fine a point, and certainly not worth it. The jasper found in RI points comes from either deposits in Pa., or from the Limerock area of Lincoln. They are almost always glossy, which is why I am not certain of your point, because your material does not look glossy at all. But sometimes it isn't. The other possibility is one of our many regional rhyolites. There are so many, all named, and many colors and appearances. It also does not look like any of the New York cherts that I am familiar with. And it is not any of the real common local and regional lithics, the most common being quartz and argillite, and quartzite. Most of our jasper artifacts are made of Pa jasper that was imported, obviously. I do have a couple pieces where the jasper is not glossy, so maybe that first guess was the right one. Unless the true color is "off" a bit in your photo, that I don't know.

 

[captain redbeard]

congrats on a first

 

[Charl]

I sent your photo to a friend more experienced then myself in lithic identification. He said it looks like jasper to him as well, so I would say that's the best bet. Although I had mentioned we have many regional rhyolites, it really did not look like any rhyolite I was familiar with from southern New England. I would go with jasper, and feel confident in that ID for the lithic. Of all the lithics used locally, jasper is among the best, if not the best. That's a very fine first point!