Virtuoso Hohokam Flintknapping in the Gila Bend Region

Virtuoso Hohokam Flintknapping in the Gila Bend Region R. JANE SLIVA The projectile points in the Norton Allen Collection are, quite simply, breathtaking. My fifteen years of work with archaeological assemblages from all regions of Arizona and countless hours of poring over photographs of points in published reports were slim preparation for the sheer amazement I experienced upon viewing the collection in person. Every drawer sliding open, every box and box peeked into, was a revelation . Points by the dozen, points by the hundreds, impossibly long, impossibly thin, impossibly intricate, impossibly voluminous, one after another after another. And beside those were the hundreds of broken, fire-warped, fire-shattered, and not-so-well executed examples that have not yet been highlighted in published photographs. The terminology I use here is standard among Hohokam lithic analysts . A spear point is a large point hafted on a thrusting or throwing spear, a dart point is a somewhat smaller point hafted on a dart thrown with an atlatl, and the terms arrowhead, arrowpoint, and projectile point generally refer to small points hafted on arrows for use with a bow. In this article, I use the last three terms interchangeably to refer to Hohokam-era arrowheads. Norton’s projectile point collection is best known to most researchers through two commonly reproduced photographs of showpiece arrowheads that Norton had placed in Riker mounts (see Hoffman 1997:figs. 8.9, 8.10; Wasley and Johnson 1965:figs. 60, 78); these are reprised here in figure 1. The two point types, commonly referred to as Gatlin and Citrus Side-notched, are common in the collection but represent neither the stylistic variation nor the range of workmanship present in it. This article presents a wider view of the Norton Allen points themselves and explores some of the questions surrounding them, including the identity of the knapper or knappers responsible for the most elaborate R. JANE SLIVA is the senior lithic analyst at Desert Archaeology, Inc., in Tucson, Arizona. Journal of the Southwest 52, 2 (Summer 2010) : 237–253 238 ✜ JOURNAL OF THE SOUTHWEST specimens, the source of the chert used, and the social factors implied in the use of the points in mortuary contexts in the Gila Bend area. THE POINTS Any discussion of the Norton Allen points naturally begins with the numerous and striking Gatlin and Citrus points (figure 1). Gatlin points are side-notched triangular points with elongated, finely serrated blades, horizontally oriented deep side notches that range from U-shaped to soft V-shaped, squared shoulders, deep basal indentations forming pronounced ears, and sharp junctures between the basal and lateral edges of the ears. These points tend to be quite thin relative to their length, and in the best examples are uniformly flaked to create a consistent cross-section through the length of the blade, often not exceeding 4 mm in thickness (see Hoffman 1997:214–18; also see Justice 2002:307–9, despite the error in ascribed dates). All are made of cryptocrystalline silicates, primarily chalcedony or chert; because most of the Gatlin points in the collection came from cremations, their intensely burned state prevents a more detailed identification of the materials used or their origins. The most outstanding examples of the Gatlin style in the Allen Collection were included as mortuary offerings in cremations at the Gatlin and Four Mile Sites, including several points exceeding 8 cm in length and a few exceeding 10 cm (figures 2 and 3). Producing such points required an extremely high level of knapping skill as well as access to large quantities of large pieces of high-quality raw material, factors that equate to substantial investments of resources and time that would have given the finished pieces enormous value. Outside the Gila Bend area, the Gatlin style has been reported from sites in the Lower Salt and Middle Gila areas, though the greatest number by far were recovered from the Gatlin Site itself (Hoffman 1997:table 8.24), making it likely that the site is either where the style originated or rapidly became the center of its manufacture. The Gatlin specimens that Norton selected for his display mounts represent the apex of craftsmanship, but the existence of many...