Middle Archaic Period

Middle Archaic dart points, front and back views. A) Baird (Early Triangular), B) Nolan, C) Baird (Early Triangular), D) Pandale, E) Baird (Early Triangular), F) Desmuke

The Middle Archaic began approximately 5750 years ago and was characterized by unstemmed, triangular points called Taylor and Baird, commonly referred to as Early Triangular, as well as stemmed dart points like Nolan and Travis. All of these types were found during the 2014 SLDR project. Interestingly, a Desmuke point was also found. Desmuke points are small lozenge shaped points that are most commonly found in South Texas. 

Because of certain climate conditions  during the Middle Archaic which resulted in poor geologic context, it is difficult to find archaeological sites with intact deposits from this time period. Although intact Middle Archaic deposits are difficult to find within the Central Texas region, they are relatively extensive at Spring Lake. 

Why is there less stylistic variation among the Middle Archaic projectile point types compared with other time periods? And why would a South Texas projectile point type show up here in Central Texas?