Pieces made on the fly then just dropped there...

[BabaORiley]

Some recent posts I have seen around the net show a lot of pics of finds that look like they were knapped up quickly on the spot. What I mean is I see a lot of scrapers, knives and such that seem to have been made in a pinch. These stone weapons albeit very effective at killing game probably did not provide a dead in its tracks kill. That being said I speculate that there was a fair amount of chase and tracking involved. There was probably a great urgency to get the meat processed for transport ASAP especially if there were large predators about. I see pics of these pieces and there are comments about not finding anything else there ever. It just led me to think that possibly some of these partial tools may have been just left at the kill site. What are your thoughts?

[Looks2Much]

I feel like I have several items that might fit into this category unless someone here can tell me what they are. I have always felt that they were items that were discarded because they weren't coming out right.

In the group photo there are two items that really resemble one another except for the size difference. They could be items that broke during manufacture, or they could have been hastily made items, maybe they were made by the lazy guy in the tribe that forgot they were going on a hunt the next morning! In reality, I kind of feel like laziness would not have been tolerated... but what do I know? The points on both are worked on both sides with a sharp point, but the base is pretty much just a blob. The last item on the top row really appears to be some kind of ugly, re-worked point. I posted this in another thread but it seemed like a fit here. The lefthand piece on the bottom row is actually one of my favorite finds. It's nothing special, but it was made with a minimum of strikes and you can clearly see each one, which I just think is cool. The middle piece I assume was headed for a life as a large Levanna but then broke, the cutting edges are very sharp and the base is just kind of half-knapped. The last item is something I have been meaning to post at some point. All edges are sharpened and it looks like something that would have been hafted to a shaft or even a small hatchet head? Again it's not a work of delicate art, it was made to serve a purpose and the fact that it's kind of angular with a big node in the center seem to suggest that it was worked until it was "good enough" and then put to use.

I hope this is what you had in mind BabaORiley

[OnewiththewilD]

i think these are exhausted tools that actually saw quite a bit of work. at least some of em, i cant tell what everything is in the pic.the first two pics look like whats left of a knife, notice the large stem on it for such a small blade, that tells me it was probably hafted and worked down a bunch,probably while still in its handle, thats my guess

[Looks2Much]

Thanks Jay, that makes a lot of sense and sheds some light on another piece I found the other day.

[BabaORiley]

That's what I was getting at Looks. Things that are crudely made like it was just to be used for a bit and scrapped...nice post...

[Looks2Much]

Thanks Baba, here's a closer look at the lower left item. Probably not much to look at for most, but there's something cool about it, IDK

I feel like I can picture the person who made it whacking out a quick triangle, feeling the edges... dull spot here, whack, dull spot there... whack. thin out the base... done.

Of course it may just be a preform?

[sneakygroundbuzzard]

Thanks Baba, here's a closer look at the lower left item. Probably not much to look at for most, but there's something cool about it, IDK

I feel like I can picture the person who made it whacking out a quick triangle, feeling the edges... dull spot here, whack, dull spot there... whack. thin out the base... done.

Of course it may just be a preform?

the pics of items you posted look like they are made from quartz

not sure if youve ever attempted to knapp quartz or not

but quartz is tough material to knapp
it tends to want to break if it gets thin(and even if your not trying to get it thin),usually contains lots of fractures within the material,but can be quit sharp and holds an edge quit well
thats why most artifacts that are made from quartz are thick and kind of crude looking
but it does take time to make them,as much or more than time than if your using a good quality lithic material

[Looks2Much]

the pics of items you posted look like they are made from quartz

not sure if youve ever attempted to knapp quartz or not

but quartz is tough material to knapp
it tends to want to break if it gets thin(and even if your not trying to get it thin),usually contains lots of fractures within the material,but can be quit sharp and holds an edge quit well
thats why most artifacts that are made from quartz are thick and kind of crude looking
but it does take time to make them,as much or more than time than if your using a good quality lithic material

I don't know the first thing about knapping . I even wondered if knapping was the correct term for working with quartz... I thought maybe flaking was the proper term, but I just went with it.

I didn't mean to make it sound like the maker knocked that thing out in 5 minutes, but with the disparity in workmanship between that wonky point and some of the best quartz items I have found or seen on this site would seem to suggest that it was made more quickly, even if that means 30 minutes compared to an hour... or whatever the timing might have been.

Napping though, now that's another subject I know a lot about.

