Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Sept 7, 2007 11:38:36 GMT -5
Well, some of you folks have been showing some artifact pics lately. I kinda used to be into knapping and of course, roaming around on lots of private ranches, I find Amerind stuff now and then while hunting rocks. Lots of the stuff is just broken points etc, so to amuse myself, I'll sometimes sit down and "repair" the broken points or rechip spalls etc to make them whole so I can give them away to the kiddies etc. I know that's kinda strange, but it's fun for me and the kiddies don't care if old patinated points now have new edges as long as it looks like an arrowhead or spear point. And, funny thing is, when walking around paleo-Indian sites, I sometimes find old dart points that have been rechipped into arrowheads that show a patinated surface and a freshly chipped edge so even the more recent Amerinds used "repaired points". Anyway, a few pics. Thanks for lookin...Mel Some of the big ones: Some of the small ones: And finally, a couple of real ones as found in my yard which sits in a Chumash camping and hunting area in Ojai ( Ojai is Chumash for " The Nest"). Top one is gray chert and the bottom is sinter, sort of a silicified ash.
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Post by Lady B on Sept 7, 2007 13:28:50 GMT -5
WOW! These are beautiful. I especially like the red ones. They are so distinctive looking. I must be one of the "kiddies" 'cause they look "Authentic" to me.
Lady B
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Post by flintfish on Sept 7, 2007 15:34:06 GMT -5
We are all coming out of the wood work now Nice to see so many flints!!! Makes me feel right at home. The willow blade at the bottom is a great piece, that's really well shaped and good to see. It is certainly regular practice to "retouch" an edge if it breaks up or looses it's cut, and you occasionally see reworked flints from in situ remains. You've sure got the knack of shaping up those stones Mel, that's a great style you've got there, are they all flint or are you working Obsidian there too? I like the necked haftings on the points, they are really interesting to see. Thanks for sharing them with us, I just love flint tools!!! I once saw an assemblage of arrow heads from a site in the Isle of Man. It's thought that everyone would have made tools as needed in history. However we saw that among the 400 or so examples there were several distinct styles. The site was a burial ground and was full of broken arrow heads, all smashed when they hit the ground, we surmised they had been fired in to the area for no purpose other than respect to the buried dead. Anyway - the design was identical throughout, but each example had clear marks in certain areas. About 10% had a notch at the base. Another 10% had 2 notches identically spaced, there were a few variations. Now do you think this could be piece work? A makers signiature on his craft? Flint was not found on the island, so the material which was shaped on the island was probably very valuable and therefore was worked only by the most competent workers. We were most impressed with what we found, it was a really exciting moment of realisation! Cheers, Harry.
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Sept 7, 2007 16:08:02 GMT -5
Harry: With only a few exceptions all those point are obsidian which in most of the areas I've hunted is the most common material used for edged weapons. I think the oddest site I've even examined was in a buddies cottenfield in the San Joaquin Valley. A whole bunch of recent indian villages on top of paleo Indian sites about 6000 years old and many of the campfire sites were plainly visible because there was no native rock at all in the area. All the old pieces were knives, scrapers etc and lots of big massive dart points. Many broken by the plow but still pretty neat to find. At that site almost all points were jasper and chert with little obsidian. Very cool! You're right about many villages having designated knappers too. I had the opportunity to escavate a series of Miwok sites on a private ranch when I was in college and we found one particular house that was surrounded by waste flakes and broken points and lots of whole pieces too. Most of the artifacts were broken but even the pieces were wicked nasty looking barbed points and knives and very plainly manufactured by the same craftsman. Native lore has it this particular group of tribes were vicious slavers and even headhunters and poisoned those barbs with excrement so they'd break off in the wound especially for man killing. Hard to dispute because I can see no other reason for that type of flaking. I'll post a pic so you can see what I mean....Mel
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Post by flintfish on Sept 7, 2007 16:25:30 GMT -5
Thanks for the updates Mel, those items in the last picture are real evil looking, I absolutley agree - they are designed for max damage, would not like to be on the sharp end of those! All Obsidian! The local stone I guess is always the first choice, is Ob's particularly easy to find? Over here the southern half of the UK has excellent flint availability, I can't turn a spade without 20 bits of flint showing, don't walk round here in bare feet though Does the Obs patina up over time then? And is that the variation in colour I'm seeing? A great dig was had by all!!! It's just amazing when you turn up somthing that gives such a snapshot of a moment in time. The guys sat round the "Knap Hut" working up the tools, you can almost hear the banter as they flaked away at the material, showers of flakes falling around them, "chink, chink, chuchink!". It's not so often archaeology speaks in such an amazing way. Thanks for the brilliant info - and the incredible tools, I know it's a hassle posting up photos but it's great to see such brilliant work. Cheers, Harry.
