Projectile Point, Broad Point Style

Access to geographically discrete resources, such as toolstone outcrops, created an opportunity to develop trade commodities. Along the Erie coast of Niagara, outcrops of Onondaga Formation chert presented such an opportunity. Archaeological evidence at the Peace Bridge site in Fort Erie shows that the chert was being quarried and manufactured into tools. Points were traded throughout the lower Great Lakes area and beyond. Similar so-called “Broad Points” were being made elsewhere in eastern North America around the same time, and the specimen made of Flint Ridge chert from Ohio shown here illustrates the range of the trade networks. The information about this artifact comes from the project Empathic Traditions; please see empathictraditions.ca for more information. Image by Mark Zelinski.