Slight chipping at base otherwise in great shape, Flint knapped possibly Cherokee Native American stone Arrowhead 2 1/4" x 1" x 1/4" possibly stone from Nolichucky River

          A fine Tennessee Fluted point acquired from a Tennessee artifact collection 36 years ago. We enjoy collecting and handling artifacts very much and this piece was collected as authentic and looks old to us but may not be as we are not experts on them in any way. This could be Cherokee Indian Arrowhead fluted from possibly a form of chalcedony or stone from the Nolichucky River.

Additional historic information: 

     The clovis point is the oldest of the old, dating back as far as 14,000 years ago. It is the first point type to appear in North America and the technology of this point type is unique to North America. (Not found anywhere else in the world)   The typical form of the clovis point is well described in Overstreet's guide to Indian Arrowheads and, to paraphrase, a lance point having auricles (a barbed-base), one or more "flutes" (flutes being mentioned below), a concave base with convex sides; the basal area is usually ground as are the edges of the point paralleling the flute. (Flutes are "grooves" appearing in the central face of the clovis, and were intended to facilitate an easy, sturdy and tight durable binding of the stone point to a wooden atlatl-propelled spear fore-shaft. It's interesting to note that the oldest points in America normally had ground-edges near the base. The sharp edges of the projectile point were ground smooth in order to prevent cutting of the binding material. It's also interesting to note that along with binding a point to a shaft with sinew or plant fiber, asphaltum (tar) was often used to cover the binding, and acted as a "glue", further strengthening the joining of the stone point to the wooden shaft. Western clovis points pre-date Eastern clovis points by approximately 300 years. Clovis points mark an era of the "Big Game hunters", those tribes and groups of big-game hunters who pursued herds of (now extinct) animals to provide food for their survival. It's my own personal theory that the size of the point coincided with the size of the "game" being sought; consider the difference shown in the photo below, between a Western clovis point and its eastern counter-parts. The large western point was well suited to kill a mammoth, whereas the other 3 eastern clovis points seem to be more suited to bring-down a smaller animal, such as a bison. As the larger animals were hunted to extinction, the size of the clovis point was, in my opinion, reduced to coincide with the size of the surviving animals available as a food-source. The following periods or eras are termed "the Desert Traditions" in the Western United States:

Time Era              Date Range

Transitional              300 BC to 400 AD

Developmental         400 to 1300 AD

Classic                      1300 to 1600 AD

Historic                      1600 to 1830 AD

Cherokee Weapons: Arrowheads were made from various kinds of stone but flint was considered the best. Not only because it was so hard, but also because flint is easier to chip into "flakes" with sharp edges than most other hard rocks. A favorite tool for chipping arrowheads into shape was the deer antler. A piece of rock was first broken into smaller pieces by using a hammer stone, then the most likely pieces shaped into arrowheads by chipping away with a smaller hammer stone and with deer antlers. Most ancient projectile points were made of stone or bone.

                                                                                                     "Love and Light"