What's the Point?

Tanged 'Font-Robert' point with traces of resin used for hafting

This tanged leaf shaped point (L=5cm, W=3cm) was found on the Wessex Ridgeway which is part of a prehistoric trade route stretching right across England from the Wash in Norfolk to the South Devon coast.

Tanged points such as this one are often referred to as Font-Robert points, named after the Font-Robert rockshelter near Brive in the Corrèze region (Perigord, France). They are typical for the Gravettian industry of the Mid Upper Palaeolithic at the time of the climatic deterioration buidling up to the Last Ice Age (between ~28,000 and 22,000 ya) found all over Europe, including South England.

Distribution of the Gravettian culture in Europe (for source click here). The inset shows some of the Gravettian findspots in England.

Font-Robert points from Pinhole Cave in Creswell Crags (left, L=13cm; source: The Notinghamshire Heritage Gateway) and Warren Livingstone Pit in Ipswich (right, L=11cm; source @Annemiekmilks).

Despite their name, it is unlikely that Font-Robert points were used as projectile points and use-wear trace research has shown that many were used for a variety of purpose, such as piercers, gravers, scrapers and knives. Microtrace evidence indicates that they were used as hafted tools and the clear traces of resin on the tang of the above mentioned Wessex Ridgeway example confirms this idea.

There are clear parallels in appearance and use between Font-Robert points and the Aterian tanged points from the Middle Stone Age in Africa (~75,000 to 35,000 ya), which are also thought to be hafted implements that were used as multi purpose tools, rather than projectile points. Although the Aterian industry is thought to have evolved from the African Levallois Mousterian they were made by anatomically modern humans (see Aggsbach's blog for more details)

Aterian points from Morocco (left) and a Font-Robert point from South-England (right)