~ RARE ~ Cumberland Spear Point ~ Double Fluted Paleo Fragment ~

Length: 2"

Grade: Was a 10

Description: This is the basal fragment of a Paleoindian Cumberland spear point, expertly fashioned from a high-quality variety of Fort Payne chert. Recovered along the Cumberland River in Kentucky, the piece exhibits the classic technological traits of the Cumberland tradition, including a well-prepared basal concavity and the remains of distinct double fluting struck from both faces. Even as a partial example, the workmanship demonstrates the rigorous overshot thinning and precise edge-finishing techniques used by late-Pleistocene knappers around 11,000 years ago.

Cumberland points are among the rarest and most technically demanding of all Paleoindian fluted forms. Successfully detaching long, opposing channel flakes required exceptional skill and an intimate understanding of stone mechanics. This fragment preserves clear evidence of that mastery. As both a diagnostic artifact and a piece of early hunter-gatherer technology, it represents a tangible link to the first big-game hunters who moved through the valleys of what is now Kentucky at the close of the Ice Age.

Provenance: Found on private property with permission Cumberland River Basin, Kentucky. Ex Gene Hynek Collection.