7 AUTHENTIC ARTIFACT BIRDPOINT ARROWHEADS +1 OBSIDIAN DRILL WARNER VALLEY OREGON For Sale

Up for sale are 8 authentic prehistoric artifacts — 7 bird point arrowheads (6 obsidian and 1 that appears to be brown/tan jasper) and 1 obsidian drill or perforator. All complete or essentially complete, with some damage noted: two tip nicks, two snapped bases, and one with a damaged base and ear. Numerous types and styles; several of the points carry fine serration, and all the points are thin and flat in cross-section. All were reportedly found in the early 1900s in and around Warner Valley, Lake County, Oregon (northern Great Basin).

The points range in size from 3/4″ to 1 3/16″ long, 7/16″ to 1 1/16″ wide, and 1/16″ to 3/16″ thick (all but one are 1/16″–1/8″ thick). The drill is 1 3/8″ long × 5/16″ wide × 1/4″ thick.

Five of the seven points are corner-notched/barbed forms consistent with the Rosegate series (Rose Spring Corner Notched / Eastgate) — the classic first arrow points of the Great Basin — and one plain triangle fits Cottonwood Triangular. Size-class logic holds with one honest tweak this lot: seven of the eight pieces are 1/16″–1/8″ thick, safely below the 4 mm Elko dart minimum; one point reaches 3/16″ and the drill is 1/4″ thick — but drills are thick by design(the long, narrow, notably thick eighth piece is built as a drill/perforator — thickness is what a borer needs, and its 1/4″ × 5/16″ rod-like proportions are the giveaway), and the 3/16″ point is still a small, short, arrow-sized piece, not a dart.

Keyed to the circle layout with the ruler at right, clockwise from top left:

1. Top left — triangular point, ~13/16″. Plain triangle, straight to convex base, no notches,consistent with Cottonwood Triangular.
2. Top middle — barbed point with a notched base, ~7/8″. Barbs flanking a deep basal notch, thin serrated blade,consistent with the Rosegate series (Eastgate-style split stem).
3. Top right — finely serrated point, ~3/4″. Bold, even serration: basal area damaged/snapped,consistent with the Rosegate series; base damaged/snapped.
4. Middle right — large barbed point, ~1 3/16″. Largest and widest in this lot with deep corner notches, wide expanding stem, serrated blade (damage to the base and one ear),consistent with the Rosegate series (Eastgate-leaning on the squared barbs); damage to base and one ear.
5. Bottom right — obsidian drill or perforator, 1 3/8″. Long, narrow,thick-bodied obsidian borer worked to a point. Glossy black with edge glow on the light (see photos). The workshop tool of the lot.
6. Bottom middle — corner-notched point, ~7/8″.Notches, barbs, expanding stem consistent with Rose Spring Corner Notched.
7. Bottom left — barbed/notched point with serrated blade, ~7/8.Serrated blade, expanding base consistent with Rose Spring / Rosegate.
8. Middle left — brown/tan jasper point, ~7/8.plain triangular blade of matte brown/tan stone (jasper) with a slanted snapped base, opaque on the light; type indeterminate with the base gone.

This is an assortment of point styles from the bow-and-arrow era of the northern Great Basin — roughly the last 1,500 years, after the bow replaced the atlatl. Their small size, thin flat cross-sections, and fine serration place them in the arrow-size class — true bow-and-arrow points (\"bird points\" in collector shorthand), plus one obsidian drill — not the larger, thicker atlatl dart points of earlier eras. Five of the points are consistent with the Rosegate series (Rose Spring Corner Notched / Eastgate, ~1,500–700 years before present), the first true arrow points of the Great Basin; one triangle is consistent with Cottonwood Triangular (~900–200 years before present); the jasper point is offered honestly as type indeterminate.

The last makers of points like these in Warner Valley were the ancestors of the Northern Paiute, bow hunters living at the edges of the valley\'s lakes and marshes — taking waterfowl, fish, and small game from the wetlands and deer and pronghorn in the uplands. The drill adds the workshop side of camp life: a finger-twirled borer for hide, wood, bone, shell, and stone beads — and Warner Valley\'s LSP-1 rockshelter produced some of the oldest marine-shell beads known in the northern Great Basin, bored with exactly this kind of tool.

Seven of the eight pieces are obsidian, confirmed by holding each to a light — and each glows differently, as the light-test photos show: translucent, semi-translucent, and semi-translucent banded. The eighth piece stays opaque against the light with only a whisper of glow at its thinnest edge — the signature of jasper. Obsidian was the region\'s signature toolstone: a volcanic glass that takes the sharpest edge nature allows and serrates beautifully, and one that modern science can trace to its specific lava flow (XRF sourcing) and relatively date by its hydration rind.

