Tnmountains, very well said.
Sure with casting labs and such. Luckily what you were seeing and proved wrong with was the real deal from the family who found the dang thing for petes sake. Now you think all the paper work is forged also.
. Quit being such a debbie downer. We are not talking about slag. This is your thread called "big points" not fakes and slag and documented forgeries . Geee you called it fake before you heard his explanation of the piece.
Happy Easter
GatorBoy, you've got great enthusiasm but you've been quick to call fake/modern on artifacts that clearly you don't understand (Rutz, the copper spuds, etc.) In what seems like a short time you've developed a solid knowledge on Central Florida, it's going to take a little more study to get that same knowledge on stuff from the opposite corner of the US. I am typing with a smile, so no getting offended.
In the years since the Rutz was found it has been handled/studied by a who's who of Clovis experts (no, not $30 COAer's.) With the exception of one lab tech who couldn't source the Obsidian, no one thought it was fake and more than a couple have referenced it in their research. Knappers don't like it, but most of them are experts in making a finished Clovis point, not Clovis technology. The couple that are experts in technology support the piece in the thread you posted. I actually put a lot of credence in what modern knappers say, especially when it comes to something they know e.g. why a piece was made from a slab instead of a spall, or the way the flaking feathers out is indicative of a copper bopper vs antler, etc. When knappers can't explain how something was made it is kind of a positive thing from authenticity point of view. Like with Ga's pipe, the fact that it isn't a run of the mill copy of a pipe is a good thing, some of the details don't match pipes from Ohio, but they don't have to match Ohio material.
The flaking on the piece is absolutely spot on for what we know about Clovis (how they were fluted, why the flakes intruding on the flute at this stage is a good sign, the scratches, and even why we believe these mega points were made), and it matched the flaking before the detailed analysis of Wenatchee and Fenn were published. Matching the lottery numbers after they are drawn is easy, matching them before the drawing is nearly impossible. Plainly said, if the Rutz is a fake, the knapper had intimate knowledge of a couple of different excavated caches before they were found/studied (they guessed when knapping and made about 12 perfect guesses that had never been seen before.)
