MADISON POINTS
Late Woodland: 1,000 to 350 BP
DESCRIPTION: The Madison points range in size from 13
to 60 mm in length, 12 to 25 mm in width. However, an average
length of New York state examples ranged from 20 to 40 mm. These
are generally small, thin, triangular points with a tendency to
be tall and pointed, and with a more or less straight basal configuration.
They reflect a point type originally named Mississippi Triangular,
but were later renamed Madison after Madison County finds in Illinois.
(Scully, 1951) Almost every combination of base and edge configuation
occurs. These were obviously used as true arrow points right up
into historic times. The majority (80%) of Madison points are
isosceles in shape with more or less straight bases and almost
flat in cross section.
DISTRIBUTION: These points have a very wide distribution
in the eastern United States and southeastern Ontario.
RAW MATERIAL: Among the northern Iroquois the principal
material used was Onondaga chert from exposures in central New
York, and along the north shore of Lake Erie in southern Ontario.
AGE AND CULTURE: This is a dominant late prehistoric to
early historic periods point type. It constitutes an arrow point
type of many Middle and Upper Mississippi and Late Woodland complexes.
In the Northeast it is the distinctive Iroquoian type form.
REFERENCES: Ritchie, 1961, pp. 31-32, 88. Perino, 1968,
pp. 52-53. Waldorf, 1987, pp. 200-201. Justice, 1995, pp. 224-225.
Tully, 1998, p. 101. Overstreet, 2003, pp. 143, 512-513, 897-898.