Wellfleet Bay side beach find

['fleetian]

New here today. While collecting rocks for my garden on New Year's Day I found this point sitting on top of the sand at the bottom of an eroding coastal dune. A fun find and good luck, I thought.

I applied a thin coat of Renaissance wax to improve clarity. I suspect the stone is jasper but not conclusive. Cape Cod has a jumble of every kind of rock due to glacial formation, not to mention possible trade or travel between individual natives so I am left to speculate on where the stone is from geologically speaking.

I would appreciate any insight as to its era, age, or any other comments.

Thank you!

 

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[ptsofnc]

The style could be a very old weathered/worn point.

 

[arrow86]

Nice find , there’s a few different triangle type points that it could be. I think it looks like a Madison which is late woodland - Mississippian period. That’s just a guess though ....I’m sure somebody more knowledgeable will know for sure

 

[newnan man]

Welcome, nice find. It looks well worn & of a material I'm not familiar with. Thanks for sharing.

 

[dfallis1]

First glance I thought native artifact as well. A OLDIE

 

[sandchip]

Hard to tell much as worn as it is. A picture that highlights what's left of the flaking scars might help. At first glance, it does look like an oldie.

 

[jeffdt1966]

you are correct in calling it a point instead of an arrow head … that was likely a projectile point for a spear or atlatl spear , could also be a knife but shape makes me think projectile point from first view . Its hard to tell for sure from the photo's but I think I see some thinning in the base middle that also suggest halving rather than knife … once again hard to tell but is some fluting at the base ? … might be very old …. or just another rock : ) just kidding … I'm going with very old projectile point my self , unless somebody on here convinces me otherwise … good find … gratz

 

['fleetian]

arrow86, my niece is an archaeologist and said the same thing as you! She also was judging by these very pictures and suggested that I get in touch with local archaeological authorities to hear what they might say. I have compared extensively with what I find on the net and think that is possible that it is much older as jeffdt1966 suggests. In any case, I need to go back to the same area and keep an eye out. The washing away of the glacial till that forms the dune might expose more goodies.

 

[Charl]

If you just go by the shape alone, it can be a Fox Creek Lanceolate, which is Middle Woodland.

 

['fleetian]

Thanks Charl. Much appreciated.

 

[southfork]

Good eye sure is water worn tossed around by the surf ? I was looking at types for the region and the physical description of this old point reminds me of yours ?http://projectilepoints.net/Points/Hi-Lo.html

 

['fleetian]

The fact that the point is so worn does indicate the possibility of being wave tossed in the sand. But there are so many larger rocks on that beach, cobble stone sized, that this relatively fragile point would have been broken by now. I imagine it being worn by the gentler force of a stream and sand, perhaps outwash from the former harbor, (now filled in), near the place where I found it. If so, it could have been there for quite a long time, anywhere from the suggestion by Charl of Fox Creek, Middle Woodland, which seems likely to me, to possibly as early as late Paleo.

There is great resistance by archaeologists to claims that any point is as old as Paleo era for good reason. Such a claim requires other evidence to back it up; a camp nearby, for instance. So far, I know of nothing that old near Wellfleet, though it is interesting to note that the ocean has risen almost 400 feet since the end of the last glacial era. Imagine what is scattered about as far as the continental shelf. Fishermen working with draggers have routinely found Mastodon bones and the like from areas that are now under several hundred feet of water. We are left with a fraction of the land exposed during that time to speculate with.

 

[BIGSCOTT]

lots of dunes are man made, it could have been hauled in with sand to build the dune.

 

[BIGSCOTT]

that is a very cool find by the way, a point made for some sort of conglomeret.

 

[Charl]

The fact that the point is so worn does indicate the possibility of being wave tossed in the sand. But there are so many larger rocks on that beach, cobble stone sized, that this relatively fragile point would have been broken by now. I imagine it being worn by the gentler force of a stream and sand, perhaps outwash from the former harbor, (now filled in), near the place where I found it. If so, it could have been there for quite a long time, anywhere from the suggestion by Charl of Fox Creek, Middle Woodland, which seems likely to me, to possibly as early as late Paleo.

There is great resistance by archaeologists to claims that any point is as old as Paleo era for good reason. Such a claim requires other evidence to back it up; a camp nearby, for instance. So far, I know of nothing that old near Wellfleet, though it is interesting to note that the ocean has risen almost 400 feet since the end of the last glacial era. Imagine what is scattered about as far as the continental shelf. Fishermen working with draggers have routinely found Mastodon bones and the like from areas that are now under several hundred feet of water. We are left with a fraction of the land exposed during that time to speculate with.

Here's a fluted point found on Cape Cod just a few years ago.

 

[Charl]

Here is the most "common" form of Late Paleo Lance found in New England, the Ste. Anne-Varney style:





And here is a rhyolite Ste. Anne-Varney point found on the North River, Ma.

 

['fleetian]

Here's a fluted point found on Cape Cod just a few years ago.

View attachment 1668922

Very, very cool Charl.

 

['fleetian]

lots of dunes are man made, it could have been hauled in with sand to build the dune.

Not at all likely. It is a protected beach for miles in both directions.

 

[Hawks88]

Welcome to the forum and congrats on the nice point.

 

[gilmerman]

Closes simblince to Overstreet,page 95's North East area, is as Arrow 86 and I also think it's a madison point. Madisons are to young to be glacerial.They are from Mississippian era 1100-200 AD. Small to medium, this one is eroded but an exciting find and a keeper.