Chert projectile points. Middle Archaic, 7000–5800 BC. Illinois. North American Archaeology, Ajemian Collection. UMMAA 86-21-1-x.

In the mid to late 1800s, W.H. Chapman and his boyhood friends collected these projectile points and many other archaeological artifacts (see also Day 66) on their family farms in Freedom Township, LaSalle County, north central Illinois. Chapman later recounted how the arrival of deep plows in the area around 1900 damaged many sites, after which complete points were only rarely found. Dr. Paul E. Greeley, a graduate of the UM Medical School, acquired Chapman’s collection, and Greeley’s daughter, Nancy Ajemian, donated it to the Museum. While we lack precise provenience information for these artifacts, the large collection of more than 1000 complete points contributes to archaeological studies of changing technologies, raw materials, styles, and functions. The basal-notched points shown here, made from both local and imported materials, date to the Middle Archaic period (7000–5800 BC). 

Back to Day 111 or continue to Day 113.

In honor of the University of Michigan’s 2017 bicentennial, we are celebrating the remarkable archaeological and ethnographic collections and rich legacy of research and teaching at the Museum of Anthropological Archaeology by posting one entry a day for 200 days. The entries will highlight objects from the collections, museum personalities, and UMMAA expeditions. The Kelsey Museum of Archaeology is also posting each day for 200 days on Twitter and Facebook (follow along at #KMA200). After the last post, an exhibition on two centuries of archaeology at U-M opens at the Kelsey. Visit the exhibit—a joint project of the UMMAA and the Kelsey—from October 18, 2017 to May 27, 2018.