Point Type: ADENA NARROW STEM
Also See: Adena, Adena - Dickson, Adena - Notched Base, Adena - Robbins, Adena - Waubesa, Adena - Wells, Cypress Stemmed, Little Bear Creek

Location: Eastern to Southeastern United States

Associated Dates: 3000 - 1200 B.P. - Late Archaic - Woodland
Morphology: Stemmed

General Description: The Adena Narrow Stem projectile point is a medium to large sized, thin, narrow, triangular blade that is sometimes serrated and terminates in an acute distal tip. The blade shape outline is excurvate but may be almost straight in some examples. The point has a long, narrow rounded stem. Most examples display fine knapping technique and are well made. The cross section is usually lenticular. The shoulders may be horizontal or slightly tapered.

The Adena Narrow Stem point is not well represented and is rather rare. Some sites have produced only one or two examples of this type which may indicate a high degree of variation within the classic Adena Point family. However, this point may, upon further investigation, prove to be an indication that the Narrow Stem type is associated with a somewhat different culture.

The distribution range of the Adena Narrow Stem point type is quite wide, ranging from southern New England and New York west to eastern Iowa and Missouri, northward into Michigan and Wisconsin and southward into northern Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia including northern Florida. The majority of the points are found in the central Ohio Valley and along major tributaries.

The typical Adena Narrow Stem point measures 101 mm long, 34 mm wide across the shoulders and is 8 mm thick with a 19 mm wide stem that is 20 mm long. The point was named by James W. Cambron in 1964 as a variant of the classic Adena point type.

About the Point Above: The small Adena Narrow Stemmed point pictured at the top of this page, was found in a cornfield along the banks of Fourmile Creek near the town of Oxford, Butler Co, Ohio. The point is made from a dull grayish-tan Fourmile Creek chert and is heavily patinated. The blade is very thin and well made with fine retouch along the blade edges. Overall, the point measures 49 mm in length, is 23 mm wide across the shoulders, and is only 5 mm thick in mid blade. The stem is 12 mm long and is 12 mm wide. Catalog Number 407-12-A

References: Baker, Cambron & Hulse, Hranicky, Justice, Overstreet, Waldorf

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