In 2004 I introduced into the literature the concept of “Red River Plano” to account for the post-Agassiz pioneering population(s) of the riverine corridor within the Red River valley of Manitoba.  The corridor is a 2-km-wide strip of land through which the river courses its way northward from its source to Lake Winnipeg.  In that earlier paper, I noted that several projectile point types served to define the culture(s) in question.  These comprised the Lusk/Allen/Angostura cluster and the “Manitoba” type.  A brief addition to the Red River Plano culture history was subsequently published seven years later. 

     Recent monitoring of the corridor between Winnipeg and the lake by Andrew Fallak and Russell Epp seems to have turned up yet another type that I would like to acknowledge here.  It commonly goes by the name “Lovell Constricted” in the western fringes of the US Great Plains where, in the 1960s, it was initially discovered, named, and radiocarbon-dated.  

     The Lovell Constricted point was described in 1969 by Wilfred Husted as of medium size with smoothly convex edges that display a slight constriction near the base that gives the appearance of an incipient stem.  Bases range from smooth and shallow to deep and nearly notched.  The overall flaking pattern varies from irregular to crudely parallel-oblique, with basal thinning formed by short longitudinal flake scars on both faces.  Transverse cross-sections are thick lenticular, and bilateral edge grinding runs from the corners to about one-third of the length of the point.  Basal edges are lightly smoothed (Figure 1, this paper).  

Fig. 1.  Drawings of Lovell Constricted point and basal fragments from Bottleneck Cave, Wyoming.  After Husted, W., 1969, “Bighorn Canyon Archeology.” Smithsonian Institution River Basin Surveys Publication in Salvage Archeology 12, Fig. 20.

     Thus far, the earliest C-14 dates for the Lovell Constricted type are to be found well to the west of Manitoba, and surface-found examples also occur in the Winnipeg River drainage east of the Red River corridor.  The current historical reconstruction envisages one or more west-to-east migrations originating in the Foothills/Mountain region of Wyoming-Montana and encompassing the full breadth of the northern grasslands.  It therefore comes as no surprise that such cultural markers are present in an intermediate area like the Red River valley between these two geographical extremes.   

Fig. 2. Speculative migration routes across the northern plains from the Foothills/Mountain region in the west to the Winnipeg River drainage in the east.  Note the intermediate position of the Red River corridor between the two.  The open arrow also depicts the progressive northward extension of the river into the draining Lake Agassiz basin (in solid black) in Early Holocene time.

     Figure 3 illustrates a possible reworked Lovell Constricted point from EaLg-9 that is situated within the corridor north of Winnipeg.  Its length and basal width are 5.7 and its 1.75cm, respectively.  Some caution should be exercised in classifying this specimen as a Lovell Constricted point, as it apparently overlaps stylistically with the much later Duncan type (A. Fallak, personal communication, 2013) with which I am largely unfamiliar. 

     A second hitherto unpublished point from EaLg-9 is shown in Figure 4A. It is the remnant (“stub”) of an originally longer point, is 2.6cm long in its present condition, and is 1.7cm wide at the base.  It is very similar to another item (Figure 4B) from the same site that had been published previously. 

     All of the EaLg-9 artifacts discussed here are made of locally-available Selkirk Chert..   

     It is difficult to confidently classify either of these two stub-points according to existing typologies because they have been substantially reworked and the important original flaking pattern of the blade portions is absent.  My best guess is that they are Angostura points in light of their converging edges and narrow, concave bases.  In any event, I am satisfied that they are both late Plano points.  

Fig. 3.  Presumed Lovell Constricted point from EaLg-9.  Length 5.5cm, basal width 1.7cm.  The angle-marks indicate extent of lateral grinding upwards from the base.  Courtesy of A. Fallak. 

Fig. 4. The recently-found (A) and previously-reported (B) presumed Angostura points from EaLg-9.  Dimensions are as follows: A – length 2.6cm, basal width 1.7cm; B – 3.45cm, basal width 1.92cm.  Courtesy of A. Fallak (A) and  Russell Epp (B).