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Sept 7, 2007 16:39:06 GMT -5
Harry: In Southern and central California all the obsidian travels for quite some distance and was a major trade item. Most the southern Calif stuff came from Nevada or just east of the southern Sierras. The Central California stuff came from one mountain, Mt Konoctai sp? or from clear north on the Oregon Border. Some of the older or stream worn pieces do show patina or the patina is caused by hydration of the obsidian. I think I remember something called obsidian hydration dating used on volcanic glass artifacts. But mainly what you're seeing, is different varieties of obsidian, Gray, mahogany, silver sheen, black etc. The Amerinds used mainly the highest quality stuff I would think, to avoid breakage and many of these points still have a scalpel edge even after 100's of years. Had to be very careful screening as the obsidian will really rip ya open....Mel
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Post by texaswoodie on Sept 7, 2007 18:25:50 GMT -5
Nice points Mel. Those last ones are wicked buggers.
Curt
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darrad
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2006
Posts: 1,636
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Post by darrad on Sept 7, 2007 19:58:36 GMT -5
I just love the stuff I learn here!!!!
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Post by beefjello on Sept 7, 2007 23:02:39 GMT -5
Killer points there Mel! This is a most informative thread indeed.. whereas most of us are into our rocks for their beauty, those before us depended on their rocks for survival. Think I'll pop open a Rolling Rock and contemplate this further.
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Post by flintfish on Sept 8, 2007 15:34:54 GMT -5
Thanks for all the great info Mel, it's been great to learn a little more about the stuff you can find out and about. Is it possible to track the trade routes through the types of obsidian you find? It's fascinating to follow where the materials have travelled from that you find out on site. Just as an incidental - do you see much in the way of ceramic wares associated? Obviously I love the lithics, but I trained hard to recognise and study the ceramic scatters on site and enjoy seeing that sort of stuff too. It took me a while to spot ceramics as well as the rocks! It also helps to track trade routes and gives another detailed layer to the study. We find material from a range of sources over here. Some more local, some less. It is not uncommon to find flint axes manufactured in Scandinavia and Southern England in the same trench in a dig in Wales! The styling of the artifact, and it's particular patterning can be great indicators as to source. We also find lots of great stone artifacts that have been ground and polished rather than flaked, I believe the rough patterns were flaked, the resulting blanks then polished. Good sources of material would become manufacturing sites, producing rough blanks for further processing elsewhere. Thanks very much for the really interesting updates, it's been great to chat stone age for a bit, can't wait for my tumblers to start churning some shiney gems, won't be long now Cheers, Harry.
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Sept 8, 2007 16:12:22 GMT -5
Harry: Since the Amerinds tended to use mostly the finest quality of obsidian in their points, it's pretty difficult to establish trade routes by that method. Though, since most the obsidian from southern and central sources is of a single flow nature, I guess one could surmise that the fancy mahogany, sheen, midnight lace etc would more likely be traded in from the Pitts or Modocs from extreme NE California or Oregon. Probably a better way to establish trade routes is by using the types of beads found on the sites as certain shells have certain distributions ( ie abalone, Pismo Clam-Pomo gold or dentalium-tooth shells) and certain glass bead types ie Blue Russians came mainly from the Russian forts on the coast while other types are more associated with French or Spanish traders. Almost no ceramics in the sites I've been able to search as those tribes are famous for basketry and stone or wood morters and pestals etc.
Neat to hear what you find in your area. So much more age to Europe. The early man sites here contain only the most primitive of tools very unlike the neolithic types you guys have in Europe. Very little ground artifacts in the areas I've searched. Those are more common east of the Sierras or further north toward Oregon and Washington. At the place I hunt jade though, some lucky folks have found ground jade axes.Only ground stuff I seem to find are the occasional atl atl weight fragment, round donut shaped digging stones, manos, metates, pestals and such..Mel
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Post by catmandewe on Sept 8, 2007 22:53:20 GMT -5
What a neat thread!! The BLM and several Universities have cataloged obsidian sources, and done tests on the obsidian from those sources, so that when a point or tool is found in a dig they can pinpoint where that obsidian originated from. They have been using this as a tool to map migration and trade routes. Here is a link to one of the catalog pages, you can explore from there. www.sourcecatalog.com/Tony
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adrian65
Cave Dweller
Arch to golden memories and to great friends.
Member since February 2007
Posts: 10,789
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Post by adrian65 on Sept 9, 2007 0:01:34 GMT -5
So, you first hunt down the hawks/owls with your longbow and then "rescue" them? Be honest!
Adrian
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Sept 9, 2007 0:08:56 GMT -5
Holy cow that catalog is so cool! really an interesting read too. First I've ever heard of it but what a neat project. I had no clue there were so many obsidian sources in California. That's what I love about this site, access to so much new rock data!. Thanks for the information Tony!.....Mel
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