Archaic Era atlatl point recovered

It was just four years ago that I found my first Native American artifact (a sugar quartz point), and the excitement that came from that singular event has led to almost an addiction for me.

Two months ago I walked through a recently disked field after a decent rain hoping to find stone tools or arrowheads, and one piece I found thrilled me. Sure, I can watch YouTube channels like Theditchwalker, Creekdalton and Indian Trace where those guys document their artifact hunts and share them globally, but there’s nothing like experiencing a “live find” of my own, especially when the artifact can tell a story of its own.

I walked the field and happened to see a point lying in the still-moist soil and thought it was a G10 (perfect) Godar projectile point, similar to one I found this spring. The reddish-colored rock looked awesome, but I became discouraged when I noticed the tip had broken off.

After cleaning the dirt from the finely worked point I noticed an impact fracture on the opposite side at the tip and perpendicular to the base. Seeing that thrilled me because it suggested the point had actually been used.

I sent a picture of the 4,000-year-old Archaic Era artifact to Jack Ray, assistant director for Archeological Research at Missouri State University in Springfield, and he said the artifact would have been a point for an atlatl dart.

For perhaps 10,000 years ago the atlatl was the primary weapon for Native Americans, and its use has regained interest among Missouri deer hunters during the “alternative methods” season. Basically, you have a spear thrower (the atlatl), the dart (shaft) and a point.

The Godar point I found could have at one time been used as a dart point that a hungry Archaic Indian used to hunt deer. The impact fracture could have come from the point crushing through deer rib bones, or it could have come from a clean miss and the point hitting a rock.

Even though my Godar point is imperfect, it is now on permanent display in one of my arrowhead cases and is something I can appreciate for years to come.