Tiny thing

[rock]

When I was out Sat I picked up a lot of chips. I always clean them then look later. I like to study the flaking and once in a while find a worked flake in the mix. I found this and it really is strange and tiny. Why would they need a tool this small? Maybe it is something else you tell me. Thanks, rock

 

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[natchitoches]

is that a gar scales or a tiny point?

 

[NC field hunter]

Good Lord! Eagle eye should be your name!! Nice!

 

[rock]

I dont know what it is. I found it in the dirt in the cotton field. Thought it was a flake, it was dirty. I washed it and it came to life. I found a small flake knife with it about the same size. Might be a tatoo tool maybe?

 

[rock]

Here are the 3 total

 

[Neanderthal]

Debitage, waste flakes (the bi-product of knapping).

 

[unclemac]

we find those all the time out in the PNW. Of course they call them "bird points" but the archaeologists tell me they were more likely for fish. Whatever they were used for, I have a bunch of them.

 

[NC field hunter]

we find those all the time out in the PNW. Of course they call them "bird points" but the archaeologists tell me they were more likely for fish. Whatever they were used for, I have a bunch of them.

Uncle, good to hear from you! I have read about "bird points" being found in skeletal structures or how ever they find the remains. What I'm trying to say is they were used in warfare as well as hunting/fishing. Rock, you must have been scratching through the dirt like a chicken. Lol! I know I do, and have only found one nice "bird point". It is a tiny morrow mt. And it is flawless. Found it on the side of the road in a track made by the mailman. Swear to it. One more day of postal service, and it would have looked like the rest of my collection.

 

[unclemac]

I have also had archaeologists tell me that the nasty looking serrated points are most often associated with warfare. Kind of like how hollow point bullets are meaner..so are the points that look like a sharks tooth.

 

[NC field hunter]

I have also had archaeologists tell me that the nasty looking serrated points are most often associated with warfare. Kind of like how hollow point bullets are meaner..so are the points that look like a sharks tooth.

Makes sense. Those little "teeth" probably flaked off in the wound. That would make it hard to keep infection from setting in. I wander if they ever rubbed human or animal waste on points intended for their enemy. Like people dip darts in poison. Huh, guess we will never know the answer, but certainly something to think about. Well, after you have thought about every thing else you could think of to think about. Lol!!

 

[old digger]

It could have been hafted to a stick and used as a small drill?

 

[Neanderthal]

These are NOT completed projectiles points or tools. These are the bi-product (waste) from knapping. There is zero (nada, zip, none) signs of human alteration on these pieces that show they were intentionally made in this form.

They are flakes!

 

[unclemac]

...here...these are pretty typical of what I have found in the past....

 

[rock]

Some flakes show secondary flaking on the edges. And some points I have seen are made from flakes. Flake tools

 

[rock]

Here are 2 more I have found there that are strange also.

 

[Neanderthal]

Here are 2 more I have found there that are strange also.

Again, they are debitage.

Look, if you look in ANY knappers waste pile you will see flakes that will resemble all kinds of things: birds, the moon, bigfoot riding a big wheel, etc. That does not mean that's what they were intended to be. With imagination, they can look like anything! It would benefit you greatly to just try knapping a few pieces, this would help you in being able to identify intentional flake scars and patterns.

 

[NC field hunter]

Not strange at all...they are debitage *beating my head against the keyboard*.

Rock, can we see the back of your last 2? Neanderthal, his last 2 do look similar to the tiny duck bill scrapers I find around here. You are probably correct yet. I think some of those little scrapers are flakes , that in being resourceful, they found a one or two time use for then discarded it. However, most of them have a flat, smooth bottom with signs of scraping. The thin ones that are concave on the bottom, debitage.

 

[yakker]

I too have found tiny little flakes which appear to have secondary flaking. I figured that when they- whoever- was knapping a tool-- finishing it, or re-sharpening it, sometimes more would come off than intended, leaving a flake/debitage with divits from secondary flaking. The flaking would only be on one side. So not an intentionally made tiny point, but perhaps something which could be used as an arrow-point or fish spear tip- but not by design. By happinstance. Waste not, want not. So I have to agree with Neanderthal on this one. JMHO.
HH!
Yak

 

[rock]

Well here is another one I have from another site many miles away. It is made from a flake and has a graver tip or spur on it. I dont think this was on accident? I am not disagreeing on the pieces at all just showing examples. This is from a Archaic site I go to. The others were from a Woodland site.

 

[rock]

I have others if I need to show them. I have a tiny drill of some kind to name another.