Escobas points, newly defined in this guide, were to all appearances
first discovered and described at Pecos Pueblo, southeast of Santa Fe,
New Mexico. Specimens excavated there evidently were collected by
inhabitants of the pueblos from nearby sites pre-dating the pueblo. This
point type is named after Escobas Peak, near Pecos.
[Illustration: _Escobas_]
Escobas points are lanceolate shaped and are consistently broadest
immediately below mid-section. Upper lateral edges are usually straight,
but they may be slightly rounded. Lower lateral edges are set off from
the upper portion of the point body by very slight shoulders, so that
this point must be considered as stemmed. Parallel to slightly
expanding, stem edges are characteristically faintly concave between the
shoulders and base edges. The base is always distinctly concave. Average
dimensions: length 6.0 cm., shoulder width 2.0 cm., base width 1.7 cm.
Workmanship is not refined. Initial flaking of point faces has been
achieved by direct percussion; flake scars are irregular. Stem edges may
show slight secondary retouch by either percussion or pressure. Basal
thinning was accomplished primarily by the striking of irregular flakes
from the basal concavity, to a lesser extent by removal of horizontal
flakes from the base. Stem edges are well smoothed; the concave base is
either slightly smoothed or not at all.
The relation of Escobas points to other Early Man points has not yet
been determined. They do, however, resemble some other early types.
Escobas points are broadly similar to Rio Grande points in shape, but
they differ from them in the following respects: parallel to slightly
expanding stem edges of Escobas points are consistently slightly concave
between the shoulders and base, while stem edges on Rio Grande points
are always straight and taper somewhat to the base. Escobas point stems
are shorter, relative to overall point length than Rio Grande stems.
Shoulders on Escobas are much fainter than on Rio Grande points; bases
of Escobas points are, so far as known, always concave, whereas they are
only occasionally so on Rio Grande points. Both, however, share the
attribute of being well-smoothed on stem edges, and are either slightly
smoothed or not at all on basal edges. Escobas points occur in the Pecos
district, the Upper Rio Grande Valley, and, according to Stewart Peckham
(personal communication), in the San Juan Basin of northwest New Mexico.
They will likely be found to occur in other parts of the Southwest, in
some areas in association with points of the Rio Grande type.