Orient Fishtail

[Charl]

Funny how things work sometimes. Just a few days ago I was wondering why years have gone by without finding this style point, when we used to find them not too infrequently. So naturally, I walked up on one this morning, made of a honey colored quartzite
Orient Fishtails take their name from Orient, Long Island, where they were first excavated in a context of Transitional Archaic cremation burials with "killed" soapstone vessels. Some see these points as the Narrow Point Tradition's response to Susquehanna Broad Points, which were intrusive to southern New England during the same time period. Both traditions utilized soapstone for vessel production. A couple days ago, I picked up a soapstone sherd with one repair hole and traces of two others, dating same time period.

 

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[Americus]

That is a good looking point. Thanks for the information.

 

[Twitch]

Nice balance on the point.

 

[rock]

So why does the bowl frag have a hole in it? I have found about 3 pieces but no hole on mine. Nice point

 

[Charl]

So why does the bowl frag have a hole in it? I have found about 3 pieces but no hole on mine. Nice point

A repair hole. Vessel broke, they often mended them by drilling a hole in the broken piece, and holes in the remaining vessel and tied 'em together.

 

[curious kat]

Yes...was thinking it looks like a fish before I read what you said....good info.! And very nice find.

 

[old digger]

That is a neat point! Do you find a fair number of that type?

 

[Charl]

That is a neat point! Do you find a fair number of that type?

They are a common enough style here, but for some reason a few years went by without finding any, I was thinking about that fact a couple days before finding this one.

Here are a few others. There is obvious variation in the bases. They can be side notched with concave eared base or side notch with a convex base as seen on a couple of these.