The Small Side-Notched Point System of the Northern Plains

Abstract

AbstractThree point types, and the several varieties of each, make up the Small Side-notched Point System of the northern Plains. The earliest type is the Avonlea, appearing with large-scale communal bison hunting in the northern Plains early in the Christian era. The Avonlea type is replaced after ca. A.D. 700 by the Prairie Sidenotched type, which may have been derived from the Middle Woodland Besant points that were contemporary with Avonlea. The final northern Plains type of point is the Plains Side-notched, present from ca. A.D. 1300 to the historic period. It is suggested that the Avonlea point may have been brought by Athabascans, the Prairie Sidenotched may have been an Algonkian type, and the Plains Side-notched may have been of Mississippian derivation.