Flint Knapping?

Barney

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Have you ever done some flint knapping? Maybe you've used some other material, like glass perhaps? Some interesting tools can be creating this way if you have the skill.
 

ppine

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With obsidian. I used to work with a lot of archaeologists. It is easy to make sharp edges, but it takes practice to make anything beautiful.
 

Grandpa

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Flint knapping just may be the worlds second oldest profession. While any ole Indian or Abo could knap out a rough arrowhead or spear point, it took a true professional to knap a perfect one. Even more important was the ability to read the stone to get the most use out of a stock stone. Good flint or good obsidian did not just lay around everywhere. It was traded for, and traveled for. Like any nomad, extra weight was an issue and a load of rocks was not a good idea. Each clan/tribe had its special knapper to get the most out of what they did carry.

Today, archaeologists can tell which era of civilization knapped any artifact as styles changed and evolved over time. A Clovis era point is decidedly different from a Fremont era point etc.
 

Barney

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I watched Dave from Dual Survival on his channel about flint knapping. He said, flint would be hard to find anywhere but glass bottles are just everywhere and glass is good for this purpose.
 

Pathfinder1

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Hi...


THIS WAS AN EYE OPENER...!!


I recently read...on a hunting and fishing site...about flint and/or obsidian "bird" arrowheads...small enough to barely cover the nail on your index finger. At least it was thought to be an arrowhead for birds...because of their tiny size.

Well, it was decided to experiment with them. A fresh-killed deer was the target. "Bird" arrowheads were affixed to reed arrows, and fired from a 'mere' forty pound pull bow into the deer carcass from a distance of thirty feet.

The arrows not only penetrated the deer, but extended through the other side of the deer...!! This was tried numerous times, all with the same results.

Evidently, small arrowheads were used on big game because they were easier to make, lighter to carry, and could be used with a much lighter bow...AND killed big game.

I guess that you never know until you try.




Everbody knows something.
 

Newanderthal

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I once made something that almost resembled an arrowhead... if you were squinting... and kind of far away. I used about half the rocks on the planet before achieving this level of success.

I would have made a terrible cave man.
 

Pathfinder1

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Hi...


I've often wondered how so many people can 'find' Indian arrowheads while plowing, or otherwise means. It's hard to believe that Indians would be so careless as to 'lose' them.

An unbelievable amount of them must have been lost, scattered, etc. in order to result in so many finds...and many times in areas where Indians were not known to congregate. (I'm talking Eastern US now).

Certainly they weren't sowing them in fields, expecting them to grow...!!:tinysmile_hmm_t:
 

ppine

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Obsidian is a very consistent material. The fracture is concoidal meaning it is curved. A rough piece of glass is first cleaved into bi-faces. Then a wedge is knocked off and finally finished along the edges. Around a good arch site in the West there will be raw materials, bi-faces, wedges and hundreds of flakes. There will be lots of bad wedges and crummy started arrowheads. Even Abos made mistakes. There are usually few good projectile points around even good lithic sites because they were useful and were taken somewhere else.
 
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Newanderthal

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I've often wondered how so many people can 'find' Indian arrowheads while plowing, or otherwise means. It's hard to believe that Indians would be so careless as to 'lose' them.
Think about this... their arrows were all natural, meaning no neon fletching. If you missed a target, that thing could slide beneath the leaves and you could spend all day looking for it, standing right on top of it, and never find the darn thing. If they didn't find it right away, they probably just abandoned the thing. I mean the shafts grew on trees, the fletching grew on birds and the heads were freakin' rocks. I'm sure they didn't like losing them, but it was probably a very common occurrence.

I dug one up when I was 8. Mom got mad because of the massive hole in the back yard, but I was thrilled about the find. I was a freakin archeologist for a day. Wish I still had it.
 

Reed

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Hi...

Evidently, small arrowheads were used on big game because they were easier to make, lighter to carry, and could be used with a much lighter bow...AND killed big game.
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........And were much harder to make effectively. I would imagine. Which would be harder, whittling the shape of a human from a tree trunk, or from a branch?
 
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