The Welke-Tonkonoh site, located just west of London, Ontario, is a large multi-component site. The site is the largest one yielding Hi-Lo style points (variously regarded as either Late Paleoindian or Early Archaic) yet reported. There are also substantial occupations in later times, notably during the Smallpoint Late Archaic (ca. 3000 B.P.) and during the Early Woodland Meadowood (ca. 2800-2300 B.P.).

Hi-Lo points are so-named after the first site where they were found in the 1960's which was located on the property of the Hi-Lo Gun Club in Michigan. Hi-Lo is estimated to date to around 10,000 radiocarbon years ago. The Welke-Tonkonoh site was discovered by D. Brian Deller and Reynold Welke. It incloudes at least five discrete concentrations of Hi-Lo stone artifactual debris distributed over an area of some 20 ha. Some test excavations were carried out at the site by the late William Burton Roosa of the University of Waterloo in the early 1970's but the main excavations were carried out by Ellis in 1980 with the financial support of a grant from the Ontario Heritage Foundation. Excavations were carried out in three of the ploughed site areas known to have yielded Hi- Lo points in surface collection and which were called Areas A, B, and C. The Area B work did not yield any definitive Hi-Lo materials but Hi-Lo artifacts were found in the two remaining areas. Area C seems to be a pure Hi-Lo component with little evidence of later occupation. Area A yielded evidence of occupation throughout Ontario's past but in one area, called A-West, a small number of Hi-Lo artifacts were found in undisturbed subsoil below the ploughed zone where they were apparently buried by wind-blown sand. Most of the Hi-Lo artifacts are on a distinctive high-quality white to blue-grey Haldimand chert which originates in outcrops some 150 km southeast of the site, a factor which allowed them to be separated out from the tools of later occupants who did not use that chert.

A very large sample of Hi-Lo points has been recovered from the Welke-Tonkonoh site and their study has allowed some understanding of factors which affect the form of these points. In contrast to all earlier point forms, Hi-Lo points have been extensively resharpened along their blade edges, usually by the removal of flakes from one face on alternate faces. This process can eventually turn the intial point which has a slight stem, symmetrical cross-section, and convex or bowed blade edges, into a stemless form, with a twisted assymetrical cross-section, and straighter to concave blade edges as illustrated on the accompanying figures.

The emphasis on resharpening the side edges of the Hi-Lo point blades suggests these tools were more extensively used as knives than earlier dated forms such as fluted points. Moreover, and again in contrast to earlier forms, one frequently finds Hi-Lo points reworked into several other tool forms including end scrapers, side scrapers, drill-like items, and the needle-like gravers. However, the presence of many Hi-Lo points with extensive fractures or impacts at the tip indicates they also continued to be used as the armatures of projectile weapons.

The excavations at Welke-Tonkonoh have also helped us to delineate the form and nature of other tools used by these early peoples. The tool kit includes a number of forms which are also found on earlier sites with fluted points including trianguloid end scrapers, needle-like gravers, combination tools with notched and serrated edges, beaked scrapers, and side scrapers.

As noted above, evidence of other later cultures were recovered during the investigations at Welke-Tonkonoh. Most notable amongst these was a largely buried subsoil occupation in Area A-West representing use of the site by Late Archaic "Smallpoint" producing peoples (ca. 3500 to 3000 radiocarbon years ago). In addition, although not excavated, the extensive surface collection from Area B at the site documents the presence of one of the largest reported Early Woodland Meadowood Phase occupations (ca. 2800 to 2500 radiocarbon years ago) in southwestern Ontario.

C. J. Ellis - 1999 - Some Sites and Artifacts I Have Known: The Welke-Tonkonoh Site Revisited or What is a Meadowood Point? Kewa 99(3-4): 9-26.

C. J. Ellis - 1999 - Reply to J. V. Wright. Kewa 99(5-6):28-35.

C. J. Ellis - 2004 - Hi-Lo: An Early Lithic Complex in Southern Ontario. In: The Late Palaeoindian Great Lakes: Geoarchaelogical and Archaeological Investigations of Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene Environments, edited by L. J. Jackson and A. Hinshelwood, pp. 57-83. Canadian Museum of Civilization, Archaeological Survey of Canada, Mercury Series Paper No. 165.

C. J. Ellis - 2004 - The Hi-Lo Component at the Welke-Tonkonoh Site, Area C. Kewa 04(5): 1-19.

C. J. Ellis and D. B. Deller - 1982 - Hi-Lo Materials from Southwestern Ontario.  Ontario Archaeology 38:3-22.

C. J. Ellis, J. A. Fisher and D. B. Deller - 1988 - Four Meadowood Phase Lithic Artifact Assemblages from Caradoc and Delaware Townships, Southwestern Ontario. Kewa 88(9):3-20.

C. J. Ellis and M. W. Spence - 1997 - Raw Material Variation and the Organization of "Smallpoint" Archaic Lithic Technologies in Southwestern Ontario. In Preceramic Southern Ontario, edited by Philip Woodley and Peter Ramsden, pp. 119-140. Occasional Papers in Northeastern Archaeology No. 9. Copetown Press, Hamilton, Ontario.

J. P. Muller - 1989 - A "Smallpoint" Archaic Component at the Welke-Tonkonoh Site, Ontario. Kewa  89(3):3-22.

J. V. Wright - 1999 - In the Eye of a Beholder, or What is a Meadowood Point? Kewa 99(5-6):20-27.

Other References

C. J. Ellis - 1981 - Investigations of a Transitional Paleo-Indian to Early Archaic Lithic Industry in Southwestern Ontario. Ontario archaeological licence report on file, Licence #80-F-0376,  Ministry of Citizenship, Culture and Recreation, Toronto, Ontario. 141 pages.

A. Moulton - 1990 - The Hi-Lo Component of the Welke-Tonkonoh Site. Honours B.A. Thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario.

J. P. Muller - 1988 - A Late Archaic "Smallpoint" Component at the Welke-Tonkonoh Site. Honours B.A. Thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario.

K. Snarey - 2000 - The Adoption of the Bow and Arrow in Southwestern Ontario: A View from the Smallpoint Archaic. M.A. Thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario.