First Thumb Scraper?

[IMAUDIGGER]

Sorry the pictures are not that good.
This thing is small. Definitely delicately worked around the tip.
Flat on the back side.

 

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[joshuaream]

Certainly looks like a little scraper to me. Nice piece

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

I think I had picked this piece up and tossed it last year.
Now that I am learning a little bit here, I'm looking at things closer.
Before it was an arrowhead or it wasn't.

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

Wonder what they were scraping..fingers would be strong after a couple hours of that.

 

[sandchip]

Heck, yeah. Great material, too.

 

[joshuaream]

View attachment 1689481
Wonder what they were scraping..fingers would be strong after a couple hours of that.

Not sure how accurate the idea is, but I was told that the tiny ones were probably used for mink and small pelts like that. That might be the same as small points being only for birds, but it makes sense to me.

 

[quito]

Very nice scraper!

That is exactly why you need to look close at every flake you see no matter how small. There are way more utilized flake tools and scrapers laying around than easy to determine notched blades and points.

I have found hundreds of thumb scrapers, I bet at least 6 to every point or part of a point i find.

I have a feeling your finds are gonna pick up and your collection is gonna grow a bit now.

 

[arrow86]

Definitely a thumb scraper and a sweet one at that .... cool material , nice find
Spotting things like this will help you all the way around there’s been many times that I picked something up convinced it was a scraper and to my surprise it’s a little point so pick up everything

 

[NCPeaches]

It's really awesome! It's a nice find! Some call them utilized flakes. I've found a few that were small like that made from a gray colored flint and hoping someday to find the projectile point that was made from that gray flint. I love the material on the one you found.

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

I believe the material is red chert.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Very nice thumb scraper.

 

[uniface]

When the only really good material you can find is in small, water-worn (or glacial) cobbles from far away, you make little tools out of them because the edges are sharper and stand up to use better without getting dull as fast, even though they're small.

Not to quibble but since it's come up, a utilized flake is a simple flake that shows evidence of having been used. (If this was for cutting something soft like meat or plants, this evidence will require magnification to find -- sometimes a microscope). Pieces like this one that show an edge deliberately flaked to create a working edge (in this case, to scrape something) are tools.

FWIW

 

[quito]

When the only really good material you can find is in small, water-worn (or glacial) cobbles from far away, you make little tools out of them because the edges are sharper and stand up to use better without getting dull as fast, even though they're small.

Not to quibble but since it's come up, a utilized flake is a simple flake that shows evidence of having been used. (If this was for cutting something soft like meat or plants, this evidence will require magnification to find -- sometimes a microscope). Pieces like this one that show an edge deliberately flaked to create a working edge (in this case, to scrape something) are tools.

FWIW

I guess I my idea of a utilized flake is one that shows that it’s been re-sharpened. Speculating the wear on the edge of a flake usually isn’t for me. The edge work on this nice flake being similar to the tell tale sign I have in mind. The graver spur another.

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

Thanks for the input and compliments.
I guess it's a uni-face tool?

 

[quito]

Thanks for the input and compliments.
I guess it's a uni-face tool?

Most thumbscrapers are uniface. Many other artifacts are as well. Out of several hundred thumbscrapers that I have, very few are bi-facially worked.

 

[uniface]

Yep.

 

[dognose]

Nice thumb scraper, classic form.

 

[mainejman]

Beautiful thumb scraper..and they do make them small.I have several that size or smaller..They were probably the widely used of all artifacts over several time frames.. mjm

 

[arrow86]

Nice scraper I have one very similar...