| Collection |
Archaeological |
| Date |
10,000 BP |
| Description |
Thompson Point: Cast of 7 inch long chipped stone paleo point found on the Boyne River in Flesherton. The original point was discovered in 1970 by Alistair Thompson, a highschool teacher in Flesherton. He took it to the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) in Toronto for identification by Dr. Peter Storck.
The point is now part of the ROM collections; however, their technicians made a cast of the artifact , which came back to the South Grey Museum for display.
Storck describes the point as "State-of-the-art craftsmanship, ranking among the highest achievements in the art of flintknapping, anywhere at any time in human history. " Quartzite, the material from which the artifact was made, is very difficult to work. And yet the point is very thin (8.0 - 10.0 millimetres) and roughly twice the size of the average spear point of its type.The size and craftsmanship of this point suggests that it may have been made to serve a special social or ceremonial function rather than strictly for hunting. The point appears to have been shaped entirely by percussion flaking using stone, antler, or wood hammers.
Storck estimates that the point was made between 10,000 and 9,500 years ago by a Late Paleo -Indian hunter. Late Paleo-Indians were descendants of colonizing people (Early Paleo-Indians) who occupied Ontario at the end of the Ice Age during the retreat of the continental ice sheet.
In 2004 Storck published his book , Journey to the Ice Age, with UBC Press and the ROM, which describes archeological research into the Paleo-Indian period in Ontario. Storck moved to Grey County in 1998. |
| Material |
quartzite |
| Object ID |
X976.7.1 |
| Object Name |
spear point |
| Recfrom |
Royal Ontario Museum, |
|
