ORIENT FISHTAIL POINTS
Late Archaic to Early Woodland: 5,000
to 3,500 BP
DESCRIPTION: The size of the Orient Fishtail ranges
from 38mm to 102mm in length, with an averge length being closer
to 60mm. It is a slender, gracefully formed point of medium size
with characteristically narrow, lanceolate blade merging into
a flaring fishtail stem. The blade is convex to nearly flat in
cross-section, with excurvate edges. The base is usually incurvate
but sometimes straight. The base is often slightly ground.
DISTRIBUTION: Hudson Valley and Long Island. Represented
sporadically in Ontario, New York, southern New England and northern
and central New Jersey.
RAW MATERIAL: Regional cherts of high quality, even jasper
and slate. In the Orient complex of Long Island most were made
from quartz or quartzite pebbles by indirect percussion techniques.
Elsewhere regional high quality flints and even jasper were employed,
and the flat flaking scars suggest reduction from a thick spall
by pressure technique.
AGE AND CULTURE: The Orient Fishtail is considered late
Archaic and lasting through the transitional period into early
Woodland
REFERENCES: Bell, 1960, pp.72-72. Ritchie, 1961, pp.39
and 93, Kinsey, 1972, pp.432-433 and 428. Waldorf, 1987, p. 173.
Overstreet, 2003, pp 153-155.