Announcement

**antmike915** · 10-21-2020, 09:52 PM

Hey Kim, I think some were snapped intentionally and some I don't. I've always considered those glorified heartbreakers. To me it's hard to tell if it was intentional or not if the snapped area was ancient. That's a great question.

**Mailman** · 10-21-2020, 09:55 PM

I've always wondered the same. I've HEARD several theories on snap-bases. Never made sense, to me, to make a beautiful point, just to break the base off. I think, around my region, a lot of folks try to justify a broken find by calling it a "snap-base". Maybe there is some archeological evidence for some examples, but most of them I assume are broken. Just my opinion. And we all know what opinions are like, lol.

**loudog** · 10-21-2020, 10:41 PM

Robert Converse book Ohio flint types calls them fractured base points, early archaic, two principle types, both rare. The first, and most often seen, has a straight base or slightly concave base on a short stem and relatively small notches. Shoulders are pronounced and may be straight or sloping. The second type has a stem which somewhat rounded with basal fractures directed upwards at a slight angle .The burin facets, which give it the name Fractured base, are directed from the edges of the stem towards the center .The stem is invariably short and is heavily ground. The grinding often obliterates much of the basal treatment .On many examples there is a little burin flake removed from each side of the stem downward into the notches. Some fractured base points are beveled. Many of them have heavy blades with the thickest part of the blade toward the tip when viewed from the side. All fractured base points are well chipped and carefully made. Points with fractured bases were first reported from Early Archaic Shell Mound sites in Alabama. However, similar points found on the surface in Alabama do not all have fractured bases. Ohio varieties appear to larger than the southern examples. In Ohio materials used are Flint Ridge flint, Indiana Hornstone, Upper Mercer flint, Carter Cave flint are all known for the type. Low grade cherts are rarely seen.

**Hal Gorges** · 10-21-2020, 11:02 PM

Hey Kim I’ve given it some thought,, certain types, Kirks for instance, have a greater ratio of snaps than say, archaic stemmed,... ask a skilled knapper when making an easier stemmed point how many stems he breaks as opposed to notching, I’m not a knapper but I’m guessing he doesn’t accidentally break a stem very often...Some of em are burrin style snapped from the side and some have light grinding..that’s all I got Kim, no theories as to why,

**Lindenmeier-Man** · 10-22-2020, 07:49 AM

I’d like them to be intentional Kim, but I think not Sir..

**redrocks** · 10-22-2020, 09:10 AM

I don't think there's such a thing as snap base point... just my opinion

**sailorjoe** · 10-22-2020, 11:40 AM

Hi Kim. This subject has come up in the past and it seems we get pretty much the same spread of opinions. The post by loudog is the first one that seems to bring new thinking to the subject on this forum. I'm gonna say the same thing I've said before so nothing new that I can add-just the SOS (same old stuff). So here goes: I collected points primarily in the Tenn. River Valley area in north Alabama. The "snapped base" points that I had in my old collection were all Kirks. I am of the very strong opinion that these are not points with bases that were broken by heavy use or broken in manufacture. They were all finished as evidenced by fine edgework and most had varying degrees of wear from use or resharpening. All were used as knives. When chert knives break from use they tend to break off at the tips or edges but sometimes the base is broken. The uninformed collector who thinks knives are "arrowheads" often calls the ones with broken tips "impact fractures". I had 42 unbroken Kirks in my collection. Of these 42, they break down as follows: Kirk Corner Notch-16, Kirk Stemmed-4, Kirk Serrated-4, Kirk bifurcated-2 and Kirk snapped base-16. Snapped Base Kirks made up nearly half of the unbroken Kirks I had. I had other broken Kirks but only catalogued the whole or almost whole points. I surmise that how the base came to have a "snapped" appearance is because they were left that way on purpose and it all has to do with the way they were halfed to the handle. "Back in the day" I first thought that they were broken points; but after I found so many that looked that way I began to think why would people continue to make a point for so many years (and over a wide area) that was so weak in design that it would break in the same place. I think not. People who made Kirks, if they were all of the same basic culture seemed to have a variety of basal styles. Many of the Early Archaic cultures have the same base style for points used as knives and darts. (Dalton, Decatur, Lost Lake, Dovetail, etc.) Kirk which I believe came along later seemed to have a variety of base styles as did Morrow Mt. which came later and Copena which came even later. It seems reasonable to believe that the different bases had to do with different halfting techniques.

**tomf** · 10-22-2020, 01:28 PM

I have more or less the same experience as sailorjoe. Though not specific to Kirks (obviously) but mostly obsidian knives. Just too square, clean and common to be accidental. Maybe it was a method to fix a damaged base or maybe it was just a good design. Chopping (burin-type cuts) seems to be a fairly common practice around here and I see the snap base as reflecting that technique.

Here are a few examples.

Attached Files

**gregszybala** · 10-22-2020, 04:16 PM

If a point was to break/snap, where would the most likely place be for that to happen?

**tomclark** · 10-22-2020, 04:30 PM

Snapped, broken, reworked bases....if it fit in the haft they let it ride. I have been to many campsites where when returning to camp they obviously brought back snapped bases in the haft to be retooled with new points... I've found piles of bases in one spot, twice.

**tomf** · 10-22-2020, 05:08 PM

In some cases a blunt , cut- looking base can be an un-retouched termination of a spall but others are clearly chopped after the knapping is all done.

This example shows what I mean.

Also, notice the subtle shoulder on the right side in this picture and how it's chopped off just above. Most of the knives I've posted on this thread have this feature, which to me says knife rather than spear tip.

**Mattern** · 10-22-2020, 07:21 PM

Wow Thanks for all the examples and thoughts. Tomclark posted pics. of the examples I was asking about. Tomf you gave me something to really think about. Snapped by use verses snapped on purpose. Good stuff you all gave me. One thought that I always assumed that all the bases was the result of what was left on the spear shaft after the hunt, and they were discarded at a workshop when new points were replaced. And some became small hafted scrapers. The other thing is that after the hunt, what remained in the animals killed were just the tips. sometimes reused sometimes discarded. This is the best thing about this site is the ability for the group to come up with optional opinions. With a topic like this it can give us all a new perspective! Thanks guys, Good Stuff! Kim