Point Type: EVA
Also See: Citrus, Culbreath, Hamilton Stemmed, Hernando, Mehlville , Milford, Parowan, San Saba, Shuma, Smith Basal Notched, Wade

Location: West Tennessee to Southwest Kentucky & Northern Alabama

Associated Dates: 8000 - 5000 B.P. - Early Archaic to Mid-Archaic
Morphology: Basal Notched

General Description: The Eva point is a medium to large sized triangular Early Archaic dart or spear point with shallow basal notches, recurved sides and sometimes flaring tangs or barbs. There are two types within the Eva family, the Eva I and the Eva II. The type family was named by Madeline Kneberg Lewis in 1947 after the Eva excavation site in Benton County, Tennessee.

The earlier Eva I form has a long clearly defined straight or contracting short stem which may be equal in length or longer than the barbs. On the latter Eva II type, the barbs may extend below the base of the stem, and the stem is diminished in size and is rounded and contracting and is rarely ground. The Eva's barbs vary from squared, which show the corner of the preform blank, to pointed, and on the Eva II specimens the barbs may even be longer than the stem. The notches oftentimes show circular hertzian cone flake scars at the terminus of the notch. The notch is then often retouched with finer pressure flaking scars. Early examples can show parallel flaking scars. The stem on the Eva is rather small on both types, considering the overall blade dimensions. All edges of the stem on the Eva I type are basically straight and the basal edge is usually thinned and can be occasionally ground. On the Eva II type the stem is smaller, and contracting or rounded in outline. The blade shape on both types is biconvex or almost flat in cross section.

The Eva point appears to have a localized distribution only within the Tennessee Valley and in fact Kneberg reported in 1956 that the Eva is seldom found outside the western half of Tennessee. Some Eva points have been found in northern Alabama and Mississippi however, (Little Bear Creek site (Webb & DeJarnette 1948)) Long and Josselyn (1965:143) suggested an evolution from the Eva to the Morrow Mountain series. Additionally, a rare type called the Ohio Basal Notched appears to be similar to the Eva, and is reported by Waldorf (1987:137).  However, DeRegnaucourt reports a wider distribution covering all of Tennessee, northern Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia, all of Kentucky and southern Indiana and southern Ohio chiefly along the Ohio River Valley.  Eva points have also been found in central Ohio and Indiana but are rare in these two areas. 

Many Eva specimens were made from pink and tan cherts.  The Smith Basal Notched point type described by Baerreis and Freeman, Perino and Carl Chapman as well as the  Basal Notched Point is apparently the same point as the Eva type.  Many of the points exhibit a snap fracture on the base which suggests that the point could have been broken by thrusting or twisting.  This  would indicate the Eva's use as a projectile tip.  Some Eva points are also reworked from what appears to be many times resulting in their final stage use as drills.  This would indicate that the Eva may have started as a knife blade, then a projectile point and ultimately as a drill, perforator or burin.

The Eva ranges in size from 40 mm to 120 mm in length with the typical average size being 61 mm. The width ranges from 25 mm to 47 mm with the average being 33 mm. The stem width ranges from 11 mm to 26 mm wide with the average being 18 mm. The stem length ranges from 5 mm to 8 mm with the average being 6 mm. The overall thickness ranges from 8 mm to 10 mm with the average being 9 mm.

About the Point Above (Left): The point pictured above on the left hand side of the page is a large Eva I point made from a dull brown chert. The point measures 84 mm in length, 42 mm at the widest point (across the tangs) and is uniformly 9 mm thick (which seems thin for its size). The stem is 17 mm wide. The base straight and is not ground. The notches are 8 mm long as is the stem. The flaking is parallel and there is very fine bifacial edge retouch along both blades. As you can clearly see, there is a chip on the right blade edge. This point is from Benton County, Tennessee. Catalog Number 56-65-D

About the Point Above (Center Left): The point pictured above on the center left hand side of the page is a large Eva I point made from a dull light brown chert. The point measures 87 mm in length, 33 mm at the widest point (across the tangs) and is 9 mm thick at mid blade just above the notches. The stem is 8 mm long, 14 mm wide and thins down to 4mm in thickness. The basal edge is slightly ground. The flaking is parallel and there is very fine bifacial edge retouch along both blades. As you can clearly see, there is a chip on the right blade edge and the left blade edge is highly reworked. This point is from Benton County, Tennessee. Catalog Number 76-50-D

About the Point Above (Center): The point pictured above on the center of the page is a large Eva I point made from a dull light brown Fort Payne chert. The point measures 73 mm in length, 31 mm at the widest point (across the tangs) and is 9 mm thick at mid blade just above the notches. The stem is 7 mm long, 12 mm wide and thins down to 4mm in thickness. The basal edge is slightly ground. The flaking is parallel with a few oblique transverse flakes.  There is very fine bifacial edge retouch along both blade edges. As you can clearly see, rework to the blade has resulted in the left side being more convex than the right side of the blade edge.  Additionally the right tang has a minor edge ding apparently sustained in historic times as it is patinated. This point was found in Tishomingo County, Mississippi and was once in the E.C. Curtis collection, the Tully collection and the Gary Noel Collection. The point has a Jeff Baker certificate of Authentication, No. 10074 Catalog Number 270-75-T

References: Baker, Bell (1), Cambron and Hulse, DeRegnaucourt, Dragoo (e), Hranicky (1), Justice (1), Overstreet, Perino (1), Puckett (1), Waldorf

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