The Browns Valley projectile point is associated with the Paleo-Indian period in Minnesota, which is sub-divided into two categories: Llano and Plano. The earliest examples of Paleo-Indian projectile points from the Llano (12,000 BP,) include one of the most well-known and widely distributed points: Clovis. Clovis points are lanceolate in shape with a distinctive “channel flute,” and were designed for hunting large game animals, including wooly mammoth, mastodon, giant elk, giant bison, and a host of others. After the glacial ice had completely receded from Minnesota around 10,000 years ago, changes in environment and in available game species prompted a change in projectile point style. Possibly a more specialized projectile point; the Folsom point was developed for use in hunting giant bison. Folsom points are generally shorter and wider than the preceding Clovis points, although they retain the channel fluting, which extends nearly the length of the entire point. Around 9000-8000 years ago, however, there was a slight change in the manufactur of projectile points as we enter the Plano Period.

For reasons that are not entirely clear, “fluting seems to have gone out of style in Minnesota and elsewhere in North America,” (The Platform). Although still fairly similar in shape to the earlier Clovis points, the Browns Valley point, (and a few other similarly shaped points-Plainview and Hellgap, also found in Minnesota) do not exhibit the channel flutes. Ranging in size from approximately 2.5-5.5 inches in length, and 1-1.5 inches in width, the Browns Valley point takes its name from the area in which it was first discovered along with a human skeleton in Traverse County, Minnesota. Browns Valley projectile points are exceptionally well made, following the lanceolate shape of the earlier Clovis point, and have, “broad parallel sides, usually widest at mid-section” (Mississippi Valley Archaeological Center).

The base of Browns Valley projectile points are usually concave and heavily ground to prevent splintering of the dart or spear shaft upon impact, and in place of the earlier channel flute, the base is thinned with a number of shorter and thinner flakes removed around the basal margins. It is possible that this specific kind of thinning, “performed the same function of the channel flute, but was not as difficult to make,” (Chippewa/plan/history/txt.) So the change evident in the Browns Valley point does not necessarily reflect a change in function or adaptive strategy, but rather, a technological breakthrough to make simplify the manufacturing process. A multitude of unused projectile points, (which were apparently broken during the fluting process,) attests to the difficulty in the manufacture of a finished fluted point. If the process of basal thinning found on the Browns valley, (and other similar points,) performed the same function as a channel flute, it probably alleviated a small amount of stress on tool manufacturers of the Plano period.

Although Prairie due Chein and Grand Meadow chert are the more common lithic materials found in Minnesota, “Browns Valley projectile points...are distinguished in being made from Knife River Flint” (Mississippi Valley Archaeological Center.) Since this type of dark brown lithic material comes from Western North Dakota, its being found in Minnesota in the form of the Browns Valley projectile point suggests trade.

Mississippi Valley Archaeological Center - http://www.luwlax.edu/mvacm/ArtifactInfo/PointGuide/Indiv-Points/PlainHellBrown.htm

PaleoIndian-Chippewa/plan/History.txt http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/chippewa/plan/heritage/paleo.htm

The Platform http://www.tc.umn.edu/~bakk0029/WAL/inf/newsletter/platform/plat_4-2.htm