A Fluted Point from Highland Guatemala

Abstract

An obsidian fluted point was found on the slope of a gorge near San Rafael, just west of Guatemala City. The point probably washed from hills on the thick beds of volcanics through which the gorge is cut. This would confirm previous beliefs that the paleo-Indian occupation of the area post-dates the volcanics. The San Rafael point resembles the fluted points from Costa Rica and Durango, Mexico, and Clovis forms from the eastern United States. Thus, paleo-Indian influences from the north into Middle America may have been of predominately eastern rather than western origins.