Colleagues,
As part of my on-going search for information on metal points -- and, again, mil gracias to those who have helped so far -- I'm now wondering about the earliest occurrence of barrel hoops, wagon rims, and similar items in settings in which the hoops, rims, and so forth might have been available for recycled production of projectile points.
Summarizing what I'm learning so far, and what I think I'm learning, metal points for trading TO Indians seems to be associated mostly with trappers and traders in the North American plains and northern mountains, often with the fur companies and their subsidiaries, and has a long history. I'm still looking for a solid reference to points made by factories for this purpose, by the way. Metal points made BY Indians for their own uses and for trading with each other and with Euroamericans probably has a history only a bit shorter in length, perhaps a matter of days or weeks shorter. That lengthy history, though, seems to reflect the same geographic regions.
In settings like New Mexico, however, I'm not learning of evidence of metal points produced for trade with the Indians (perhaps something associated with the independent, so-called "Taos trappers"?), certainly not during the years of Spanish empire. During those years, the government tightly controlled access to and use of metals of all types and did not, apparently, allow it to be used for trade goods (I don't doubt there were exceptions, but they would prove the rule). The opening of the Santa Fe Trail in 1821 and the first wagon train on the trail in 1825, which coincided with transfer of empire from Spain to Mexico, seems to have been the introduction of thin metal items like hoops and rims and pots (and shovels and hoes and saws) that could be easily -- no need for forging -- made into projectile points and similar tools. AND, in that setting, I still can't find evidence that the Euroamericans of New Mexico made metal points to trade TO the Indians, although there is evidence for trade the other way. If I'm right, it's a sort of reversal of the pattern farther north and east: Indians acquiring metal from Euroamericans to make tools for their own use -- not different -- and for direct trade back to Euroamericans.
So, it's in that context that I'm now wondering about introduction of items that could be turned into points and similar tools. I do now have a copy of Pyszczyk's paper in Plains Anthropologist, so no need to tell me about it again (thanks, Smoke). I also have (thanks again, Smoke) a copy of "From Things Left Behind" from Voyageurs National Park. I have references to a few contract reports in my neck of the desert Southwest but, again, only Eiselt's dissertation gives actual manufacturing evidence.
Mil mil gracias to all,
Jeff
 
Jeffrey L. Boyer, RPA
Project Director
Office of Archaeological Studies, Museum of New Mexico
mail: P.O. Box 2087, Santa Fe, New Mexico  87504
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