Hardaway Side Notch Projectile Point: Identification, Age & Range

The Hardaway Side Notch is one of the earliest side-notched points in the Southeast, dating to the Transitional Paleo period. It was defined by Joffre L. Coe in 1964 from the deeply stratified Hardaway site in Stanly County, North Carolina — a landmark excavation in eastern archaeology. Creek-walkers and field hunters from southern Virginia down into Mississippi encounter these small, wide, strikingly thin points, often without realizing how old they are.

Period: 10,500 - 9,000 B.P. · Transitional Paleo
Typical size: 25–85 mm long, 22–45 mm wide
Region: This point is primarily found southern Virginia and into Mississippi.

How to identify a Hardaway Side Notch point

Start with the notches and the base. Hardaway Side Notch points have a pair of deep, narrow notches cut straight into each side, forming a U-shaped opening rather than a wide shallow dip. Below the notches, the base is usually deeply concave — hollowed out enough that some examples look almost bifurcated, with two ear-like corners hanging down. The basal edge is typically ground smooth, and broad, shallow thinning flakes run from the base up the faces, sometimes reaching a third of the way to the tip.

The overall proportions are distinctive: these are wide points for their length. Total length runs 25 to 85 mm but averages only about 35 mm — around the size of a postage stamp to a matchbook — while width runs 22 to 45 mm. Combined with a thickness of just 3 to 10 mm and a cross section that grades from flattened to elliptical, the result is a short, broad, thin point with a straight to gently excurvate blade and random flaking. Material varies by locality and includes quartz, quartzite, chert, flint, felsite, and jasper.

Age and where it's found

Hardaway Side Notch dates to roughly 10,500 to 9,000 B.P., at the close of the Pleistocene and the opening of the Holocene. At the type site it occurs in the same levels as the Hardaway Dalton, and Justice (1987) positions it as a bridge between the Dalton tradition and the later Palmer corner-notched forms. Its named relatives include the Hardaway Blade, Hardaway Dalton, and Hardaway Palmer.

The core range runs from southern Virginia southwest into Mississippi, centered on the Carolina Piedmont. Examples occur with less frequency north of Virginia and west of the Mississippi drainage.

Similar and related types

Dalton — Dalton points lack true side notches; their concave bases flow into flaring ears and the blades are commonly serrated from resharpening.
Palmer Corner Notch — Palmer is notched from the corners rather than the sides and has a straight, ground base instead of a deep basal concavity.
Big Sandy Side Notch — Big Sandy is generally thicker with broader notches and a shallower basal concavity than the deeply hollowed Hardaway base.
San Patrice (10,000 - 8,000 B.P. · Transitional Paleo to Early Archaic) — A western Gulf Coast contemporary with a similar early side-notched look, but found well west of the core Hardaway range.

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Hardaway Side Notch Projectile Point: Identification, Age & Range

How to identify a Hardaway Side Notch point

Age and where it's found

The core range runs from southern Virginia southwest into Mississippi, centered on the Carolina Piedmont. Examples occur with less frequency north of Virginia and west of the Mississippi drainage.

Similar and related types

Dalton — Dalton points lack true side notches; their concave bases flow into flaring ears and the blades are commonly serrated from resharpening.

Palmer Corner Notch — Palmer is notched from the corners rather than the sides and has a straight, ground base instead of a deep basal concavity.

Big Sandy Side Notch — Big Sandy is generally thicker with broader notches and a shallower basal concavity than the deeply hollowed Hardaway base.

San Patrice (10,000 - 8,000 B.P. · Transitional Paleo to Early Archaic) — A western Gulf Coast contemporary with a similar early side-notched look, but found well west of the core Hardaway range.