Getting To The Point: A Reply to Bradbury et al.
David Pollack, C. Martin Raymer, Donald A. Miller, Jimmy A. Railey, Aubrey Gwynn · 2012
This paper is a response to Bradbury et al.’s critique of the currently used Fort Ancient fine triangular projectile point typology. Drawing on the variation in projectile point morphology they observed at the Early Fort Ancient Elk Fork site in Morgan County, Kentucky, Bradbury et al. concluded that the typology should be abandoned in favor of an attribute approach. We agree with Bradbury et al. that researchers need to determine the extent to which variation in triangular point morphology is related to temporal trends, tool function, or style. However, we disagree that the existing typology cannot be used to address these issues. We have found it to be a good research tool and argue that it should be retained, as we illustrate by a consideration of the regional Fort Ancient database.