Meadowood Cache Blade
Date Range: 800-400 BCE
Dimensions: Meadowood cache blades range from about 45 to 90 mm in length, 20 to 40 mm in width, and 4 to 7 mm in thickness.
Shape: Meadowood cache blades are triangular in shape. Typically the cache blades have convex lateral margins and convex or straight bases. Cross sections are lenticular or plano-convex.
Flake Pattern: Meadowood cache blades are excellently made. They have symmetrical outlines and cross-sections; also, their faces display notably flat flake scars.
Material: Onondaga and Selkirk chert
Distribution and Cultural Affiliation:
Meadowood cache blades are found throughout South-Western Ontario.
The cache blades are characteristic of the Early Woodland Meadowood culture.
Notes: Cache blades are so named because they have often been found in large caches associated with burials. These bifaces also occur on habitation sites. Most “cache blades” are in fact blanks for the side notched Meadowood points. The blanks were made in the Niagara Peninsula and western New York State where the Onondaga chert outcrops. From there, the cache blades were distributed over much of the Northeast.
References: Kenyon, I. – 1980 Meadowood Cache Blades. KEWA 80-5.