Picture of Brewerton Side Notched Point - 44mm  242-20-M Picture Twice Size Picture of Brewerton Side Notched Point - 44mm  186-10-C Picture Twice Size Picture of Brewerton Side Notched Point - 32mm  49-1-G Picture Twice Size Picture of Brewerton Side Notched Point - 62mm  190-18-C Picture Twice Size

- More Points Pictured Below -

Point Type: BREWERTON SIDE NOTCHED
Also See:  Big Sandy Side Notched, Black Sand Notched, Brewerton Corner Notched ,Meadowood, Otter Creek, Perkiomen , Susquehanna Broad, Vosberg

Location: Eastern to Midwestern United States

Associated Dates: 5000 - 3500 B.P. - Late Archaic
Morphology: Side Notched

General Description: The Brewerton Side Notched is one of four types (Corner Notched, Eared Notched, Eared Triangle, Side Notched) in the Brewerton family of points. The Brewerton Side Notched is a broad, thick, side notched point, predominantly of medium size. The blade is trianguloid in outline, biconvex in cross section,  blade edges are slightly excurvate, less often straight and rarely incurvate.  In rare instances the blade edges are faintly serrated.  The side notched stem (occasionally found with dual notches) is basally expanded, sometimes to a pronounced degree, resulting in lateral projections or "ears".  The base is typically straight, slightly convex or less often mildly concave.  About two-thirds of all specimens have the base ground smooth.

The size of the Brewerton Side Notch ranges from 21 mm to 99 mm in length. The majority of points fall between 32 mm and 57 mm.  The thickness ranges between 6 mm and 13 mm with the majority being between 8 mm and 9.5 mm. 

The Brewerton Side Notched point is the most common point of all the Archaic Laurentian complexes in New York State.  The distribution of the point type ranges from New York, New England, Pennsylvania and the Upper Ohio Valley.  It is also found in southern Ontario. 

The point was first named the "side notched points" by William A. Ritchie in 1940 and then later named "broad side notched points" in later reports by Ritchie.  The point was named the Brewerton Side Notched point by Ritchie in 1961.

Ritchie felt that the Brewerton Side Notched points, were for the most part used as javelin dart heads with the larger specimens used as spear points while the smaller variety could have possibly been used as arrow points however unlikely.  Some of the more convex edged specimens, especially those with short blades were likely knives.  Blade edge rework may account for some of the short bladed examples and the resharpening process would accentuate the proportions of the base.

For the most part, these points appear to have been manufactured by percussion chipping from local lithic materials such as flints, cherts and quartz.  However the lithic preference as far as material seems to be flint, chert, argillaceous shale, chalcedony, quartzite , shale and quartz.   Pressure flaking to produce a sharp retouched blade edge is common. 

The Brewerton Side Notched type is probably related to the Otter Creek point type and the Black Sand Notched point type, the Big Sandy Side-Notched point type.  Ritchie postulated that the Brewerton Side Notched type was genetically related to other very old and widely-distributed, side-notched North American  projectile points.  Perino suggests that the Vosberg point type is a variant.


About The Point Above (Left): The beautiful and small Brewerton Side Notched point pictured at the top left side of this page, was a surface find along the Susquehanna River, near Berwick, Luzerne Co., Pennsylvania. It is made from a weathered indurated dark grey shale.  It is highly patinated and much of the field dirt, still remains on the point.  One blade edge is convex while the other blade edge has been reworked into a more straight outline.  The historic remains of a ding, near the tip probably caused the blade rework.  The basal area is heavily ground. The edges and point are still quite sharp.  Overall, the point measures 44 mm in length, is 25 mm wide (at the barbs) and is 7.7 mm thick at its thickest point. The stem measures 23.2 mm in width and is 10.7 mm long.  Catalog Number 242-20-M

About The Point Above (Center Left): The Brewerton Side Notched point pictured at the top center left of this page, was a surface find in a corn field in New Haven County, Orange, Connecticut. It is made from a weathered indurated dark brown shale.  Both blade edges are convex.  The tip of the blade is very sharp as are most of the blade edges.  Some of the high areas of the blade are worn to a smooth polish.   The basal area is heavily ground.   Overall, the point measures 44 mm in length, is 24 mm wide (at the barbs) and is 6.8 mm thick at its thickest point. The stem measures 22 mm in width and is 12.3 mm long.  Catalog Number 186-10-C

About The Point Above (Center Right):
The small Brewerton Side Notched point pictured at the top center right of this page, was a surface find in western Pennsylvania. It is made from a light tan chert.  Both blade edges are straight.  The tip of the blade is chipped.  The basal area is very lightly ground.   Overall, the point measures 34 mm in length, is 19 mm wide (at the barbs) and is 6.6 mm thick at its thickest point. The stem measures 14.3 mm in width and is 11 mm long. 
Catalog Number 49-1-G

About The Point Above (Right): The beautiful large Brewerton Side Notched point pictured at the top right of this page, was a surface find in Westchester County, Westchester, New York. It is made from what appears to be dark gray Onondaga chert that has some tanish colored streaks especially near the right side notch.  Both blade edges are fairly straight.  The tip of the blade is sharp as are most of the blade edges.   The basal area is smoothed and there is a basal chip on the right side of the base that appears to have been made during basal thinning.   Field dirt still remains in many of the knapping scars.  Overall, the point measures 62 mm in length, is 31 mm wide (at the barbs) and is 7.1 mm thick at its thickest point. The stem measures 26 mm in width and is 12.6 mm long.  Catalog Number 186-10-C

About The Point Below (Center): Here is yet another beautiful large Brewerton Side Notched point pictured at the bottom center of this page.  This point was a surface find in Gowanda, New York.  It is made from what appears to be a wonderfully banded gray and tan Onondaga chert that has some tanish colored streaks.  The right hand blade edge is fairly straight and the left hand edge is excurvate.  The tip of the blade is sharp as are most of the blade edges.   The basal area is smoothed and there is a basal chip on the left side of the base that appears to have been made during basal thinning.   Field dirt still remains in many of the knapping scars.  Overall, the point measures 50 mm in length, is 25 mm wide (at the barbs) and is 6.4 mm thick at its thickest point. The stem measures 18.4 mm at the notches and the base is 24 mm in width and the stem is 10.9 mm long.  Catalog Number 455-11-BB

Picture of Brewerton Side Notched Point - 50mm  455-11-BB Picture Twice Size

References: DeRegnaucourt, Dragoo (b,e), Fogleman, Hranicky (1, 2), Justice (1), Kinsey, Overstreet, Perino (1), Ritchie

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