I pumped out a little point made from normanskill chert today. I know many flint knappers who favor using materials that occur locally within their state or surrounding geographic area, and I am no exception. Many knappers also enjoy producing historically accurate replicas of point-types known to occur in their area from the archeological record, and this can only be done by using the appropriate type of stone. In general, New York lithic materials are not considered beautiful or easy to work, but for those of us who enjoy knapping them, the end result can leave you with a great sense of satisfaction (or frustration, as is often times the case). For me, using local rock connects me to the previous inhabitants who relied upon the same material to sustain their lives.  And it also provides me with a level of assurance knowing that I can utilize the same resource in a similar way if need be. The more common New York cherts include onondaga, normanskill, and esopus and they can be found in different parts of the state.

Popularity: 71%

Today I finished up a Susquehanna point that I had originally worked into a little biface a few days ago.  The material is keokuk chert and probably wasn’t historically used with this eastern style of point.  But once it’s hafted to a spear or atlatl dart, I doubt any critter that might be on the receiving end would know the difference.

Popularity: 36%

Hemp Hill (top) & Corner Notch

There is nothing worse than putting a lot of time and energy into a point only to mess things up at the very end.  I was putting in the last notch when my cone flake took out the ear.  I was hoping to make something resembling a Hemp Hill.  The finished product is still acceptable and functional but the lack of symmetry obviously reduces some of the aesthetic qualities.  The second projectile is a simple corner-notched point.  And sticking with the “I hate notching” theme, I had to punch in one of the notches with indirect percussion because I had a hard time driving through the limestone inclusions using  pressure alone.  I don’t usually like to use indirect, but in this case it seemed to work out OK.

Popularity: 20%

I just wanted to state for the record that I am a regular visitor to Lithic Casting Lab as it is a wonderful resource for the flint knapper. Most notable in my opinion are the casts they make of authentic stone age artifacts that have been collected the world over. When you are trying to replicate a particular point, nothing beats holding the actual piece in your hands to study and appreciate. And if you can’t obtain that point for examination, the next best thing is to get your hands on an exact replica that has been cast from the genuine article. And that is one thing that Pete Bostrom of Lithic Casting Lab specializes in and does better than anybody else. So, I must confess that I felt a little sleezy after realizing that my domain name closely resembles theirs. In all honesty, I’ve always referred to LCL (in my mind and in conversation) in an abbreviated fashion as Lithic Casting. I had completely forgotten that the Lab-portion of their name had always been included at the end. So, when I was trying to come up with a name to express what my blog would be about (the learning and application of stone-age / primitive technology), the name Lithic Labs felt good and seemed to meet that criteria nicey; Lithic Casting Lab never even entered my mind. Well, I still feel a little weird about it, but it was an honest mistake and what is done, is done. I don’t know Pete personally, but I hope he won’t harbor any ill feelings toward Lithic Labs or myself for using a name that is so similar to theirs. Mea Culpa!

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BoingBoing linked to a National Geographic article regarding the use of red ochre by stone-age humans. Recent research now suggests that they deliberately used it as an additive to improve the adhesive quality of the glues they were making at the time. Considering that some type of adhesive was probably incorporated into the hafting process, this may explain why so many clovis-period projectile points found today show residual staining left by this iron-rich mineral. It was originally thought that the red pigment was rubbed onto the spear heads for spiritual or ceremonial reasons, but these latest findings shed new light upon how it could have be used in other ways. See for yourself:

Popularity: 16%