These two exceptional Plainview points were found many years ago in the Texas Panhandle, 70 miles from the Alibates flint quarry in Potter County and about 130 miles from the Plainview Site in Hale County, Texas. They were acquired from the finder by Keith Glasscock of Ocate, New Mexico, and are now in the collection of Dana Roy Harper of Houston Texas. As told by Mr. Glasscock, these two points were found with four or five similar points in the 1940s. The points had been placed on the running board of the car, and when the finder arrived at his home, all were gone except for these two. Both of these points are four inches long and are made from Alibates flint. The Plainview Site was discovered in 1944 within the city limits of Plainview, Texas. It is located on Running Water Creek, one of the headwater tributaries of the Brazos River. E. H. Sellards led an excavation team from the Texas Memorial Museum. What they unearthed was a bison kill site, with bones of 100 bison found along with 18 Plainview points and 4 scrapers. Carbon 14 dates of the bison bones ranged from 7100-9170 BP From controlled excavations at Lubbock Lake, Wilson-Leonard, and Bonfire Shelter, we now have accurate dates of around 10,000 BP for the Plainview culture. Plainview points are unfluted, lanceolate points that have parallel or slightly convex lateral edges. The base is concave. The hafting area is lightly ground, and the base is thinned by a series of small vertical flakes. An average size would be under three inches. Alibates flint is actually Alibates agate, a stone found in the dolomite formation above the Canadian River. Dolomite, a sedimentary rock, once rested at the bottom of a sea that once covered the Texas Panhandle. Over time, this dolomite formation was pushed above sea level. Cracks formed in the dolomite, and the penetration of highly mineralized water into these cracks turned the dolomite into colorful agate. Alibates comes in a wide range of colors: white, black, red, purple, and a rare brown form. The most recognizable form of Alibates is called "beefsteak" because of the red and white marbled appearance. It was utilized in Paleo and Early Archaic times by Clovis, Folsom, Plainview, Agate Basin, and the Cody Culture peoples. There is a big gap through much of the Archaic times, probably due to adverse climate changes, and then is found again used in great numbers in the historic period. It was quarried by the Comanche Indians, who made Washita points and scrapers from Alibates. Besides being quarried, Alibates is also found in cobbles and boulders along the Canadian River. The early people probably took advantage of these exposed pieces instead of quarrying it.

Pair of Texas Alibates Plainview points found in Potter County, Texas. They are shown approximately full size. From the collection of Dana Harper. Alibates flint was highly prized, and it is found great distances from the Alibates Flint Quarry, which was designated a national monument by Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965. The Drake Cache of Clovis points, which included several Alibates points, was found in northeast Colorado, over 300 miles from the quarry. The Cooper Site, a Folsom bison kill site in northwest Oklahoma, had 13 Alibates Folsom points (some were fragmentary). Alibates was carried along the Red River into northeast Texas. An Alibate's Clovis was found sandwiched between two pieces of incised limestone at the Gault site in central Texas. Charles Shewey of Kansas City, Missouri, has an Alibates Scottsbluff point found in Central Missouri. Alibates flint was named after Allie Bates, a ranch hand who lived in the area in the late 1800s. I can think of nothing more representative of Texas artifacts than Plainview points and Alibates flint, and we couldn't have better examples of both than these two points pictured with this article. ·

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© 1990 C.S.A.S.I. Last modified:
January 31 2004