Kirk Corner Notched Projectile Point: Identification, Age & Range

If you hunt creek beds or plowed fields anywhere in the eastern United States, the Kirk Corner Notched is one of the types you are most likely to run into. It is a workhorse of the Early Archaic period, dating to roughly 9,500-8,500 B.P., and it turns up from the Atlantic seaboard to the Tennessee and Ohio River drainages in real numbers.

The type was defined by Joffre L. Coe in 1964 from excavations at the Hardaway site in Stanly County, North Carolina, and named after the Kirk family, on whose land the type site sat. It anchors the broader Kirk Corner Notch cluster, and Coe believed it developed out of the earlier Palmer point.

Period: 9,500 - 8,500 B.P. · Early Archaic
Typical size: 32–120 mm long, 20–45 mm wide
Region: This point is primarily associated with the Eastern Seaboard region of the United States, into the the Gulf Coastal region and the Tennessee River and Ohio…

How to identify a Kirk Corner Notched point

Start with the notches. Kirk points are notched in from the corners of the base, which creates an expanding stem and leaves the shoulders strongly barbed - the barbs are one of the type's most recognizable features, though they can look weaker on blades that were resharpened many times. The base itself is usually straight to concave, and only occasionally convex.

The blade is triangular and most often excurvate (bowed outward), though straight and recurved edges occur. Many examples are serrated, anywhere from fine teeth to deep saw-like cuts, and some show beveling along the edges. Flaking is random rather than patterned, and the cross section is flattened to elliptical.

Size runs medium to large: about 32-120 mm long (roughly 1.25 to 4.75 inches) and 20-45 mm wide, so a typical example is close to the length of a business card. Interestingly, averages differ by region - North Carolina examples tend to run larger than Alabama ones. A key negative trait: the base is rarely ground smooth. If your point has a heavily ground, polished-feeling hafting area, look hard at Palmer instead.

Age and where it's found

Kirk Corner Notched dates to the Early Archaic, about 9,500-8,500 B.P. At the deeply stratified St. Albans site in West Virginia, both a large and a small variety were recovered eight to ten feet below the surface in well-dated zones. Some researchers have reported dates approaching 7,100 B.P. from northeastern sites, but many specialists consider those too recent.

The heart of the distribution is the Eastern Seaboard, the Gulf Coast, and the basins of the Tennessee and Ohio rivers, with finds thinning out toward the Mississippi drainage and the Northeast. Related forms in the same lineage include Amos and Charleston Corner Notch.

Similar and related types

Palmer Corner Notch — Smaller overall and almost always shows heavy basal grinding, which Kirk rarely has.
Pine Tree Corner Notched — Essentially a resharpened Kirk form with a narrower, distinctly recurved blade that keeps its length.
Lost Lake Corner Notch — Typically shows strong alternate beveling that gives the blade a twisted look when viewed end-on.
Thebes Projectile Point — A thicker Midwest form with squared, key-shaped notches and heavy resharpening bevels rather than Kirk's open corner notches.

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Kirk Corner Notched Projectile Point: Identification, Age & Range

How to identify a Kirk Corner Notched point

Age and where it's found

Similar and related types

Palmer Corner Notch — Smaller overall and almost always shows heavy basal grinding, which Kirk rarely has.

Pine Tree Corner Notched — Essentially a resharpened Kirk form with a narrower, distinctly recurved blade that keeps its length.

Lost Lake Corner Notch — Typically shows strong alternate beveling that gives the blade a twisted look when viewed end-on.

Thebes Projectile Point — A thicker Midwest form with squared, key-shaped notches and heavy resharpening bevels rather than Kirk's open corner notches.