Toward More Continuous and Practical Artifact Analyses: Defining and Learning From Key Dimensions of Fort Ancient Triangular Projectile Points in the Miami Valleys

Artifact typologies are routinely created, debated, and modified, but too rarely is the goal to focus on small geographic regions and to define key axes of variation. Our goal is to further this practice by examining the utility of a long-standing artifact typology from the U.S. Midwest, one associated with discerning temporal changes in triangular projectile-point forms. Our samples are derived from nine well-dated Fort Ancient villages along the Great and Little Miami Rivers of southwest Ohio and southeast Indiana. Our approach statistically explores numeric and nominal measurements of projectile-point morphology. Findings reveal significant differences among formal variables that are consistent with most of the typology as recently amended by other researchers. However, by focusing on numeric variables, we also have found that there are a series of additional significant temporal changes. Collectively, we identify a series of distinctions in temporal, morphological, and geographical variation among triangular projectile points. Various hypotheses are discussed regarding cultural transmission of the observed changes in projectile points.