Projectile Points of the High Plains
I have long admired Jeb s articles on High Plains archaeology as I read them in various publications over the years. Not only did they show a through knowledge of the subject, but Jeb s articles always had original ideas and thoughts. So it was with great anticipation that I awaited the publication of this book when Jeb first told me about it. His new book, Projectile Points of the High Plains, fulfilled all of my expectations and will be an important addition to every collector s, avocational archaeologists, and professional archaeologist s libraries. As Jeb explains in his introduction, I decided to track down, examine, and photograph as many as possible of the projectile points from the major High Plains sites in the United States and Canada. This undertaking required many thousands of miles of traveling and more than five years to complete. I found that many of my preconceived notions regarding projectile point morphologies often had to be discarded when the projectile points were actually examined.  Jeb defines the geographic boundaries of the High Plains, and then gives a brief description of climate changes over the years that will later define his cultural periods. Next is a short description of carbon 14 dating and the different dating systems. Following this is a very important section on the different types of stone (conchoidal fracturing silica) used to make tools on the High Plains. This section includes color photos of the different types, including Alibates, Knife River flint, Edwards Plateau chert, and many other types. Following this is a section on hafting and mammoth hunting strategies that I found most informative. The remainder of the book is divided into eleven cultural periods. Jeb describes the climate changes and how it affected living conditions, and game, causing different hunting strategies that led to changes in point design. Cultural Period I is the Clovis complex, and includes color photographs of points from Blackwater Draw, Colby, Dent, Drake, and other important Clovis Sites. Cultural Period XI concludes Jeb s study with metal points at the time of first contact with Europeans. The book ends with a section on knives and end scrapers. Jeb addresses the issue of Plainview-Goshen, Folsom-Midland, Agate Basin-Hell Gap, the Cody Complex, and diagonally-flaked types (Frederic, Allen, Angostura). He also sorts out the arrow points of later cultural periods and simplifies the many different names given over the years to similar points from different sites. Projectile Points of the High Plains is an outstanding book by Jeb Taylor and should be read and treasured by everyone interested in archaeology. --Leslie Pfefifer, GIRS DirectorI ve been an avid avocational archaeologist for more than forty years. When I first began my quest for all things ancient, I sought out reading material from my local library to help me understand and interpret the stone and bone fragments I was finding scattered about eroded areas of the high plains. Virgil Russell s book, Indian Artifacts, and Marie Wormington s book entitled, Ancient Man in North America, were the two available, and I devoured them voraciously. Over the ensuing years, I ve read hundreds of books, and thousands of professional papers on various aspects of archaeology. All have left me hungry and wanting more. I am extremely pleased to be reviewing Jeb Taylor s book entitled, Projectile Points on the High Plains, as metaphorically, I have found it to be a very filling, multi-course meal; one that is aesthetically pleasing, intellectually stimulating and historically important. The high plains have been inhabited for thousands of years. Taylor correctly assesses that expressions of personal and cultural identities are either intangible language, belief systems, etc., or perishable (clothing, hair styles, personal adornments, etc. ) and that the examination of the existence of these people is often dependent upon durable stone tools and weapons recovered from sites where big game animals were killed and processed. Stone tools are often very generic, and perhaps due to functionality, little morphological change occurred in these tool forms over time. On the other hand, projectile points have changed dramatically through the years and a careful assessment of their temporal uniqueness provides good information about their specific ages. Thus a thorough examination of projectile points is a valid criterion for identifying when their makers lived, where they traveled and perhaps even who they were, in terms of their place in this land s prehistory. Following a discussion of the problems associated with the development of a cultural chronology , Taylor solves this dilemma by recognizing specific overlapping cultural periods. He defines these periods through projectile point morphology, which are determined by a combination of climatic, temporal and spatial considerations. Cultural periods, therefore, exist for a specific period of time, but not necessarily as isolated entities in other words, more than one cultural period may exist at any given time. This analysis, aided by a well-done, and highly understandable chart, will add significantly to the reader s understanding of plain s archaeology. In all, Taylor has identified eleven cultural periods beginning with Clovis and ending with metal trade points. No work on the high plains would be complete without a description of the region being defined, and Taylor does an excellent job establishing boundaries to the high plains and giving a brief analysis of the climatic changes to this area through time. Following this, Taylor goes into a thorough examination of stone. Although this discussion may be a bit too scientific for many of us non-geologically oriented collectors, nonetheless, it is extremely well-done, and to the extent possible, Taylor makes it both readable and understandable. Of particular interest is the presence of hundreds of color photos, most all taken by the author, illustrating various stones, along with a written description of the stone s essential features, its geological history and its location(s). Without a doubt, this is the most comprehensive analysis of stone available to the public in a general publication. A chapter on Projectile Point Morphology is followed by one on Hafting Principles and Stra --Tom Westfall, Central States Archaeological Journal