How to read a flaked point

1. Silhouette first. Hold the point against the light and name the outline: lanceolate, triangular, stemmed, or notched at the side, the corner or the base. Then the base alone — straight, concave, convex, fluted.

2. Feel for grinding. Run a fingernail along the basal and lower lateral edges: dulled, polished edges (ground so the haft binding would not cut) are the single most diagnostic trait on Paleoindian and Early Archaic points, and are almost never faked well because they must be done before the patina forms.

3. Read the flaking under a 10× loupe. Collateral or oblique parallel ripples across the face are an early signature; random percussion with a few pressure retouches on the edge is later. Note whether scars end in feather edges or hinges and steps, and compare the two edges — a tool resharpened in use is rarely symmetrical, and the resharpened edge is steeper.

4. Check the patina everywhere, including inside the notches. Every scar on an authentic piece carries the same dulling, staining or colour change; one bright scar among dull ones is a modern rechip, and a uniformly bright piece is either fresh or acid-cleaned. Either way it goes in the Preparation record.

5. Only now open a type guide. Justice (1987) keys on the traits above by cluster; Overstreet is arranged by region and period with actual-size photographs. Match the outline, base and flaking, not the photograph.

6. Record the type name, the authority you used and the basis (morphology, literature, comparison) under Attribution, and put the raw material beside it — Flint Ridge, Burlington, Edwards — because material narrows the source region as sharply as outline does.