Early Side Notch

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The Early Archaic Period is little understood in the far Northeast(New York and New England). For many decades the one certain diagnostic Early Archaic style have been the various bifurcate base types. However, early side notched, which may or may not be related to or influenced by Coe's Hardaway Side Notched and Hardaway-Dlaton are found in the Northeast, as are early corner notched(Kirk Corner Notch). Although this is known to be the case, the fact remains that in the far Northeast, the Paleo Period is in fact better understood then the Earliest Archaic Period.
In the Southeast, the Early Archaic is much better understood, thanks in large part to Coe's work establishing an Early Archaic point sequence in North Carolina.
Coe's description of the Hardaway-Dalton:
http://www.coe-foundation.org/conten...ay_dalton.html
Coe's description of Hardaway Side Notch:
http://www.coe-foundation.org/conten...e_notched.html
From the Maryland typology page:
  http://www.jefpat.org/diagnostic/Mar...denotched.html
In the Northeast, the use of the type name Hardaway Side Notch for certain early side notch forms found there is controversial. This is discussed by Daniel Forrest in an article in the Bulletin of the Archaeological Society of Connecticut entitled "Beyond Presence and Absence: Establishing Diversity in Connecticut's Early Holocene Archaeological Record":

http://www.connarchaeology.org/ASC62.pdf#page=79

Excerpt:
"Atlantic Slope Tradition sites share a common bifacial chipped-stone technology. Points associated
with the earliest unambiguous manifestation of this tradition in the Northeast include Hardaway, Palmer,
and Kirk comer-notched forms initially defined in the Carolinas (Coe 1964). Northeastern examples may
be contemporaneous with their southern namesakes, placing them between 9600 and 8500 BP (Funk 1996:
13). Securely dated examples are scarce, however, and many researchers have expressed reservations about
equating these isolated tools with the well-defined types to the south (Snow 1980: 163-166; Moeller 1984).
Dated, or not, Hardaway, Kirk, and Palmer points are exceedingly rare in New England and adjacent
areas. A handful have been recovered from the Richmond Hill and Johnsen No.3 sites in New York
(Funk 1996), and several sites in the Robbins Swamp Basin in northwestern Connecticut (Nicholas 1988:
272-273). Slightly younger Piedmont Tradition sites are more common and more easily characterized.
Sites dating between 8600 and 7800 BP typically contain relatively numerous expedient stone tools,"

It is apparent that not all researchers working in the northeast are comfortable using Coe's type name Hardaway Side Notch for early side notches in the Northeast. Nonetheless, the type name is often used. In the revised edition of his 2008 New England typology, the late Jeff Boudreau of the Massachusetts Archaeological Society created an entry for Hardaway Side Notch in which he illustrated the 15 examples from New England that he was aware of to that point in time. They are extremely rare in New England. The example shown closest to Coe's Hardaway Side Notch would easily pass as just that if found in North Carlolina. Other examples shown were more remindful, more in the nature of hints, by virtue of deeply concave bases, re curved into delicate ears slightly upturned, of Hardaway Side Notch. Not difficult to see why some do prefer Hardaway-Like or simply Early Side Notch until a formal name is erected for this early Northeastern style. Whether or not influenced by the Hardaway tradition further south, these points are the origin of the side notch tradition in the Northeast.

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This Jistor article, available by individual free subscription, also discusses the poorly understood Early Archaic Period in the Northeast:
http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.230...21101576597723
From which, the following:
"As research proceeds the bifurcates continue to dominate regional traces of the Early Archaic throughout the Northeast.....Pre-bifurcate occupations have proved especially elusive. Such early types as Hardaway, Kirk Corner Notched, Kirk Stemmed, Palmer and Eva are rare indeed in surface collections."
In his 2008 "A New England Typology of Native American Projectile Points", the late Jeff Boudreau included illustrations of what he chose to call Hardaway Side Notched points. For the most parts such points display a triangular blade with shallow side notches, a deeply concave base that tends to recurve toward the lower lateral margins, giving the ears a slight flaring outward appearance. One of the types illustrated by Jeff would easily pass as a Hardaway Side Notched if found in the type region of North Carolina. The following three points were included in Jeff's revised typology on his Hardaway page. That revised edition has not been published as yet.
Left to right, Kent Co, RI, New Haven Co., Ct, and Kent Co., RI:


Close up of argillite example, and profile showing intact ear. Typically, the broken ear would have been quite symmetrical with the intact ear:




All of the above specimens were seen by Dr. Richard "Mike" Gramly as well, who also referred to them as Hardaways. I believe these points do deserve a name of their own, but until a formal name is erected, many researchers in the Northeast will continue to refer to them as Hardaway, although they are likely using that as a short way of really saying Hardaway-Like or Hardaway analogue. When examining photos of the 15 New England examples of Early Side Notched known to Boudreau, it is obvious that we are looking at a distinct type that differs in both the depth of basal concavity and the style and angle of ears present then points in the later Brewerton series from the Late Archaic. Unfortunately, I cannot reproduce Boudreau's photo plate here due to copyright restrictions. It is hoped the revised edition will be one day published. The examples shown here do not demonstrate the range well. The 3 shown together are 3 of the 15 Jeff was aware of, some of those 15 examples more closely resemble Hardaway points from the type region then others, but the unpublished plate shows the range better, as well as the consistencies of type, whatever it should be called. That the type name "Hardaway" has been applied to these points to a somewhat endemic degree may be seen as a temporary situation eventually. This entry is necessarily least certain given the relative murkiness of the Early Archaic in the Northeast.
Looking at this chart, we can see that Early Side Notched horizon appeared in the Northeast just a few hundred years following their appearance in the Southeast. This makes all the sense in the world if we assume a south-north passage of ideas or technology. Certain of the examples from New England are certainly suggestive of a genetic relationship with Early Side Notch points, like Hardaway, from south of the region.

http://www.nps.gov/archeology/pubs/nhleam/table01.htm