SIZE: Meadowood cache blades range from about 45 to 90 mm. in length, although most fall between 50 and 75 mm. Maximum width ranges from 20 to 40 mm. , but 25 to 35 mm. is typical. Maximum thickness is usually between 4.0 and 7.0 mm.

SHAPE: Typically the cache blades have convex lateral margins and convex bases. A notable feature is their flattened lenticular (biconvex) cross-section. The width of the cache blades tends to be quite standardized, but length varies considerably. Accordingly, their breadth-to-length ratio displays high variability (although within a site it may be fairly uniform): some cache blades have rather squat proportions, like the one illustrated here, others may have long, graceful outlines.

FLAKING: Meadowood cache blades are excellently made. They have symmetrical outlines and cross-sections; also, their faces display notably flat flake scars.

RAW MATERIAL: Onondaga chert.

DISTRIBUTION: Meadowood cache blades are found throughout South-Western Ontario.

AGE AND CULTURAL AFFILIATIONS: The cache blades are characteristic of the Early Woodland Meadowood culture. There is a 520 B.C. carbon date for the Bruce Boyd site near Long Point. In New York, sites with cache blades have carbon dates as early as 998 B.C.

REMARKS: 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.

REFERENCE: Kenyon, I. – 1980 Meadowood Cache Blades. KEWA 80-5. ( Text of Original Publication )