Folsom Culture

The discovery in 1927 near Folsom, New Mexico, of distinctive stone projectile points in unambiguous association with bones of extinct Late Pleistocene bison provided the first widely accepted evidence for a human presence in North America greater than a few thousand years and initiated the field of Paleo-Indian studies in American archaeology. The discovery also inspired the notion that Paleo-Indians were specialized big game hunters. The points were named “Folsom points,” and the Folsom point makers were named the “Folsom culture.” Folsom points are one of the most widely recognized point types, possibly in the world, but certainly in North America.

In 1927, in their second season of excavations at the Folsom bison kill site, investigators under the direction of the Colorado Museum of Natural History's Jesse D. Figgins and Harold J. Cook discovered fluted projectile points embedded in the ribs of a Bison antiquus skeleton. B. antiquuswas thought to have gone extinct by the end of the Pleistocene, although the exact age of that event was not known until the 1950s, when radiocarbon dating placed it at about 10,000 years ago. In 1928, Harold Cook used the term “Folsom culture” to refer to the people who made and used the artifacts. By linking technologically distinctive points with extinct fauna in a deeply buried (2–3 m) sedimentary layer, the Folsom site provided a rough base upon which archaeologists could begin building a cultural-historical synthesis of North American prehistory.

The American Museum of Natural History conducted additional excavations at Folsom in 1928 under the direction of vertebrate paleontologist Barnum Brown. After the three seasons of fieldwork, investigators had found remains of about 30 bison, along with at least 14 Folsom points. Discovery of the Folsom site was soon followed by the first excavations of a Folsom bison kill- and camp site near [Page 976]Lindenmeier,Colorado. Here, the Bureau of American Ethnology's Frank H. H. Roberts excavated remains of 13 B. antiquus,along with hundreds of Folsom points and hundreds of other stone tools, such as scrapers.

Folsom points (University Museum catalog numbers 36-19-19 and37-26-13) from Clovis, NM. From Boldurian and Cotter (1999:Figures 38 and 39). Drawings by Sarah Moore. Reproduced with permission of Anthony T. Boldurian and John L. Cotter.

The technology and morphology of Folsom points are very distinctive and are expressed with incredible consistency over a wide geographic area. Folsom points are lanceolate in shape, thin, finished with pressure flaking, very finely made, usually have ground basal and lateral margins, and are distinctive in having a long and proportionally wide channel flake removed from both faces running from the base nearly to the tip, giving them a “fluted” appearance.

Besides the finished points, the fluting process also results in distinctive point preforms and channel flakes; all three are diagnostic artifacts unique to Folsom. Occasionally, a Folsom point is found with only one face fluted. Many Folsom point assemblages, especially near Midland, Texas, also contain unfluted points that are virtually identical to the fluted Folsom points in terms of shape, size, and technology. These points are called “unfluted Folsom points,” or “Midland points,” after the site where they were first documented. Much less common are points made on flakes that were shaped into a roughly symmetrical lanceolate form by minimal unifacial or bifacial marginal retouch. These points have been termed “flake points” or “pseudo-fluted” points.

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