Point Type: ELKO EARED
Also See: Desert Corner Notched, Eastgate, Elko Corner Notched, Hell's Canyon

Location: Northwestern United States

Associated Dates: 4600 - 1250 B.P. - Woodland
Morphology: Corner Notched

General Description: The Elko Eared is a small to medium and sized corner notched point that has a central concave to V-shaped basal notch that creates auricles or ears on the basal corners.  The notches are typically narrow and deep and placed at the corner of the preform.  Blade edges range from convex through straight and incurvate.  Cross-sections are generally thin lenticular or biconvex.  The Elko Eared typically possesses shoulder barbs that are much wider than the basal ears.

Basal configurations can take many shapes from wide to deeply concave through basal notched.  The Elko Eared specimens exhibit purposeful shaping of the base and ears with multiple flake detachments to finish specific contours of the basal edge and ears.  Some specimens exhibit light smoothing to moderate grinding on the lower edge of the notch and basal ears.

Dimensions of the Elko Eared are as follows: (based on 22 samples) length rages from 24 mm to 68 mm, width ranges from 21 mm to 32 mm and thickness ranges from 4 mm to 8.5 mm.  Lithic material used in manufacture seems to be obsidian

There are three other types of Elko point which form the Elko Cluster; the Elko Corner Notched which has a straight to convex basal edge that lacks the distinctive basal notch, The Elko Split Stem which is not notched and the Elko Side Notched. The type has been found in Nevada, Idaho, southern Oregon, parts of eastern California, parts of western Utah, western Wyoming and western and northern Arizona.

The Elko was named and defined by Robert Heizer and M. A. Baumhoff in 1961 for specimens found in Elko County, Nevada.

About the Point Above (Left): The Elko Eared point pictured at the top left of this page was found in Oregon. The point is made from a glossy translucent black obsidian. Overall, the point measures 38 mm in length, is 26 mm wide across the shoulders, and is only 5 mm thick in mid blade. The stem is 10 mm long and is 18.5 mm wide across the auricles and the basal concavity is 6 mm deep. Catalog Number 67-30-H

About the Point Above (Right): The Elko Eared point pictured at the top right of this page was found in the Warner Valley, Lake Co., Oregon and is from the former Cy Pearce collection. The point is made from a glossy translucent black obsidian. Overall, the point measures 48 mm in length, is 31 mm wide across the shoulders, and is only 5.6 mm thick in mid blade. The stem is 9 mm long and is 28.3 mm wide across the auricles and the basal concavity is 4.8 mm deep. Catalog Number 164-55-Y

References: Cassinelli, Justice, Overstreet, Perino (1)

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