New Jersey recent finds

[Skyhawk]

Found these 2 items recently in South Jersey (in a field) and I am not sure what I found. Looks to me like a scraper and a....? The piece in question looks to be argillite. Scale is 1" blocks. Any thoughts?
Thanks in advance.

[willjo]

The spike piece looks like a drill other could be knife or scraper.

[CMD]

Looks like a drill, and yes, argillite, specifically Lockatong argillite, which was sourced in NJ and Pa., and enjoyed widespread distribution on the Eastern seaboard at various times.

[Cecilia]

What a drill!

[pkfrey]

I do believe you have a Lackawaxen point there. Those are known for being long and slender, un-notched, and with a slight bulbous expanding stem. These are made from all the non cherts and flints, normally argillite, siltstone, rhyolite, silicified shale, etc. Archaic, ca. 3000 - 4000 B.C.

[Cecilia]

I’ve always waited for your knowledge. I’m glad to read it.

[Skyhawk]

Here are a few of what I thought were Lackawaxen points. The one in question is similar , but I wasn't sure. I did however look up drills in my Overstreet guide and it looks very similar in size and shape ... If it's a drill it would be my first! But I guess the question still exists. Thanks for everyones input!

[pkfrey]

Those two have defined and angled shoulders. With a tapered pointed stem. If you use a typology book, those would be Poplar Island points. Or larger Piscataways, even Lamoka. There are also Lackawaxens like this. This is confusing because of the maybe 6 or 7 Archaic varieties, they all over lap in form, and it's hard to take a single point and be specific. If I wrote the book on these styles, I would simply call all of them Northern Piedmont Points. They are all about the same time frame, and sometimes the only clue that separates the types, is the lithic material used. Poplar Islands are mostly quartzite and diabase. Lamoka points are made from all the lithics, non silica and cherts/flints. Piscataways are mostly quartz. I think these two are mostly Poplar Island in form.

[pkfrey]

Actually I'd like to back up some. They probably are Lackawaxens, just exceptions to the rule, giving the base style.

[Skyhawk]

Thanks for looking into this further Pkfrey. Great info! Just to clarify - (and sorry to drag this out) - my argillite piece in question is is not a drill in your opinion? As you can tell, I'm still learning and I need to account for not only the shape, location etc, but also the lithic material to make a determination - and from what I'm gathering, the varieties overlap ... confusing me even further. I understand it's hard to conclude from pictures, but I'm just soaking up the knowledge from all who respond - THANKS!

[AJGamby]

Ive never seen a point so skinny! Great finds!

[pkfrey]

It seems what most do when typing a point, is look at the way it is now. We have to consider a lot of resharpening over the years that the point was used. So we have to visualize adding some degree of material to the points body. Many of these points started out as long and broader. After constant resharpening, the point ends up long and narrow, and takes on a drill form. Intentional drills are normally much narrower, with the shoulders retaining their original shape, On these slender points like the Lackawaxens, the edges are part of the shoulder, not recessed. A lot of drills weren't drills at all, they lack the smoothing and polish on the edges from being used in a drilling motion. A large percentage of what we call drills, are actually points/ lance heads that have been resharpened to the point of exhaustion and discarded. Or used for another purpose. A true drill used for that purpose of drilling will exhibit smoothing and polish on the edges. Unless they were used on very soft material, like wood or leather/clothing.

[AJGamby]

Exactly! being a flintknapper, you start to learn the tools and wear pretty fast. I think that alot of these so called "drills" were just heavily resharpened knives, just like beveling, you get more life out of the tool. So we can say that the wear on the blade determines its use.