Lost Lake Corner Notch Projectile Point: Identification, Age & Range

How to identify a Lost Lake Corner Notch point

Look first at the blade edges. These points were resharpened in the haft along one edge of each face, which leaves a steep bevel and usually serrations; heavily worked examples develop a rhomboid (diamond-shaped) cross section. A fresh blade has convex edges, but repeated sharpening pulls the outline straight or slightly concave. The corner notches are deep — an old nickname for the type is "Deep Notch" — and the barbed shoulders often show a distinctive rounded profile, with barb tips ranging from rounded to squared. On the most exhausted pieces the barbs can shrink or vanish entirely.

Most examples run 31 to 81 mm long (typical finds fall around 40–55 mm) and 25 to 48 mm wide, at 6 to 13 mm thick, with a slightly expanding stem. The base varies from concave to convex, thinned with broad shallow flakes and usually ground smooth for hafting. Quality is itself a clue: Lost Lake points tend to be symmetrical and expertly flaked, with broad percussion scars finished by fine pressure work, and nearly all were struck from high-grade chert. Because a single point could be sharpened many times over its working life, two Lost Lakes from the same field can look quite different in outline — judge by the notches, ground base, and beveling rather than blade shape alone.

Age and where it's found

Lost Lake dates to the Early Archaic, about 9,500–8,500 B.P. Most classifications place it in the Thebes Cluster with Thebes, St. Charles, and Calf Creek points, though some researchers argue it is really a variant of Kirk Corner Notched.

The type is found most frequently in Missouri and Arkansas and in the eastern parts of Oklahoma and Kansas. It also occurs through the Ohio and Tennessee River valleys and south into the Gulf Coastal region.

Similar and related types

• Thebes Projectile Point — Thebes points are thicker and cruder, with a heavier ground stem and distinctive notch shapes, versus the refined, symmetrical Lost Lake.
• Kirk Corner Notched — Kirk points are usually serrated without the steep one-edge-per-face beveling, and lack the rounded barbs; some researchers lump Lost Lake in with Kirk.
• St. Charles Corner Notch — St. Charles has a strongly convex dovetail base that is never straight, while a Lost Lake base can range from concave to convex.
• Hardin Stemmed — Hardin has a true expanding stem with a mostly straight base rather than deep corner notches.
• Pine Tree Corner Notched — Pine Tree points are smaller with deeply serrated, recurved blades and lack the rhomboid beveled cross section.