This projectile point type was named after the type site, Sandia Cave,
situated at the north end of the Sandia Mountains near Albuquerque, New
Mexico. Such points have also been found at the Lucy Site in Central New
Mexico, in Central Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Iowa, and possibly
Alabama, Alberta, and Saskatchewan.
[Illustration: _Sandia I_]
Sandia I points are lanceolate in shape and may be somewhat asymmetrical
in outline. They are distinctive in having a single shoulder on one side
of the stem. Gently rounded lateral edges on the upper portion taper to
a point, while the rounded stem edges taper to the somewhat narrow,
rounded base. Specimens are broadest somewhat below mid-section and have
a lenticular cross section at this point. Both the stem and the base
have been smoothed by grinding. Total length may vary from about 6.0 to
9.0 cm., and width from 2.0 to 4.0 cm. Manufacture was evidently by
direct percussion and not as refined as on some later Early Man Points.
Initial flake scars on point faces are irregular; point bases have been
thinned by multi-directional flaking. Pressure retouch is absent.
Sandia I projectile points are accepted by most archaeologists as among
the oldest documented, though not reliably dated, point types of the
Southwest and North America in general. Similarly, the relationship of
Sandia points to Clovis and other Early Man point types has not yet been
clearly established. That Sandia points are older than Folsom points
does remain certain, however. They may also be older than Clovis points.