Flake Tools

[bean man]

Just some of the typical junk we find in our creeks. The brown chert is what we see the most of.

 

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[Airborne80]

Wow! I am very new to this and have been hunting creeks near my house. I find tons of things that look like this but am never sure that they are tools. is there a trick to identifying them? I will post a bunch of stuff that I found today... see what you think.

 

[bean man]

If your area had a lot of Indian activity, then your creek is probably full of this kind of stuff. I believe a lot of hide and food processing, was done at the creek. Look for the right material and worked edges. Thanks for the reply.

 

[Airborne80]

Thanks for the response. I just posted my creek finds for today....inspired by your post. here are some of the things that I found. I wonder if a few might be tools. Some are just cool rocks for sure. What do you think?

 

[bean man]

Looks like you have some possible perform points and scrapers. Do the bigger pieces have flat edges and a blade edge?

 

[Airborne80]

Well..... here is one of them up close. I am using a cell phone camera, so the quality is lacking. The edge is pretty darn sharp. Also... what is a preform? Is that a piece of rock that was in the process of being made into an arrowhead? Thanks.

 

[CarolinaDigs]

Well I could be wrong but a preform is the shape that they start out with and then it is knapped . So yep I think you are right

 

[bean man]

Yes, I think that is one. I believe a preform is the first roughed out stages.

 

[Airborne80]

Very cool! It is soooooo exciting and fun to look for this kind of thing. I pick up everything that may be something haha. I get them home and then take a closer look. I am happy that I kept these. Thanks again.

 

[Cannonman17]

That first picture does look like you have some flaking debitage (bits and pieces from the flintknapping process) as well as some cool rocks but the one that you hold up in the later pictures doesn't appear to be anything. I say that 1) not being sure because the picture is blurry and 2) becuase there doesn't appear to be any flaking scars on it.

 

[Airborne80]

You are probably right on the mark. In the first picture, the item on the uppermost left..... its a quartz flake that really looks like it was worked on. there are a few others that were near it, that have definite marks on them..... some are almost points! Its like they changed their minds and disguarded the items before finishing them. thanks for the post.

 

[Cannonman17]

You are probably right on the mark. In the first picture, the item on the uppermost left..... its a quartz flake that really looks like it was worked on. there are a few others that were near it, that have definite marks on them..... some are almost points! Its like they changed their minds and disguarded the items before finishing them. thanks for the post.

It's just too hard to say from those pictures but if they almost look like points they may very well be... could be broken ones. The good thing is when you find flakes like that you know you're in the right area and just have to keep on hitting it!

 

[Airborne80]

Roger that. I will be at the creek every free moment that I get. Thanks again for the advice.

 

[bean man]

Well, the picture is not very good, but I see what looks like a worked edge and a flat finger spot in the front bottom. I could be wrong, but I see a backed knife/scraper.

 

[Cannonman17]

My eyes must be going bad, I don't see a single flaking scar on the whole darn thing.

 

[bean man]

Some folks didn't and some materials don't leave much of a flaking scar.

 

[Cannonman17]

Some folks didn't what?

I would agree that some materials don't show the flaking scars very well but I would add that this is the exception to the rule. Conversely, geofacts very seldom have "flaking scars" and this is the general rule rather than the exception.

 

[bean man]

Many flake tools, or modified debitage don't show lots of flake scars. I don't believe for a minute that everybody was nor needed to be, an expert knapper. Most folks could shape tools and knap out an edge to varying degrees, but not everyone could flake out a nice point or tool. Imo.

 

[Cannonman17]

Many flake tools, or modified debitage don't show lots of flake scars. I don't believe for a minute that everybody was nor needed to be, an expert knapper. Most folks could shape tools and knap out an edge to varying degrees, but not everyone could flake out a nice point or tool. Imo.

Many flake tools don't show flake scars? Yes, virtually all of them do, isn't that why your refer to them as flaked tools? Modified debitage not so much, after all, a simple flake makes a great knife all by itself. Then again, if it's modified it's going to show that in terms of secondary flaking... and even if it's not intentionally modified, it will be modified by use because most flakes flatten out to a super thin cutting edge which is great if you're cleaning a rabbit for dinner but by doing that the super thin edge, under close inspection, will have many many tiny flakes on it that popped off just by applying pressure while cutting through the skin/flesh or whatever it was used for. I don't think they were all expert knappers either bean, that's not my point (no pun intended ) My point is this, whether your the best knapper in the tribe or the worst one doesn't matter, if you make a tool or point you're still going to modify it to some degree and leave evidence of that in most cases. This rock shown in the pic is nothing more than a broken rock from the looks of it. There are no flaking scars that can be seen, no flaking ridges, nothing but your imagination here again as evidence. Not to get off topic too far here but I have to elaborate on that whole thing about them not all being experts: There can be no doubt that some were better than others but if your entire way of life depends to some degree on your ability to make tools it's a pretty safe bet that you're going to get fairly good at it. Certainly one would get good enough at it that their attempt to make a tool would be easily distinguishable in most cases from an ordinary broken rock.

When I was a boy I found an old dump out in the woods with tons of old broken jugs and bottles. This is where I first learned to knapp....even my very first attempts, with no guidance, yielded ugly crude tools covered in flaking scars. I never did use all the glass in that old dump, and to this day there is still lots and lots of broken jugs and bottles. The beanman of the future will pick up some of those broken bottles and say "Look!! I think this is a knife, see, it's sharp on one side and has a flat spot for a thumb." even though what he picks up was broken by throwing it there in the first place and never actually knapped at all.

 

[Cannonman17]

You know what confuses me most about you? You obviously do find artifacts... real ones... like in your top picture it looks like you have all kinds of flaking debitage, maybe some modified flakes... artifacts none the less but yet you continue to argue stuff like this other picture that was posted, trying to make a case for something that just isn't. It's like if there is a one in a million chance that a rock was used by a Native American you're going to take the stand that it is that one in a million every time.... I figure if I have to look that hard and use that much imagination (when most artifacts are readily obvious) then it's not worth it. I only argue with you on these various postings to stop the spread of misinformation.