Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Flintknapping => Topic started by: billy on July 28, 2009, 12:35:07 am
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Hey guys,
I just got back from visiting my brother in SE Iowa, and while up there we walked a creek on the property and found this little point. I'm thinking it's a Kirk Corner notched because it isn't beveled (if it were it would fall under the Lost Lake classification). It's very well made, has no impact fractures and looks like it was originally a much larger point that was resharpened to its current shape. I think it was likely used as a knife.
Anyway, the next day I had to drive back to Georgia, but on the way home I stopped in NE Missouri and picked up a few pieces of chert where the road cut thru some limestone beds. I threw the chert on my floor, and then later I looked at the arrowhead. But when I put the arrowhead up to the stone I was shocked to find that the stone I had just picked up matched the arrowhead perfectly, as you can see in the picture. That arrowhead just about disappears when you lay it on the chert I had picked up, and you can't get a better match than that. The artifact matches the stone so well that it's difficult to see the point in that last photo.
The stone source is about 90 miles south of where we found the arrowhead, obvious evidence that the stone was traded or carried far from its source. That was really cool! Rarely are you able to trace an arrowhead to the source where the stone was originally quarried, but I was able to do just that! Wow. It was like retracing the footsteps of ancient people. Stuff like this really turns my gears! Enjoy....
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thats pretty damn cool
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Very cool 8) Looks like some tough chert
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That chert is kinda tough, but not as bad as you'd think. When I heat treat it at 500 deg. it becomes quite easy to work. Makes some very sharp points.
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nice point.
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Waaay cool. It is great to so closely match a point with the source rock. You ought to try to make a modern point as close to that as you can.
Jim
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thats a nice match between stone and point.....i have the same thoughts when i go to glass buttes...about how far people have traveled to get to a lithic source....i even wounder how long it would take a person to walk 90 miles...biface some pieces out and then walk back to camp....i wish i had the time to walk from prineville to the buttes with just a hammer stone,antler billet and a antler pressure flaker....and have 2 days to see how many i could biface out and then walk home.....i probley get 1 mile down the road then just start hitchhiking..john
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Good ol burlinton I figure? cook it up to 500-550 and the greys will turn red/pink.
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yeah, I think it's Burlington. But when you cook it up it doesn't change color...it pretty much stays the same, although it gets a lot easier to work. I've cooked a bunch of this type of Burlington before. Some of it works great raw, but cooking it really makes it much easier to work.
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How hot are you going with it? Most all that I have done from that part of the world turns color?
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I take it up to 500-550 degrees. It definitely makes it easier to work, so I know it's altered, but it doesn't change color. Maybe it isn't Burlington....the Burlington I've seen down in central Missouri is different than the chert I picked up....and it usually turns pinkish or salmon colored when you cook it. This stuff doesn't....not really sure why..