Folsom

Description: Folsom points are among the thinnest and most finely made of all points, ranging from 1 to 3 inches in length, and often less than ¼-inch thick. Folsoms are most distinguished by the prominent flutes removed from each face, but single fluted, and unfluted (Midland) specimens are also found. Fluting often extends to very near the tip. Fine pressure retouch along the lateral edges and downward pointing ears are present, and remnants of the fluting platform are sometimes present within a concave and often slightly “squared” basal concavity. The hafting element (lower edges) are moderately to heavily ground and usually extends beyond the midpoint, especially on reworked specimens. The expertise demonstrated in removing full-length channel flakes and the finely executed pressure retouch techniques used to manufacture Folsom points represent the pinnacle of flintknapping craftsmanship achieved in ancient North America.

Geographic Distribution: Folsom points are found throughout the Great Plains, and are less common in the Eastern Woodlands. They are generally rare in the Midwest but have been found throughout Illinois and Wisconsin, with concentrations in the Illinois, Rock, and Fox River basins. Slightly more than 250 are known from east of the Mississippi and speaks to the relatively low numbers of people present in the region at that time. A single Folsom point is known from Cook county.

Age and Cultural Affiliation: Folsoms were named after the now famous site near Folsom, New Mexico, where they were found in 1927 in association with Bison antiquus, an extinct Pleistocene bison (Figgins, 1934). This was the first site accepted proving Native Americans occupied the New World at the end of the last Ice Age, ending decades of debate as to the antiquity of Humans in the Americas.  Folsoms have been found stratigraphically above Clovis deposits at several locations in the Western United States—including the Clovis type site at Blackwater Draw near Clovis, New Mexico. However, none have been recovered in datable contexts in Illinois, but are assumed to date between 11,000 to 10,500 B.C. Previously their distribution in the Midwest was thought to match the Prairie Peninsula region, however, we now know that the presence of both Bison and substantial Prairie formation aoccurs some 1,500 years after Folsom appears in the region. Originally assumed to represent an eastward extension of a focused bison-hunting economy originating in the Great Plains, it is now apparent that Folsom groups in this region, as well as others, reacted to dynamic environmental change during the Younger Dryas, occupying and exploiting a broader range of resources and environments than previously thought- a good example of how Humans adapted to rapid climate change in the past.