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Name Details:
Named By: Dean F. Diacauze and Mitchell T. Mulholland
Named For: Taunton River, Massachusetts
Date Identified: 1977
Type Site:
Taunton River Bifurcated
AKA: Titicut Bifurcated (Robbins, 1967)
Cluster:
Commonly Utilized Material:
Local felsites and rhyolite material, less frequently chert, hornfels, quartzite, jasper, rarely quartz
Date:
Cultural Period:
9,000 - 8,000 B.P.
Early Archaic
Early Holocene
Glacial Period:
Culture:
Outline is Representative of Size and Shape:
Description of Physical Characteristics and Flaking Pattern:
This is a thick medium triangular expanding stem / bifurcated point with an elliptical cross section. The blade is commonly incurvate, narrowing just above the shoulders and
flaring back out at the barbs. Examples lacking the long barbs bay have a straight blade. The blade is commonly finely serrated. The shoulders are strongly barbed, commonly extending to the
base, or just above the base. The stem is slightly expanding, the base is bifurcated with rounded basal corners. This point has a random flaking pattern.
Size Measurements: Total Length - 30 to
60 mm (average 40 to 50 mm), Stem Length - 7 to 13 mm, Blade
Width - 30 to 40 mm, Stem Width - 14 to 21mm, Neck Width -
12 to 20 mm
Distribution:
Distribution Comments:
This point is primarily found in the Taunton River basin of Massachusetts and into the Robbins Swamp region of Connecticut.
Related / Associated Points:
Additional Comments:
This type is concentrated in the Taunton River valley and the Robinson Swamp region. Forest (1999) suggest that these areas served as macro-band base camps or core areas for highly transient forage groups.
These points are characteristic of the Atlantic Slope Tradition in New England (Forest, 1999).
Maurice Robbins called this type Titicut Bifurcated (1967) for examples excavated at the Titicut Site in Massachusetts. This type has appeared in literature as Titicut-Taunton River Bifurcate.
Other points in this Cluster:
Point Validity: Valid Type
Dincauze is a renowned anthropologist who has specialized in prehistoric archeology of eastern and central New England and was a professor at the UMass Amherst.
Mulholland serves as the Director of Archaeological services for UMass Amhert. This point was named the book on the Atlantic Phase culture and has many professional references. This is considered a valid type.
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Age Details:
Pictures Provided By:
References: (See Reference Page, Entry Number):
30, 128
Taunton River Bifurcated Projectile Point, Taunton River Bifurcated Arrowhead
