Morrow Mountain Projectile Point: Identification, Age & Range

How to identify a Morrow Mountain point

The defining trait is the contracting stem: it narrows from the shoulders downward rather than expanding or being notched. Archaeologists split the type in two. Type I has a broad blade with convex edges, widest above the shoulders, and a short, wide tapering stem ending in a straight to convex base, usually with light grinding in the hafting area. Type II carries a longer, often narrower blade on an elongated contracting stem that tapers to a convex or even pointed base, with no basal grinding at all.

Shoulders on both forms generally slope upward and are only rarely barbed. Sizes run 21 to 90 mm long, with most examples in the 36–50 mm range, 18 to 50 mm wide, and 7 to 11 mm thick. Flaking is random rather than patterned, and the finish is often less refined than on earlier Archaic types. Material is a strong regional clue: makers used whatever stone was close at hand — quartz, quartzite, rhyolite, chert, and slate — so many Piedmont examples are chunky white quartz rather than glossy flint.

Age and where it's found

Morrow Mountain is a Middle Archaic type, with Type I dated around 7,100–6,700 B.P. and Type II around 6,800–6,000 B.P. Radiocarbon dates from sites such as Cactus Hill, Ice House Bottom, and Russell Cave suggest Type I is the older form, though some researchers caution that the two may have overlapped. In the southeastern sequence, Morrow Mountain follows Stanly and Eva points and precedes Savannah River and Guilford points. Related forms include the Round Base and Straight Base varieties of Morrow Mountain, plus the Stark point — the name used for Type II in New England.

The distribution runs along the Atlantic Seaboard from the Gulf states northeast into New England, and westward through the Tennessee River basin, with occasional finds in the Ohio River valley. Whether the type truly extends into Florida is debated; some researchers assign the Florida material to the separate Westo type.

Similar and related types

• Gary Stemmed — Gary is a later contracting-stem type centered west of the Mississippi, typically with squarer shoulders and a thicker body.
• Adena Stemmed — Adena is an Early Woodland type with a longer rounded stem and a larger, more finely finished ovate blade.
• Eva Barbed — Eva points carry pronounced barbs that Morrow Mountain almost always lacks.
• Savannah River Projectile Point — Savannah River is a later, larger type with a broad squared stem instead of a tapering one.
• Guilford Round Base — Guilford is a slender lanceolate with no shoulders or stem at all.