LEVANNA POINTS
Late Woodland: 1,500 to 350 BP
DESCRIPTION: The Levanna points range in size from 22
to 75 mm in length, but the majority fall into the 30 to 40 mm
range. This is a medium to large, fairly thin, triangular point
style, generally with a concave base. These points are nearly
as wide as they are long, and in the more slender examples the
length varies from about one and one-half to one and one-third
times the width. The majority are equalaterally triangular, with
the remainder being more of a broad isosceles shape. The lateral
edges are normally straight, but do vary. The basal cavity can
range from gentle to almost extreme, producing prominent corner
barbs which are occasionally asymmetrical. A few have straight
bases.
DISTRIBUTION: Levanna points occur in most of southtern
Ontario, New York state, eastern Pennsylvania, and down into New
England. The name was derived from the Levanna site in Cayuga
County, NY. (Ritchie 1928)
RAW MATERIAL: The main materials used were Onondaga chert,
jasper, quartz and quartzite. This is unquestionably an arrorw
point, which were very finely knapped by pressure flaking.
AGE AND CULTURE: In New York state this type seems to
have made its appearance in the late Middle Woodland period of
about 700 A.D. It falls into the same time level as Owasco in
New York state. However, it did not become dominant until the
transitional period into Late Woodland circa 900 A.D. and eventually
became the principal Late Woodland point type. Around 1,350 A.D.
it began to be supplanted by the Madison type, mainly throughout
districts of Iroquoian cultural domination.
REFERENCES: Ritchie, 1961, pp. 31-32, 86-87. Perino,
1968, pp. 48-49. Waldorf, 1987, pp. 200-201. Justice, 1995, 226-228.
Tully, 1998, p. 97. Overstreet, 2003, pp. 141-142, 499,