Other Websites with Detailed Information:
Name Details:
Named By: Anne Greene (named) / Henry T. Irwin (formalized)
Named For: Lusk, Niobrara County, Wyoming
Date Identified: 1967 / 1968
Type Site: Betty Greene site (near Lusk), Niobrara County, Wyoming
Lusk
Cluster:
Date:
Cultural Period:
7,500 - 5,600 B.P.
Transitional Paleo to Early Archaic
Early Holocene
Glacial Period:
Culture:
Outline is Representative of Size and Shape:
Description of Physical Characteristics and Flaking Pattern:
This is a medium to large (3 to 6 inches) lanceolate with a plano convex cross section. The blade is excurvate with the tip curving in, becoming parallel towards the midsection, and
curving back in the lower one third of the blade. Shoulders are absent with a contracting stem, The base is concave. This point has a oblique flaking pattern and commonly has one side that
has a higher quality of workmanship than the other side. Some examples have lower quality of flaking giving it a random flaking pattern. Basal grinding is present on the lower 1/3 to 1/4 on this
type.
Size Measurements: Length - 63 to 79 mm, Length - 16 to 21mm, Thickness - 6 to 8mm (Irwin, 1968)
Distribution:
Distribution Comments:
This point is primarily found in the Northern Plains of Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Nebraska, and into the Dakotas.
Additional Comments:
Irwin (1968) felt that the this type overlapped defining characteristics of the Angostura and Agate Basin point. He felt that the concave base was one of the defining characteristics
of this type.
Frison (1991) notes that Lusk points are very similar to Frederick points
“with a somewhat degenerate appearance” and are plano-convex in
cross-section.
Other points in this Cluster:
Point Validity: Valid Type
Irwin as an anthropologist and served as a field archaeologist for the Peabody Museum at Harvard University. This type was named in a
professional publication and has many professional references. This is considered a valid type.
.
Age Details:
Radiocarbon dating at the Hell Gap site provided dates of 5920 +/- 230 B.P. Radiocarbon dating at the Bette Green site provided dates of 6750 + 8OO B.P. (Irwin, 1968).
References: (See Reference Page, Entry Number):
23, 30, 91, 176
Lusk Projectile Point, Lusk Arrowhead
