One reason Early Archaic people found the Canton site so appealing was its proximity to high-quality cherts, from which they made their spear points (mainly Kirk-like examples) and scrapers. They preferred St. Louis chert, which outcrops within one mile of the site, and Fort Payne chert, which outcrops within four miles of the site. Residents traveled to these outcrops and returned with large chert nodules. They then proceeded to make multiple tools from one nodule.
The process of making a spear point or endscraper - flintknapping - began when a knapper, using a stone that functioned like a hammer, knocked off the chalky exterior of a nodule to expose the high-quality chert inside. This raw chert was then roughly shaped with the same hammerstone to produce a biface (a two-sided blank), ready to be refined into a distinct and functional tool for everyday use. The flint knapper then used softer bone tools to remove small flakes from the tool edges and to form notches so the tool could be secured (hafted) to a handle.