Bifurcated base projectile point assemblages from two sites in Jersey County, Illinois

The McClain (11JY558) and Young (11JY559) sites are located in the uplands of west central Illinois and have been subjected to multiple-revisit surveys by a group of avocational archaeologists. Their efforts have documented two Early Archaic bifurcated base point tradition sites that might have otherwise gone unnoticed because of their remote upland location. These two small habitation sites are significant because of the large number of diagnostic points that have been recovered. Bifurcated base projectile points are somewhat rare in the region and the presence of more than 50 examples spanning the seventh millennium B.C. from two sites in close proximity to each other adds additional insight into land use patterns that were operational during this poorly understood time period in Illinois prehistory.