Arrowheadology Exclusive: Shifting Sands Folsom Site
Posted on 17. Feb, 2009 by Shannon Graham in Archeological Excavations, Artifact Finds, Flint Artifacts, Texas
Imagine being the first to discover a prolific Paleoindian site where no one else has ever collected. Sound good? What if this happened to be a single occupation site distinctly Folsom-Midland? Specifically, the site was utilized only by the Folsom-Midland people and is devoid of artifacts from any other culture. And,…you are the only one with access to the site. Sound too good to be true?
The Shifting Sands site of Winkler County, Texas is this dream. And Richard Rose is living it.
Shifting Sands is a bison kill and processing site in the blowing sand hills of west Texas. Since discovering the site, Rose has worked closely with researchers and archeologists to further the knowledge and understanding of the Folsom culture and their use of stone tools.
As Rose is the only person allowed to collect from the site, he’s been able to literally piece together a comprehensive view of the Folsom tool kit. The artifacts shown here were photographed while on display in Abilene, Texas in 2003. Just about every aspect of the Folsom ‘tool kit’ have been found at the site including bifacial and unifacial knives including ‘ultra thins’, many scrapers, gravers, burins, spoke shaves, drills and punches.
While many acknowledge an association between Folsom and Midland, it’s interesting to see the variation exhibited within the assemblage.
Another interesting aspect noted by Dr. David Meltzer, is that Shifting Sands has fewer reworked Folsom points than would be expected based on a statistical model established from the study of other Folsom sites. Lindenmeier and Lubbock sites on the other hand, have a greater number of reworked points than would be expected based on the norm.
One suprising find was that of an extremely small bead found attached to one of the flint artifacts. The bead, made of bone or ivory, was not noticed until the artifact was being studied away from the site. For a better appreciation of the scale, take a look here.
Folsom Bead
Shifting Sands is an extraordinary site which can tell us much about Folsom people and their way of life. Let’s hope we see more of the finding’s from this site and other in the public domain.
-
- Folsom Bead
Meltzer, David J., Meena Balakrishnan , Donald A. Dorward, 2006, Folsom, New Archaeological Investigations of a Classic Paleoindian Bison Kill, 281
Related Posts
