The Pedernales dart point (4,000 – 3,200 BP) was propelled by an atlatl rather than a bow, the shape (shown above) varies over its range between the Bosque River and the lower Rio Grande Valley. When they were made they were about three and a half inches long, but after breaking and resharpening, they are little more than nubs, barely recognizable. This exhausted stage is how they appear in Erath County collections because flint is so rare in this area the points were used several times. Archeologists I have spoken to believe when a full-sized, perfect point is found, it often represents a burial offering. Sandy land does not favor the preservation of bones and a century of plowing have pretty much obliterated any remnants of a burial. Unfinished and broken preforms offer an idea of how the points were made. (unfinished preforms were probably carried on the hunt into chert-poor places like the upper Bosque River to avoid breaking the delicate points) The chert cobble was reduced from a spall (large flakes) to trade blank, to preform, from where it seems they proceeded to the final reduction by first forming the base and barbs, because this was the trickiest part where most breaks occurred. Once the base was formed, the blade was thinned by removing long thinning flakes. (the above point does not have such skilled, long flaking because it is a replica by Charles Frederick, points in my collection are nubs) Examination of use-related wear shows that these broad-bladed points were also used as knives, with the foreshaft serving as the handle. The Pedernales point was the dominant style in this area for eight hundred years – about the same time as the Edward’s Interval made Erath County an inviting place for bison.