Possible candidates, in ranking order

1. Rose Spring Corner Notched / Rosegate series (five points — positions 2, 3, 4, 6, 7). Corner notches, barbed shoulders, tiny necks, expanding stems, serrated thin blades at dead-average sizes; positions 2 and 4 lean Eastgate on their split-stem/squared-barb builds. The confident named calls of the lot — offered as \"consistent with.\"
2. Cottonwood Triangular (position 1). A plain thin triangle comfortably inside the documented ranges.
3. Drill / perforator (position 5). A form-named tool rather than a typed point; the 1/4″-thick narrow rod build is diagnostic of a borer.
4. Jasper triangle, type indeterminate (position 8). The slanted snap took the base, so no type is claimed; the surviving blade is a plain triangle.
5. Desert Side Notched — not represented. No side notches in the lot; era context only.
6. Elko / dart forms — excluded for the points. Six of seven points sit below the 4 mm Elko minimum; the one 3/16″ point is still short, small, and arrow-built. (The drill\'s thickness is a tool trait, not a dart trait.)

Historical context (age, culture, significance)

Age. The size class and the named candidates bracket this lot to the bow-and-arrow era of the northern Great Basin, roughly 1,500–150 years before present. The bow reached the Great Basin around 1,700–1,500 B.P., replacing the atlatl-and-dart kit that had ruled for the previous ten thousand years; small, light, thin points like these are the signature of that new technology. The Rosegate-style corner-notched points speak for the first arrow centuries (1,500–700 B.P.); the Cottonwood-style triangle runs later, toward the edge of history. The drill is not closely datable on its own, but riding with an arrow-era lot it most likely shares it.

Culture / region. Warner Valley is a chain of shallow lakes and marshes in the high desert of Lake County, south-central Oregon, holding one of the richer archaeological records in the northern Great Basin. Its wetlands drew people from the Paleoindian Western Stemmed Tradition onward, and by the arrow era the valley\'s marsh edges supported larger, more settled populations than ever before. The last makers of points like these were the ancestors of the Northern Paiute — Warner Valley is the historic homeland of the Kidütökadö band — and their descendants live in the region today.

People and lifeways. These points belong to bow hunters living water-tied lives at the lake and marsh edges — waterfowl and small game taken over the decoys and tule blinds the Great Basin is famous for, fish and freshwater mussels from the shallows, marsh plants and seeds gathered and stored, with deer and pronghorn hunted in the uplands. \"Bird point\" is the collector\'s affectionate name for these small arrow tips, and waterfowl were certainly on the menu at Warner Valley — though hunters used small points on large game too; a light, sharp arrow kills by cutting, not by weight.

The drill adds the workshop side of the story. Drills and perforators were the fine tools of camp life — twirled between the fingers or seated in a light shaft to bore holes in hide, wood, bone, shell, and stone beads and pendants. Warner Valley has a deep ornament-making record: the LSP-1 rockshelter near the valley produced some of the oldest marine-shell beads known in the northern Great Basin — beads bored with exactly this kind of tool. At 1 3/8″ this is a proper, hand-filling example. A hunting kit and a craft kit, side by side in one lot.

Toolstone. This is obsidian country, and seven of the eight pieces are the country\'s signature stone — a volcanic glass that takes the sharpest edge nature allows and serrates beautifully, here in translucent, semi-translucent, banded, and opaque varieties. The eighth piece is the outsider that proves the rule: a brown/tan jasper point, a tough opaque chalcedony that had to be carried in or traded from stone country elsewhere. Obsidian adds its own scientific interest: it can be chemically sourced (XRF) to the specific lava flow it came from and relatively dated by its hydration rind, and regional studies repeatedly trace it moving tens to hundreds of miles. Exact sources are not determinable by eye.

Material

Six obsidian points + one obsidian drill + one brown/tan jasper point, light-test confirmed, and each glows differently: the obsidian ranges from translucent (one glowing pale gold, one silvery full-body) and semi-translucent to semi-translucent banded, the drill showing edge glow along its thick body; the jasper point stays opaque against the light with only a whisper of glow at its thinnest edge — the signature of jasper, and the plainest possible contrast with its glassy lot-mates. In ordinary light the obsidian pieces read dark gray-to-black with crisp flake scars and the light sheen of age; the jasper point reads matte brown/tan.

Condition: sold as-is; all pieces complete or essentially complete, with some damage noted — two tip nicks, two snapped bases (including the jasper point\'s slanted snap), and one point with damage to its base and one ear — all with the weathering sheen of age on the worked surfaces. Please refer to the photos for condition.

• Lot: 6 obsidian bird point arrowheads + 1 brown/tan jasper bird point + 1 obsidian drill/perforator
• Forms: several finely serrated; various types and styles — five consistent with Rose Spring / the Rosegate series, one with Cottonwood Triangular, one drill/perforator; the jasper point indeterminate
• Material: obsidian — translucent, semi-translucent, semi-translucent banded (light-test confirmed) — plus one opaque brown/tan jasper point
• Measurements: points 3/4″ to 1 3/16″ long × 7/16″ to 1 1/16″ wide × 1/16″ to 3/16″ thick (all but one ≤ 1/8″); drill 1 3/8″ × 5/16″ × 1/4″
• Provenance: from a collection of points found in the early 1900s in and around Warner Valley, Lake County, Oregon

BEING SOLD IN \"AS IS\"/USED CONDITION WITH NO ALTERATIONS.