Question...!!

[deadeye 22250]

Why are certain items called...what they are called?
Examples:
Thumb Scraper...These are ONLY around the size of the thumb, so in all practical use...your thumb would be in the way to use it!!
Knife...Any worked edge on the materials that were used for making tools such as points. scrapers etc. are not near as sharp as a freshly flaked off piece. A worked edge would be more for scraping than cutting.
To prove my point about a knife...take a piece that has been worked, and a small stack of news papers. Then try cutting it. After you do this...take the sharpest edge of a spalled off piece and see how much easier it is to slice through them. The worked edge will catch and tear.
If I could get pictures to re-size I could give examples.

 

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[rock]

imo with age the artifacts will dull but at one time with sharpening they were much sharper like a flake. They had flake knifes to.

 

[mission]

A spoon wouldn't work well without a handle, thumb scraper is the same. check out your steak knifes and you will see why serrated edges have a purpose. im sure they used sharp flakes like a razor blade. You can only compare our lives to theirs so closely, they probably weren't cutting up the sunday comics to hang on the wall at work.

 

[quito]

Most of the what we call thumb scrapers found are just uni-face end scrapers that were halfted to various things and were used to remove hair from hides. At least from what I have learned about our northern plains Natives.

What we comonly find have been wore down to that size and had been removed from the halft and discarded. Though small in size, I've held enough to know they could have, would have, worked well for removing small pieces of flesh left on the inside of a hide as well.

 

[1320]

Mission is correct, most of the tools where hafted...big difference by comparison. Instead of cutting paper, experiment with a piece of soft wood or a piece of fruit/veggie.

 

[monsterrack]

Flake blades were a important part of everyday life ,just has points and other stone tools. That being said we don't find has many flake tools for a few reasons , 1 we don't look for them like we do other artifacts, most don't know what to look for and 2 they don't hold up to the rough life in creeks and fields like other artifacts do. It is a proven fact that a fresh flake is one of the sharpest cutting edge known to man, even some Doctor or using Obsidian blades to operate with now.

 

[deadeye 22250]

I have flint knapped points and know lots of flint knappers, so I know a freshly worked edge is NOT as sharp as the edge of a freshly spalled off piece of flint.
I have used a piece of flint to cut lots of things, and they hold an edge good.
Quite a few years ago we heard of a guy that made a knife for a doctor to use for his surgery, and they looked at under a microscope and compared it to a scalpel and the scalpel had flaws in the blade, and his knife didn't.
I figured the thumb scraper would have to be attached to something, so why not just call it a scraper !!!

 

[quito]

Hmmm. There must be a logical reason they resharpened instead of knocking out new sprawls all the time. Good thing too. or all there would be to find for knives would be dull flakes.

There have been some obsidian blades that have been used for surgery I know.

 

[Metal Illness]

Hmmm. There must be a logical reason they resharpened instead of knocking out new sprawls all the time. Good thing too. or all there would be to find for knives would be dull flakes.

There have been some obsidian blades that have been used for surgery I know.

Makes sense to re-sharpen as it is already hafted to the bone, antler etc. handle. Re-sharpened until it was used up then discarded. Creating the handle and hafting the "blade" to it, was more involved than knapping the actual point, knife or scraper.

 

[quito]

Makes sense to re-sharpen as it is already hafted to the bone, antler etc. handle. Re-sharpened until it was used up then discarded. Creating the handle and hafting the "blade" to it, was more involved than knapping the actual point, knife or scraper.

I understand. My reply was to the one who didn't think flaked knives were flaked knives, but were scrapers because flakes were sharper.

 

[quito]

Here are some examples I have. There are some pretty darn big one's, some that have most of their usefulness left, and would be easily halfted. And then there some of what we are calling thumb scrapers. And I am of the opinion that there was still some use for those that were to small to tie on.

 

[deadeye 22250]

They could easily spall off a piece of flint and use it as a cutting tool, then when it became dull work it into a point or tool to serve another purpose.
In case anyone thinks I am new at looking for artifacts, they are wrong, I have been looking for more than 50 years.

 

[quito]

"They could easily spall off a piece of flint and use it as a cutting tool, then when it became dull work it into a point or tool to serve another purpose. In case anyone thinks I am new at looking for artifacts, they are wrong, I have been looking for more than 50 years.

I agree 100%..... It's obvious they took those same flakes and when they became dull, and re-sharpened them for further use. See those scrapers I posted? I doubt many started out as a cutting tool. They are also called end scrapers because they were the end knocked off a rock. The thick end end was used for scraping.


I for one never thought that. But I don't agree with your assertions that

1. Thumbs get in the way of thumb scrapers.... I could do a lot of scraping with even the smallest one I have, and it is tiny, and I have concrete finisher/beekeeper hands.

2. that resharpened edges were more for scraping that cutting.

Well I just don't know what to say about that. There are just to many examples of knives that have obviously been resharpened numerous times.

 

[Calgarychef]

I've knapped quite a bit. A freshly made flake is sharper than anything but with such a fragile edge it doesn't last long, that's why we see the worked edges rather than using raw edges.

 

[rock]

You have to think of all the other things they made to justify some of the tools. Not all worked flint are what we think they were used for. Some areas had pottery then you had gravers. So many of those things needed tools to make and decorate. They used rocks and rock tools for everything. Might not be a scraper at all might be a graver. Gravers came in all shapes and sizes.
Why did you take your pics down?

 

[Kevin in IN]

Something that's caught my attention about the scrapers is the quality of the material they used. More times than not, the scrapers I find tend to be a higher quality of flint than the points I find with them. Around Huntington, In. , many are made from flintridge from Ohio. Does the better material hold a better edge? Kevin

 

[Buckleberry]

I've knapped quite a bit. A freshly made flake is sharper than anything but with such a fragile edge it doesn't last long, that's why we see the worked edges rather than using raw edges.

There's the winning answer to flakes vs bifacial knives...hardiness..and also consider a fragile flake knife breaking while using it, best way to get injured, something the NAs could ill afford.