Main Discussion Area > Flintknapping
Messed Up An Artifact.
caveman2533:
They most likely took the best part and left the rest. I have seen core like that of PA jasper. where the abo guy left nothing but a thin layer of good rock. I would not lose any sleep over it. It is a core that was out of context and not likely to be accurately ascribed to any culture period. Many rocks when hunting flint have abo flakes knocked off of them, While it is neat to find and see and think of the connection, you have not done any great sin.
Ahnlaashock:
I told Dr. Morrow she could have the core.
The piece that came off basically was so cracked it fell pretty much into pieces. The top had a skin fracture, so the platforms came off also.
You know how this stuff is. It is never the same shape. I was 5 feet from the road, bucket getting heavy, and I made one last stop, two hours in. On auto pilot, I found a beautiful artifact, picked it up, and deliberately broke it.
Was in the sassafras grove, right where I would go if I needed to make a spear. I wonder if it wasn't left right there to be used as needed.
I am going to try to collect all the pieces I can. Don't know if it will help, but it might make me feel a little less stupid right now.
Now, someone tell me how they did it, please! How do you drive inch and a half scars 8 inches straight across raw Burlington. On a straight face, with very little curvature?
The other thing here too, is that if they walk down the ridge, the creek at the bottom takes them straight back all the way to the Kimmswick dig, about five miles away. Too far to pack a big chunk I think. This may have been a regular route also. If they walk ten feet in any direction, they could pick up another piece, but how many pieces can you drive those kinds of blades off of? I don't think anything i have found would support that. Apparently, when they worked it, it was fresh, without all the cracks.
The crack was not there when they worked it, for sure.
Anyway, I am rambling! I still feel like an idiot.
TRACY:
Do you think woodland peoples would have left good material lay whether it was previously used by earlier civilizations? I wouldn't beat yourself up about it and get back to knapping :)
PrimitiveTim:
Think about the fella who worked with it. You think he would be upset if you hit a flake off of it. If anyone finds any of my rock after I'm gone I hope they knap with it. That's the purpose of rock. Pieces like that are pretty common. I found an ancient piece of cooked jasper and made a small point from it. It was probably the most interesting thing I've knapped. I felt that connection with the past. Don't feel like an idiot!
Ahnlaashock:
I wish that was true. I would feel better.
Dr. Morrow is coming by, or having someone else come by to look at what is left. She considered it not to be an every day find.
I am still waiting for someone to tell me how you drive 8 inch straight blades off a piece of Burlington straighter than those you see off curved cores, with parallel flake scars. I already know it would take freshly exposed stone, without the cracks that were present in the piece when I found it.
Even with fresh stone, can any of you drive 8 inch 1.5 inch wide blades with parallel sides in Burlington? On an almost flat face?
Someone tell my how you drive 8 inch dead straight blades.
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