This chert Elko Corner-notched point is from Crescent Valley in eastern Nevada.  Crescent Valley is near the middle of the Great Basin.  Elko points date to the Late Archaic period, ca. 1250-3500 BP.

Two point shapes occur within the ‘Elko’ classification:  Elko Corner-notched, with a slightly concave, straight, or slightly convex basal edge; and Elko Eared, with a markedly concave or notched basal edge.  These variants grade into each other.  They were often made from relatively thick flake blanks by bifacial percussion thinning followed by pressure flaking.  Elko points were probably used as armatures on darts thrown with spear throwers.  This Elko point was damaged in a fire which created ‘potlid’ scars on one face and removed the point’s distal end.

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Two point shapes occur within the ‘Elko’ classification:  Elko Corner-notched, with a slightly concave, straight, or slightly convex basal edge; and Elko Eared, with a markedly concave or notched basal edge.  These variants grade into each other.  They were often made from relatively thick flake blanks by bifacial percussion thinning followed by pressure flaking.  Elko points were probably used as armatures on darts thrown with spear throwers.  This Elko point was damaged in a fire which created ‘potlid’ scars on one face and removed the point’s distal end.

The Elko point is part of the MoST teaching collection.