Is there anyone who has found a merrell point? I found a point and had an archeologist in Seguin identify it. He said it was a merrell point and was around 8000 years old. I have looked at a lot of sites but, I have only found one that listed it. Like to hear from you diggers. Thank

I could not find a point with this name in any of my books. Do you have a picture?

. . . . need

We find alot of Merrills here at Camp Wood. The Merrill is the predessor form to the Frio type, and is older than Frio here. AS I understand it, the name Merrell/ Merrill was never officially accepted by the board of State Archeologists, and is probably why the books don't include the type. I had thought it to be just a variant form of Frio (still somewhat right), when Mike Walker (of this site) pointed this out to me. The name for this type has been around for a long time, so if it is ever officially accepted, I doubt the name will change. Seems to me its the same kind of thing that Gower and Jetta are to Pedernales?

A point excavated at Kincaid Shelter was tentatively named Merrell, but it has not been officially recognized as a type.

Most likely early archaic in age. From similarities in flaking my guess is Uvalde related. From specimen I have seen found, somewhere in the late Jarrell interval (Martindale, Uvalde), but maybe as old as the San Geronimo interval (Gower, Hoxie, Wells).

There is no cultural relationship between Merrell and Frio. General similarity in basal shape doesn’t equate to cultural relationship. The people who made Merrell’s were long gone generations before Frio’s came into use. Just my opinion.

G-town, Roy is right, there are NO Gowers in the photos.
Also, I never said that there was a cultural relationship or link between Merrill and Frio, as they were different cultures with different time periods. What I did say was that the Merrill form preceeded that of the Frio, and is simply Older than Frio.

I was talking about people looking at the pictures today "online". I doubt that myself or anyone I know has seen your "vault" of arrowheads. My meager collection can be kept in but a few cases on the wall.

Its cool roy. I wish I had fort knox in my house, it might make me sleep a little better at night.

i am very interested in this subject. primarily because i recently found a point that would easily get typed as frio. However since i know it was found exclusively with martindales, bells, bandys, ET's, you know, all early, early stuff it probably should NOT be type as frio. the main reason i question is because of the three very distinct notches. i will take a pic and post but you can notice from the pics Roy posted the notch in the base is not a continual flow as frio's have. this may or may not make since to most until i post the pic but........

Roy,

if you dont mind, what was it about your artifacts that told you they Merril type?

Thanks!

ok a little research into the Kincaid site that jhaberer posted on the merrell point. here is a link to the point pictured.

http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/kincaid/images/merril.html

it does not look to similar to my point or roys?

also i think it is interesting as the title of the point is spelled MERRELL but in the actual web address it is spelled MERRIL? so which is correct ?

ok thanks roy. i will take a pic and post tomorrow. it is of the dancing man type frio. i may be a little partial to this artifact since it is MINE, but i will say it has to be among the best artifacts found.

Merrill/merrell.............

In south texas(Uvalde)........found below Angostura.

Often serrated and/or beveled in sharpening. Seems that Rounded auricles (aka:mickey mouse ears) are the "classic" style of auricle, but have seen some more squarish, or somewhat elongated. Would be hard pressed to definitively call a specimen merrell, without provenance. The name was first used in the early to mid sixties, but never actually stuck. would love to see all specimens.

I posted these under the wrong topic earlier. This one was surface find from palopinto county and obviously worked down and steeply beveled.


These two on top were dug at Randy's. I was just curious since this topic popped up as to what y'alls opinion on type are.

Well, my vote is Uvalde for both on top, followed by Nolan, LaJita, and heavily resharpened Lange on bottom.

That's the first Uvalde opinion I've had on them. Thanks for the input.

Any guesses on the first pic or is it to far gone to make a guess?

Actually, I think that they are a variant form of Uvalde, like variant forms of other types like Frio, Montell, Merrell/ Merrill, or even Pedernales.
I was going to save the top one for Roy and Mike Walker to have some fun with (knowing where it came from).

there is a point on randy's dig website that looks a whole lot like one of the ?merrells? roy pictured. did anyone notice it? and do you think it could be of this type. it is still on the front page of randys website just scroll down till you see it.

here is the point from Randy's Dig website

here is a "Walking Man Frio" i found in south Texas a while back. it was found with et's, and gowers and a few squared ear marcos and castro's. this point has been resharpened many times and nearly worn out.



if both of the "feet" were broke in the same spot and reworked would you consider it to be a "Mickey Mouse Frio"

ok finally got my pics taken and up loaded to photobucket.

here is what i found first.....



bandys, martindales and ets

Is this one? I dug it up the day before yesterday.

all early archaic points pictured above were found in south Texas.

NOW FOR THE GRANDE........

i am thinkin from the long flake scares that extend from one side of the point to the other. givin what we were finding with this point. it has to be 7000-8000 years old too?

Montell, The one from Randy's is referred to as the Big Foot Frio. They were calling it an excentric at first. Then Randy sent it to Dwain Rogers, and Rogers told him it was definitely Frio. The Big Foot form on Frio, is like the Buck Tooth form on Montell. There are 3 variant forms of the Frio, and these are some really nice ones in the photos.

Thanks Guys for all of the input on my point. I had alot of opinions as to whether it was a merrell or a Frio. When I showed it to the archaeologist he said it was definitely a "mickey mouse" merrell. When I sent it to Dwain Rogers he papered it as an eccentric frio. Dwain is the expert on id ing points so since I have his papering I will have to take his word.

i am sure if i sent my point to Dwain he would definitely say frio also. if it is definitely frio, then do you think it was random it was found with bandy and martindale. or do you think some frio's like the ones with the distinct nothces in the base are just the oldest frio's?

I think that your comments above are probably right on all counts.

Hey Mike W.

That is interesting about finding Merrell’s below Angostura. All I have found or seen found appear to have been in association with or slightly below Uvalde/Martindale.

What other artifacts were you finding with the Merrell or below the Angostura?

Happy New Year!

Montell,

Very nice artifact.

It “looks” early archaic.

It is not very prudent to comment from a picture, that said-- first, it is very unusual for a Texas artifact to be flaked from upper left to lower right. It does occur (Marcos, Ensor, others?) but it is very unusual. If you tell Dwain the other types that you found in association with the point, I don’t believe he will call it a Frio. I am not very knowledgeable about Uvalde County artifacts, and Frio might have a different sharpening pattern in that area, but your point doesn’t have typical Frio controlled tight flaking. I just don’t see Frio flaking on your point.

Again, very nice find.

Hey John,
I've handled Montell's point, and it's definitely not a Frio. Im sure it's related to Martindale/Bandy aged artifacts. The Early Archaic has a lot of mysteries still to be solved. Paul

Hi Paul,

Good to hear from you.

I couldn’t agree more---lots of unsolved mystery in the early archaic.

Tell the rest of the group hello for me and have a Happy New Year!