Anyone know anything about flintknapping?
Asked by
rojo (
24179
)
November 7th, 2012
Found what I would describe as a flint dart point or knife on the family farm. It is approximately 3½” long, 2 1/8” wide toward the base and about ¾” thick at the thickest point and does not appear to be of very high quality with the flakes removed in large chunks with little or no fine pressure flaking on the edges.
How do you, or can you, tell a crudely made point from a rough cut blank that you will eventually make something good out of?
One item to note, this is from an area of blackland farmland. The available stone material are chert nodules in the soils; probably originating in the deeper chalk layer below the topsoils.
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9 Answers
I’m not sure exactly what you are asking.
Do you think this arrowhead or dart is some sort of artifact?
Are you asking how to make your own dart or arrow tips and how to find the right materials on your land?
@Coloma Sorry, to clarify, I am not trying to make one, I found what is very definitely a worked piece and I think is probably a flint knife or possibly a scraper of some kind. It is too big to be an arrowhead and upon reflection I think it is even too big to be an atlatl, or dart, point.
My question is whether it is a finished product, crudely done, or is it something that was worked slightly to get rid of the majority of the superfluous materials for transport with the fine touches to be done later?
And the second part of the question is that if there is a way to tell which it is, what is that way?
@rojo Oh, okay. Hmmm…well, maybe post a picture for others to view if possible.
Maybe take it to a local college that has an archeology dept. to determine if it is an artifact of completion or a castaway.
Nice site @Seek_Kolinahr Thanks. I will put in a message to them and see what they can tell me.
My husband is really into that kind of thing, if you post pics, he’ll tell you quickly.
He has some game balls made of stone that are really cool, we keep them in our garden area with other unique stones.
Husband says based on what you said, it may have been a larger tool that broke and they reworked, or possibly a work in progress. What color is it, white, pink, black, blue, etc…?
Some are worth money, some are just interesting when you look up the local tribes in your area.
@KNOWITALL it is tan. I spoke with someone else who lives in the same area and he said that it sound like ones that he has found all of which are rather crude but he has not seen it and I have not seen what he has. It could just be that the stone is of poor quality and won’t work well. Anyway, I will see if I can post pics when I get home this evening. Thanks
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