Cienega Points and Late Archaic Period Chronology in the Southern Southwest

Abstract

This paper explores changes in the style and function of two widespread projectile point types during the Late Archaic (1200 B.C.-A.D. 150) period in the southern Southwest. San Pedro and Cienega points, the primary styles associated with the period, have traditionally been assumed to have functioned as dart points. A refined Cienega point typology is proposed here that recognizes four distinct subtypes, which are shown to be chronologically sensitive and functionally distinct. A discriminant analysis of their metrical attributes using Shott's (1997) classification equations suggests that two of the Cienega subtypes may have functioned exclusively as arrow points, while other lines of evidence suggest that the use of San Pedro points as darts, and occasionally as knives, extended beyond the Late Archaic. This indicates that changes in projectile technology, possibly including experimentation with arrows, occurred in the southern Southwest as early as the beginning of the Cienega phase (800 B.C.).