The Folsom Point
The Great Taos Bank Robbery and Other True Stories - Tony Hillerman - Google Books. You cab read the text that prompted this post, begining with the words: "you might say this point is the solution to a problem..." in my copy the relevant text begins on page 73 and goes on for a little less than three pages. I will try to summarize. I will try to be brief.
The "Folsom" people, so named because the first evidence of their existence was found near Folsom, New Mexico, appeared in what is now the western part of the U.S. and Canada about 12,000 years ago. They seemed to have come out of nowhere and disappeared equally silentllu about 2000 years later. They certainly were part of the migrattion that came across the Ithmus that is now the Bering Strait about 30,000 or more years ago. The artifact that most easily identifies these people is the lance(?)point which they constructed with great care, requiring many hours and even days longer than a purely practical weapon would have required. These points were works of art and they were "wasted" by being left inside the dead animal.
The animal was a now extinct species of Bison who had replaced the fading Wooly Mammoth as the majpr source of meat. The Bison were fast movers, much faater than people, and the people needed a point that could penetrated deeply and quickly when propelled. The Folson point was that and more.
The effort taken to constuct the points and the fact that each one was used only once, point to non-practical and non-material considerations. These were creations of beauty and acts of gratitude to the animals for giving up their lives so that the people could survive.i
The "Folsom" people, so named because the first evidence of their existence was found near Folsom, New Mexico, appeared in what is now the western part of the U.S. and Canada about 12,000 years ago. They seemed to have come out of nowhere and disappeared equally silentllu about 2000 years later. They certainly were part of the migrattion that came across the Ithmus that is now the Bering Strait about 30,000 or more years ago. The artifact that most easily identifies these people is the lance(?)point which they constructed with great care, requiring many hours and even days longer than a purely practical weapon would have required. These points were works of art and they were "wasted" by being left inside the dead animal.
The animal was a now extinct species of Bison who had replaced the fading Wooly Mammoth as the majpr source of meat. The Bison were fast movers, much faater than people, and the people needed a point that could penetrated deeply and quickly when propelled. The Folson point was that and more.
The effort taken to constuct the points and the fact that each one was used only once, point to non-practical and non-material considerations. These were creations of beauty and acts of gratitude to the animals for giving up their lives so that the people could survive.i