This chert Bell point is from Rio Grande City, Texas.  Bell points were made during the Calf Creek Horizon of the Early Archaic period in Texas, and date to ca. 6500-5500 BP.

This 3D model was made by Dennis Holland of a point in a private collection.  The point was uncovered during fencing work in 2026.

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Bell points are smaller than Andice points and have shallower notches (rarely over 16 mm deep).  White calcium carbonate was deposited on the point while it was in the soil.

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The profound cultural and subsistence changes from the Paleoindian to the Early Archaic in North America was matched by a dramatic shift in the stone technology.  The fluted lanceolate points of the Paleoindian period, such as Clovis, transitioned to exotically-fluted types such as Cumberland points in southeastern North America, and Folsom on the Great Plains.  Eventually fluting was abandoned for less dramatic basal thinning, like that seen on Dalton points, and, eventually, lanceolate points were supplemented or replaced by an explosion of notched point styles in the Early Archaic period, after about 10,000 BP.

The earliest notched points in the Early Archaic are side-notched (e.g., Graham Cave, Big Sandy, Hardaway, Bolen), followed by corner-notched points (e.g., Kirk, Palmer, Lost Lake), with ‘bifurcated’ points (corner-notched or stemmed points with a notched base, like LeCroy, Kanawha, MacCorkle, and St Albans) emerging towards the end of the Early Archaic period.  Side-notched (e.g., Thebes, St Charles), basal-notched (e.g., Calf Creek, Andice, Bell), and stemmed (e.g., Hardin, Kirk Stemmed) point variants co-occurred with corner-notched points in complex patterns through most of the Early Archaic period, reflecting considerable regional and chronological diversity in point styles, driven by population growth and intensified trends towards differing cultural expression in circumscribed regions.  These point styles—all of them manufactured by bifacial flaking—functioned variously as dart points and hafted knives.

Calf Creek, Andice, and Bell points are notable for their very deep hafting notches made using a punch.  They were made on very thin bifaces.  Many archaeologists believe that they probably functioned as knives, although a buffalo skull was discovered in Oklahoma with a broken Andice point lodged in the forehead. The barbs on these points are delicate and were often broken off during use.