Publications

The Jack's Reef site became in the late 1950s the type site for the middle to late Point Peninsula occupation of New York. Jack's Reef Corner-notched and Pentagonal points were identified by Ritchie as being diagnostic artifacts of the Jack's Reef horizon. However, few studies have focused on the spatial and temporal use of Jack's Reef points in New York. This paper examines this issue by looking at the distribution of Jack's Reef Corner-notched and Pentagonal points across the state. Current research suggests that these points appear on sites dating from the first to the tenth century A.D., although the greatest number of points date to the period A.D. 600 to 900. Spatially, these points appear with both earlier and later points scattered across the state, with the greatest number of points found in the eastern and central parts of the state. Although Jack's Reef points are considered index artifacts of the Middle Woodland period, these points are not found on all sites. While several researchers have suggested that these points have their origin in the Intrusive Mound Culture of Ohio, sites in western New York show smaller numbers of these points than expected. If Jack's Reef points were related to the Intrusive Mound Culture of Ohio, we should expect to find these points to be prominent on sites in western New York and common on early sites prior to the disappearance of the Intrusive Mound Culture around A.D. 400. Instead, the later dates of use and prominence in central and eastern New York argue for a different point of origin.