Is this knife complete or broken?

[Nigel Tufnel]

First off I just wanted to confirm this is in fact a knife. If so how complete of a piece is it in comparison to most you might find?

Thanks very much for all of your help.


Regards,

Jim

 

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[artorius]

If I found that up here in Pennsylvania, I would call it a blank or a preform. In other words, a roughly worked piece of flint that was destined for more careful work later to make a finished tool.

Whether it is a preform or a finished tool, it strikes me as a complete artifact.

artorius

 

[uniface]

My guess would be that it's complete, but hastily made (there were a lot of those) and resharpened to the point where it was exhausted and pitched.

 

[Tnmountains]

If I found that up here in Pennsylvania, I would call it a blank or a preform. In other words, a roughly worked piece of flint that was destined for more careful work later to make a finished tool.

Whether it is a preform or a finished tool, it strikes me as a complete artifact.

artorius

I agree

 

[uniface]

All other things being equal (and they never are), in order to be a preform, an artifact will have to be reasonably thin (i.e., capable of being finished into a point, or whatever). Anything so thick that it couldn't have been adequately thinned by flaking it from the sides may have been an abandoned preform (an attempt at one that the maker gave up on as an un-salvageable failure), or something else (knife, flake core, etc.). Since a lot of times things like this had multiple uses (as a flake source, to cut something and so on), you're safe calling it a "whatzit."

 

[bravowhiskey]

Nigel,

A nice piece by any name. Here is a very similar item I found a while back. (top) I thought a preform also, but am usually wrong. Middle piece is a broken knife. Anyway top one is a complete piece as is yours. Found in Brown County.

HH,
BW