A study of Late Woodland projectile point typology in New York using elliptical Fourier outline analysis

A sample of Late Woodland triangle points from the Mohawk Valley, New York, is studied using 2D elliptical Fourier analysis (EFA) in order to assess the applicability of formal tool typologies for the region. Lithic analysts have questioned two types of triangle, Levanna and Madison, as valid analytic units as they are quantifiably indeterminate when measured using caliper methods such as length and width. The geometric morphometric analysis here takes outline data from a previously studied collection of projectile points and uses elliptical Fourier harmonics analysis combined with principal components and discriminant functions tests to objectively define and separate the two types of projectile point. The result is a bimodal distribution of types that conforms to the traditional typological classification system for the region, in contrast to recent scholarship that conflates the two types into one. This study describes a high-resolution technique that offsets the inherent drawbacks of subjective, coarse-grained measurement approaches to projectile point characterization and comments on the study of typology as a whole.