Lamoka: Top Row: rhyolite, quartz, quartzite; Bottom Row: tuff, quartz, chert.
Type Side Notched Late-Archaic
Defining Attributes
The Lamoka is a small, narrow, thick point, with weak to moderately pronounced side notches, or straight stemmed with slight, usually sloping shoulders.
Chronology
The Lamoka point dates to the Late Archaic period, 2500 to 1500 BCE. Ritchie (1971) explains that the Lamoka point is the characteristic point form of the Lamoka complex in central and western New York, for which radiocarbon dates ranging from about 3500 to 2500 BCE have been obtained.
Description
Discussion
This type has a wide range beyond the known area of the defined Lamoka complex in central and western New York and adjacent northern portions of Pennsylvania. Lamoka points are found throughout Virginia. At the Slade Site along the Nottoway River in Virginia, McAvoy (1997) recovered Lamoka points in a Late Archaic context of ca. 2500 BCE.
Defined in Literature
This type was originally defined by Ritchie (1961 revised 1971) based on points recovered from the Lamoka Lake site in New York.
References
Updated: July 23, 2018