Right or left handed? 1896 article

[Tnmountains]

We have some good knappers on this forum and this has always been in the back of my mind. I guess looking at the heavy beveling on some points made me think if they were left or right handed.
So remember this article is from 1896 when reading.
Any more studies to be had on N America? Anyone else ever wondered?


https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1525/aa.1896.9.5.02a00010

 

[ToddsPoint]

I'm a left handed knapper. I've used beveled knives to skin game. You can't skin game with a right hand beveled knife if you're left handed. And vice versa. The bevel on a knife is the "ramp" that separates the skin from the carcass. From the beveled points I've seen, the majority of Indians were right handed. The exception are the Dalton points which (many) have left handed beveling for some reason. Being a lefty, I consider "handedness" in everything I do. Right handers never notice as everything is "normal." Gary

 

[uniface]

Richard: I replied to your PM but it doesn't seem like it got through. Same thing happened with a Joshua Reem PM about a week ago. I'm not ignoring you guys. Sorry for putting this here -- no other way to communicate with you. You can erase this, or I will when you respond.

 

[Rookster]

I write left hand.eat left hand. Golf, when I did right hand. Metal detect left. Kick a ball left. Throw right hand. Play a guitar left. Man am I messed up

 

[Tnmountains]

I'm a left handed knapper. I've used beveled knives to skin game. You can't skin game with a right hand beveled knife if you're left handed. And vice versa. The bevel on a knife is the "ramp" that separates the skin from the carcass. From the beveled points I've seen, the majority of Indians were right handed. The exception are the Dalton points which (many) have left handed beveling for some reason. Being a lefty, I consider "handedness" in everything I do. Right handers never notice as everything is "normal." Gary

Thanks for your thoughts and they make sense by explaining the skinning of a hide. Was curious if identifiable in knapping or beveling. Thanks I have skinned many animals.

 

[ToddsPoint]

Thanks for your thoughts and they make sense by explaining the skinning of a hide. Was curious if identifiable in knapping or beveling. Thanks I have skinned many animals.

On some western points that have oblique pressure flaking you can easily tell handedness. Much more difficult or impossible on random flaked points. Gary

 

[Red-Coat]

This is an area of interest for me too. There have been quite a few studies based on both analysis of hand tools and from interpretation of hand-drawn art. There have been more studies for Eurasian people than for Native Americans, but the consensus is that the evidence for North America’s ancient population indicates that left handedness (including ambidextrousness) was more common than it is today. Perhaps as high as 1 in 3, compared to about 1 in 10 for the modern population. In later contact times, there are observations (to some extent supported by folklore stories) which suggest that left handedness carried some stigma (as it does in many parts of the world) to the extent that it may have been actively discouraged. For example, multiple reports by Europeans of seeing NA infants whose left hand had been strapped to their cradleboard, while the right hand remained free.