In the fall of 2010, I came to the conclusion that prehistoric American knappers had used some sort of unknown indirect percussion, in flintknapping. I came to this conclusion after reviewing hundreds of archaeological publications, that span about a century. When I mentioned the idea on a big flintknapping forum, some crowed "There is no proof. There is no proof", while others crowed, "You have to prove it. You have to prove it."
After four years of research, and constant experimentation, it seemed that nothing was working, at least with regard to some of the best forms of authentic flaking. Then, in January of 2015, I had an epiphany about some information that I had tried to get the flintknapping community to look at, between 2010 and 2011. It actually was a double epiphany, because the first epiphany pertained to something that I could see happened, over 10,000 years ago. And, the second epiphany pertained to something that happened about a century and a half ago.
As soon as I had this epiphany, I picked up a deer tine flaker, and a rock, ran outside, and proceeded to produce this type of flaking, on the first try:
So, this proves that A there is proof, and that B it is proveable. And, this was all done with information that I had tried to get the flintknapping community to look at between 2010, and 2011. The moral of the story is don't give up, so long as there is evidence in sight. Every sacrifice made was worth it.
