Some scrapers and some questions

[Bluesy]

Here are some scrapers that I found in the creek yesterday. The creek tumbles them something fierce but every once in awhile, you can clearly see the flaking. All of these are worked to an edge (I know it might be hard to see in my pics) and the curved ones are worked on both the concave and convex sides.

I think the crusty one in the middle, to the left of the quarter, is a blade but it is uniface so I'm calling it a scraper. What do you think?

Also, how do you decide what to keep and what to throw back?

If you found these scrapers, which would you keep and which would you toss?

I'm asking because I'm running out of room for my rocks. Lol

Thank you for any help.

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[mamabear]

Hi Bluesy! I would agree w/ most, I would keep them. If you need space, you could always donate some to a local school. The teachers love being able to have the kids touch history instead of just read about it. great finds! we should get together & hunt sometime.

 

[Neogeo]

I am with Mammabear..Schools are a great place to get kids into history...

 

[Bluesy]

Thank you very much to everyone for all of your help! Hopefully I'll find something soon that I will be sure of its use and that will look like an actual artifact instead of just a quickie tool. The way I figure, I'll know it when I see it but still being new to this, I second guess myself and end up keeping way too much. Hubby is going to ban me from the creek soon if I don't quit hauling everything home.

Uniface - those are real beauties and I especially love the black and brown one on the left.

Hi Mamabear, giving some of these to the school is a great idea! Thank you!

 

[naturegirl]

Blusey, you hated history because they made it so booorrring..... What if they had taken you out somewhere, and let you look for artifacts, while teaching you the history, and sensitvity to the culture, and all the fascinating things that go with it? I LIKED history, but it didn't include any of this. Gotta get the kids' hands dirty! Thanks for sharing, it's all about learning isn't it? Oh, and just make sure hubby has equal space, then he'll be ok.

naturegirl

 

[SoIll]

Bluesy, the only one in your picture that I can tell for sure was a tool is the one in the top right hand corner. It looks like either a broken hafted scraper, or a base section upside down.


That's the only one I would've kept.
Just being honest

 

[oldgoat]

I agree with uniface, alot of the items were just used once or twice...I call them killsite knives or scrapers, just used at the kill site and left behind...

 

[Tnmountains]

My vote was to keep them for the future rock garden. I like them all. The brown one with dimples is great. I do not know what it is but it just screams...Rock Garden,lol Heck I live near See Rock City,what do I know. : ) I have stepping stones of indian morters and a mini rock crushing hammerstone garden art work going on. Nice hunt look forward to your future finds.
TnMtns

 

[bravowhiskey]

nice finds that deserve a spot somewhere. What is the piece middle bottom? I love the coloration.

BW

 

[uniface]

Suffice it that we differ.

 

[uniface]

http://anthromuseum.missouri.edu/minigalleries/clovistools/74-31-clovistoolkit.shtm

 

[Bluesy]

Thanks everyone! Yep, these are probably all headed for the rock garden but I'll hang on to a few of them (the top right one and the bottom center one) until I find some better examples like you have shown here.

Naturegirl, you are so right about how much more interesting "hands on" history could have been. But I'm glad that I've found it now. Oh, and hubby has more than enough room, the entire garage is his man cave. He put in some shelves in a corner for my rocks over the weekend to keep them off of his workbench. Lol

Uniface, thank you for the link! I put it in my favorites along with some of the other Missouri lithics links you've provided. Thanks so much!

 

[uniface]

I probably should have explained the thinking behind posting that link.

It's that while the red one at 12:00, the white one at 1:00 and the brown one at 6:00 were clearly tools (the brown one is what's called an Untra-thin Biface), they wouldn't immediately strike people as having been tools, and would be pretty easily dismissed as "just debitage."

The edges tell the tale

 

[Bluesy]

Thank you, Uniface. I always learn something with all of the links you post but I think you are right about the edge. I like to find tools that are worked on both sides of the edge because it makes it easier for me to identify. If it is only worked on one side like so many of the uniface tools, it makes it more difficult, especially if it was just a quickie tool with no flaking that was made to do one job and then discarded. Thank you so much for all of your help.

Btw, I would love to find one like the one they have pictured at 7:00!