Projectile point · Late Archaic

Brewerton Side-notched

3000–1700 BCE, Archaic (Eastern)

Brewerton Side-notched is one of the Brewerton series defined by Ritchie from the Brewerton sites at the outlet of Oneida Lake, New York, and belongs to the Laurentian tradition of the Late Archaic in New York, Ontario, Pennsylvania and New England. Points are usually Onondaga chert and are thick and broad, with notches that produce short ears. They are common on Laurentian sites alongside ground slate ulus, gouges and plummets.

ObjectProjectile point
Dates3000–1700 BCE
PeriodLate Archaic
CulturesArchaic (Eastern)
RegionsNorth America — Eastern Woodlands

Diagnostic traits

Medium-sized, broad, fairly thick side-notched point with a triangular blade, shallow notches placed low on the sides and a straight to slightly convex base that is often lightly ground.

Identification

Brewerton Side-notched is thicker and broader than Otter Creek, which has deeper notches and a more ground base, and much smaller and cruder than Big Sandy or Raddatz of the Midwest. Brewerton Corner-notched has the notches entering from the corners rather than the sides; Brewerton Eared has a concave base with projecting ears.

Reproductions and fakes

Rarely worth faking; genuine examples show a dull gray patina on Onondaga chert with rounded notch edges from hafting wear.

Elsewhere

Cite this article

Stratum Study. "Brewerton Side-notched" (Artifact type). Stratum Study pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-21. https://stratum.black/study/types/brewerton-side-notched. Accessed 2026-09-21.

@misc{stratum-brewerton-side-notched,
  title        = {Brewerton Side-notched},
  author       = {{Stratum Study}},
  howpublished = {\url{https://stratum.black/study/types/brewerton-side-notched}},
  year         = {2026},
  note         = {Artifact type article, Stratum Study pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-21; sources: stratum, wikidata. Accessed 2026-09-21.}
}

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Sources for this article: Stratum editorial (Stratum editorial);Wikidata (CC0). As of 2026-09-21; Study pack 2026.09. Data reproduced under the licences shown; text in Stratum's own words unless a section names its source.

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