SAN SABA KNIVES

SAN SABA KNIVES
Leslie Pfeiffer
San Antonio, Texas

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The San Saba knives pictured here are some of the finest ever found, and are in the collection of William M. Wheless, III of Houston, Texas. In the photo of the frame of nine knives, oriented with the six at the bottom, starting in the upper left-hand corner, going clock-wise: The first point is from Bell County, Texas and is 5 inches long and was made from grey Edwards Plateau chert. It was found by David Harmon in 1994. The second is from Coryell County, Texas, is 4 and 1/8 inches long and made from Texas "root beer flint." It was found by Don Screws, and Dwain Rogers says "this is the finest example of the type and material I have ever seen." The third, from Bell County, Texas is 5 and1/8 inches long. Made from grey Edwards Plateau chert, it was found by W.G. Larar near the Leon River. Number four, from Williamson County, Texas, is 4 and 3/4 inches long. Made from Grey Edwards Plateau chert, it was found my Mike McGuire in Styles Camp. The fifth, from Bell County, Texas, is 6 inches long and was made from tan and grey Edwards Plateau chert. Ex-Roy Pohler collection. The sixth, from central Texas, is 6 and 1/16 inches long. It is a light grey, tan, and yellow Edwards Plateau chert, ex-E.F. Pohl collection. Point number seven is from Wilson County, Texas. Made from light grey Edwards Plateau chert, it is 6 and 13/16 inches long. This point was pictured in Overstreet’s 6th Edition, page 632. The eighth is from Williamson County, Texas, and is 5 and 7/8 inches long. It was made from heavily-patinated grey Edwards Plateau chert, and was found at the Cobbs site. The last San Saba point is from Bell County, Texas. Made from grey Edwards Plateau chert it is 4 and 7/8 inches long. It was found by Rodney Lunde.

The San Saba knife form was named by Gregory Perino in his Selected Preforms, Points, and Knives of the North American Indian, Vol. 1. He named it from a report that a state archaeologist, Thomas R. Hester, did in 1972. Dr. Hester used examples of an unnamed biface from San Saba County, hence Greg's naming it San Saba. Dwain Rogers reports that most of the examples of this type are from Coryell County. "All of the examples I've seen from Bell & Coryell Counties were associated with Ensor-Marcos blades. The only difference was the notches. The flake patterns are the same as Ensor, Marcos, and Tang knives. I wrote a small description of the flake patterns in my book. I've noticed that many examples are rather thick with heavy pressure flaking over hangs and stacks. The smallest I've seen is 3 inches, and the longest was 9 inches."

Borrowing from Mr. Perino's book, the type is easily identified by two shallow basal notches that are about as deep as they are wide, creating a short, poorly defined stem. San Saba knives are found in central Texas associated with burned rock middens, and date to the Late Archaic from 300 BC. to 200 AD. My father and I found one in 1962 inside the city limits of San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas. To show how times have changed, the site was uncovered while a highway was being done around San Antonio. The state had two weeks to excavate and report on the site. The state archaeologists kept half the site for professional excavation, and opened up the other half of the site to the public! I not only got to miss a week of sixth grade, but we found a 5 inch San Saba, a nice Castroville, a graver, and many pieces of broken pottery and animal bone. Whenever we found something of significance, we would stand in line to see one of the archaeologists. They would congratulate us, tell us what we had found, and trace and record it for the site report. It would be beneficial to both professional and avocational archaeologists if they could work together in this manner. The professional archaeologists would be informed of many sites they are unaware of and receive help with them, and the avocational archaeologists would learn how to save and record site information.