NYSAA Bulletin No. 39 — Hudson Valley Shell Midden Dating — Passage 3
[Various (1967)] of penetration, is at a right angle with the altitude of the point). 9. the corner or bias notched (the axis of the notching is at an acute angle to the altitude of the point). 10. the neck and yoke (these points are either notched or stemmed, with indented bases). This classification system is an extensible taxonomy of themes of point form, rather than of points themselves, as these themes are affected by the technology of manufacture and by custom. The point itself, as excavated or found and recorded, falls into that category below the subtype designated the style. It is the style that usually carries the theme of the tradition, though the subtype may carry it in some cases. For instance, second subtypes of type 1, the lanceolate, are recognized as traditions, the Clovis fluted lanceolate, the Plainview, the Guilford, etc; undoubtedly these will someday be broken down into varieties or will themselves be recognized as varieties. On the other hand, varieties seem to have more thematic meaning in stemmed and notched points. For instance, there are certainly two strong traditions within subtype 1 of type 7, the full-stemmed. The straight (parallel-sided) stemmed subtype is divisible into the usually narrowbladed small points of the related Lamoka -Bare Island-Wading River series (which is what constitutes the Taconic tradition) and into Coe's straight-stemmed, broad-bladed large Savannah River style.