bladelet

[unclemac]

wow...a red carnelian bladelet...sharp like a razor blade! I love finding the whole tool kit, don't get me wrong, projectile points are always a thrill, but the "other stuff" gets me going too.

 

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[apalm]

amazing!

 

[old digger]

Nice material!

 

[bone2stone]

Fire popped.

 

[sandchip]

Great color. I like the toning on the penny, too.

 

[1320]

Fire popped.

I'm not seeing that.

 

[reuellis]

How do you know that was used as a blade?

 

[unclemac]

How do you know that was used as a blade?

blade not as in knife or point, bladelet as in microblade...used as a sharp edge rather like we would a razor blade. Look at the three strikes across the top, very common for this tool. The back too is smooth and made with a single strike, the edge is thin and sharp. The material is ubiquitous for tools from the area.

 

[unclemac]

Great color. I like the toning on the penny, too.

i find coins only in a single spot along this area...dating from 1872 to the 1980's. A lot of them are worn smooth and thin like paper. I have no idea why they appear only there and have such a great date range.

 

[P.ALLEN]

microlithics, sharper than a surgical scalpel, the obsidian one's being the sharpest. Sweet coloration.

 

[Dirt fishing Wolf]

Eye catching color, nice find

 

[rock]

Very eye catching on that one. I always enjoy finding the big flakes I have a tub of them I just put the new ones I find in it and when I hit a dry spell I get to enjoy them all over again which might be soon

 

[reuellis]

I just don't see it.... I understand a flake is the sharpest piece, etc... I just don't see how you know that was utilized versus debitage? Maybe if I would see more pics of sides, etc... or if it was my area, it would help me see it.

 

[joshuaream]

Reuellis,

UncleMac described them well. Bladelets usually have some unique features, and one of the features are that they typically come off a prepared core. They carefully took off one bladelet, and then another, etc. and you typically see ridges running down the length of piece. Each successive blade took made another set of ridges. I took Unclemac's picture and added a couple of green lines to highlight these ridges. I guess they could happen during the course knapping, but they are almost always a sign of bladelet production.



They come off cores, this is a more conical core, but there are several different types.



Groups that made them tended to make a lot of them since they are a very efficient use of stone. If you take a chunk of flint about the size of a brick you might get 6 inch biface out if it, which gives you 12 inches of cutting edge. Resharpen it 5 times, and you get 60 inches of cutting edges. You might get thousands of inches of cutting edge if you turn that brick in to bladelets.

They tend to be limited use tools, so if you find the right type of site there can be thousands of them discarded. Once they wash into a river they tend to get dispersed very quickly and most people won't see them. A friend in Texas dug a site with something slightly smaller than a 1/2 mesh sifter and didn't find any, some friends sifted at the same site with a much smaller mesh and found them by the hundreds.

Here are some international ones I have.

 

[Jon Stewart]

Great find Mac. Do you have that material in the area of the find?

 

[diggingthe1]

It looks like I will be going over my finds. I am excited to learn about this tool. I'm sure I have picked up quite a few. I love the information That sure is a beautiful shade of red!

 

[unclemac]

Reuellis,

UncleMac described them well. Bladelets usually have some unique features, and one of the features are that they typically come off a prepared core. They carefully took off one bladelet, and then another, etc. and you typically see ridges running down the length of piece. Each successive blade took made another set of ridges. I took Unclemac's picture and added a couple of green lines to highlight these ridges. I guess they could happen during the course knapping, but they are almost always a sign of bladelet production.

View attachment 1473642

They come off cores, this is a more conical core, but there are several different types.

View attachment 1473644

Groups that made them tended to make a lot of them since they are a very efficient use of stone. If you take a chunk of flint about the size of a brick you might get 6 inch biface out if it, which gives you 12 inches of cutting edge. Resharpen it 5 times, and you get 60 inches of cutting edges. You might get thousands of inches of cutting edge if you turn that brick in to bladelets.

They tend to be limited use tools, so if you find the right type of site there can be thousands of them discarded. Once they wash into a river they tend to get dispersed very quickly and most people won't see them. A friend in Texas dug a site with something slightly smaller than a 1/2 mesh sifter and didn't find any, some friends sifted at the same site with a much smaller mesh and found them by the hundreds.

Here are some international ones I have.

View attachment 1473646

thanks for taking the time to explain in detail...that is what is great about this site.

 

[unclemac]

Great find Mac. Do you have that material in the area of the find?

yes indeed, back in the 1840's-50's...natives would pick up sackfuls off the beaches and send them down to San Francisco along with sacks of oysters. Oystering is what brought settlers to this specific area and remains a big part of the local economy today. These stones are not nearly as common as they where then, but we do still find them....sometimes as marine fossils...so agate clam-shells and the like.

 

[unclemac]

It looks like I will be going over my finds. I am excited to learn about this tool. I'm sure I have picked up quite a few. I love the information That sure is a beautiful shade of red!

once you get a feel for it you want to find the whole "tool kit"...hammers, blades, pestles, wrenches, mortars, gouges, celts, on and on...

 

[NCPeaches]

Very cool and I love the color!