Couple points and soapstone.

[JMatt]

The wife went shopping so I went huntin!
I found another piece to a soapstone bowl today. You can see the top rim to the bowl and the scrape marks.
Boy I would love to find one of these bowls complete, but finding pieces is still cool.
I also found a couple points and a tip to a point. I’m not sure what the material is on that dark point?
Jeff

[JMatt]

One more,


And the points,



Thanks for looking.
Jeff

[willjo]

That black point is really neat and neat material, like them all but that one is just neat

[fldwlkr]

The soapstone piece is too cool ! Must be a rare find for surface hunting.
fldwlkr

[CMD]

Great finds, Jeff. I'm pretty sure the black point is Marblehead Rhyolite. Interestingly, Boudreau says regarding this lithic: "Certain varieties of the black show little to no patina whatever, even on Early Archaic artifacts". I'm pretty certain you have just such a variety. I have an Early Archaic Kanawha made of the unpatinated variety, and I could not really understand the lack of patina until reading Boudreau's observation. It does look like a Squibnocket Stemmed also.

I know the steatite was found quite a way from Helen's bowl, but the tides can separate things by a long distance at times. We'll have to see if it matches some day. You get the bowl if it does. Haha....

[Tam]

Charlie your like a book on this . Why is there so much Rhyolite in the North East ? Last volcanic area mixed with the cooling process .

[-=METACOM=-]

I always enjoy reading these discussions.

[Ron Kelley]

Hey Jeff, All nice finds but i really like that big soapstone piece and the black beauty. Congrats.

[Tam]

Yep me to .. those are my favs

[JMatt]

Lol Charlie! We will have to check on that!
That would be amazing if it did fit!
If it did I would give it to you guys.
I would be happy just to see her bowl that much closer to being complete.

[CMD]

Lol Charlie! We will have to check on that!
That would be amazing if it did fit!
If it did I would give it to you guys.
I would be happy just to see her bowl that much closer to being complete.

Lol, indeed. I can see now that it would not fit. It is very remindful of the spare rim sherd I could not attach to the bowl. It's a fine sherd you found. They must have enjoyed many meals on that beach.

[cgode]

cool stuff Jeff!! that’s a winner of a day!

[OnewiththewilD]

Wow you lucky dog! Lol you scored on them! The black Marblehead point looks like a Greene to me. I got a nice one from the same place but not as nice as that one! Great finds dude

[CMD]

I went with Squibnocket due to its size. Greenes, as Boudreau notes "are often large in size" I did see one large rhyolite Greene Jeff found on that beach. Looks like only a couple Boudreau shows have lengths similar to Jeff's, yet, even then, their overall proportions are larger then a Squibnocket, even when resharpened. JMO...

[JMatt]

Jay that Marblehead point didn’t come from the usual area. You will have to see in person, I really was thinking Squib stemmed. You never know, I’m prob wrong. Really neat material though.
Jeff

[OnewiththewilD]

It’s a strange choice of material for a Squib. All of ours that I’ve seen are either quartz or Argy, I never seen one made outta any other kind of material, though I have seen Greenes made out of Marblehead and other non immediately local materials.

[JMatt]

Thanks to everyone for the nice comments.

[TSUMS]

Greene's come in sizes from small to large...and most of them I have found are.made of Felsite or rhyolite..this looks like a Greene but the the mid section is a bit pointy for Greene..but it could be..

[CMD]

Jay, ask Jeff to show you his photos of his point overlain on the Squib page and the Greene page. I think you'll see what I mean by the proportions being off for Greene. Both types may infrequently have faint shoulders or shoulder, as Jeff's does, but Greene is wider, as well as just being a bigger point. Even some smaller Rossvilles Boudreau shows are not far removed from Jeff's point.

Exellent point on material. Yes, Squibs are more often quartz. But all the small stems(Squibs, Wading River, Lamoka) used Marblehead at times, and sometimes it dominates, depending on location. Our friend on Martha's Vineyard seems to find more Marblehead small stem points then quartz.

Anyway, here is what I concluded very, very recently. If a point is found on the surface, efforts to type are hampered by all the variables that alter any point's morphology through its usage life, and they are also hampered by lack of context. This light bulb, which should have been obvious years ago, came to me at the same time as I realized Boudreau's new book actually made typing more difficult, not less. Excavated points, via professional excavation standards, on the other hand, eliminate the lack of context that surface points cannot overcome. Knowing a site like the back of one's hand can help, knowing lithic preference can help, there are things experience can bring to bear. But, unless the type is so obvious that no doubt can be had, typing surface finds can be nothing but a guessing game, and many points resemble each other for all those same variables affecting morphology. And it's that lack of context that is the killer in that equation.

This is one reason I guess I still prefer to use the older collector term "small stem point" for all the type names newer collectors have adopted. Because I find them on the surface.

[clambellies]

Nice finds. And a piece of the bowl rim too boot!

[redrocks]

Cool finds man congrats