[OnewiththewilD]

we forget its us nowadays that live in a rush, in the past i think they depended more on the seasons than the minutes of the day, and time i dont think was as much as a factor as it is in our modern lives. if it took 5 minutes or 5 hours to make whatever tool was needed id imagine then so be it.alot of those artifacts you find that appear crude were probably just expedient tools not so much made in a hurry as opposed to made for just whatever task was needed at hand and didnt require them to be "G 10" in the first place, or what you could be finding is whats left of a MUCH used tool that was used up and knapped down to exhaustion. like when either good material was scarce or it was too cold or to far to replenish the supply,so material would be used over and over till is became to small or worthless. those thick crude looking points were probably knives at some point that were much bigger and had thinned out edges, but after knapping a new edge on it a few times it gets to that "clunky" looking point and was discarded, same with scrapers. and lets not forget that time also tends to bang things up too so something that may appear pretty beat could have been in better condition in the past. another issue is projects that didnt work out, not every point they made came out perfect,sometimes they'd get halfway into the project and realize the material just sucked and they may have just given up on it and started again on a better piece, so were bound to find their "mess up" things too.

[OnewiththewilD]

if im not mistaken, scrapers and such are usually a sign of a campsite more than a kill site, kill sites were usually quick men's camps were they field dressed their game, things like broken or lost points and knifes would be left behind at places like that. but tools like scrapers and choppers and knifes and other processing tools were camp items where the woman and children would be processing the game into meals and working the hides into usable leathers. men didnt stop to make buckskin when still on the trail, they had their familys do it for them when they got home from the hunt.

[Looks2Much]

All good points Jay.

I look at these things and think all of those things are possible. Mostly I have always thought they were discards, but I even like the obvious screw-ups.

The reason I have made a few assumptions about some things being made or reworked in a hurry is that I would assume that the "perfect" tool breaks during use and when you're already working on something--if human nature was the same as it is now--you set your sights on getting something else to finish the job... STAT. I have sharpened more than one flat-head screwdriver to make a quick chisel when I needed one to fit into a tight spot... rather than driving to Home Depot at 8:30 p.m. It's human ingenuity and it seems that this trait may be the one that has lasted through all of the other changes we have taken on thanks to changes in society and the pressures it exerts on us. But, there's no way for us to know. The only thing I know is that immersing myself in this education that you and other guys like you on this site have typed onto these pages has given me a lot to think about and I have learned a lot in my three weeks of being here. I hope to someday meet people like you, CMD, Metacom... etc, I love to speculate and pontificate, but I like to listen and learn even more.

-Dave

[BabaORiley]

My original thought on this was about a tool or two found within close proximity of each other. Yes scrapers and such are signs of a campsite...fully finished ones. I am getting at pieces that are not worn out looking from over and over rework but maybe something carried along with them. Small easily carried pieces of favorable material that were carried in a" just in case" bag/container etc... Parts that could be a field kit and a quick knapp for right now use. Kinda like a Swiss Army Knife thing. As I stated earlier these were for use to quarter the kill for quick transport to the camp if necessary tools were lost as there were probably large predators about...and not to stop and make buckskin along the trail...

[OnewiththewilD]

well sure, of course they made flake blades and such. yes they made tools "on the fly" and not everything was a full on project to produce. good material is good material and why not use it all up as best you can?ive found little flakes of high quality jasper that show signs of secondery edge work on them, obviously utilized as expedient tools, and large flakes of various other lithics with only one side worked, sometimes unifacially, sometimes bifacially. but finding tools like that doesnt necessarily mean its a kill site or that they were in any kind of hurry or danger. it just means they had a good flake and used it for something, what they used it for and what exactly they were doing at the spot is anybody guess, unless the tool shows clear usage wear, like a spokeshave for instance, then who knows?

[Looks2Much]

Makes sense to me

[BabaORiley]

Ok. I think my point was taken out of context. Probably because I didn't word my thought properly. I guess the discarding of hastily made tools did not necessarily constitute a kill site. I was trying to put myself at that moment in time as to just what the reason was for these partial tools being discarded and asked for some thought on that...but the feedback is well taken. You modern knappers such as Onewith are the ones that have the best knowledge of such finds as far as the quick making of tools...

[chase]

I was up in Montana a few months back. and was in a bison bone bed that had broken points with perfect points. This was a place where it could have been used as a camp. but for the most part it was a place for killing and processing. The Flake tools were abundant. Simple no more than knocking off a flake from a core. The hammer stones also abundant to break the bones for the morrow. They did not put a lot of effort into tools to process, but the tools were effective with razor sharp edges.

[Looks2Much]

You didn't happen to take a photo there did you? That sounds very interesting, to say the least

[BabaORiley]

Thank you for that post Chase. That is what I was getting after. Simple tools made for immediate use and then dropped. Now I realize that a western bison kill site and a couple of pieces found in an odd place along a riverbank in the Midwest are not the same. I was just noticing the amount of these type of tools that I have seen lately and they show signs of work. They come from all over the Midwest and other areas as well but the Midwestern finds interested me. That must have been a helluva site to visit Chase. Was it a jump site?

[waterglass]

Here is a thread I did on this subject. These were found off a site where 3 natural game runs meet and it is close to a year around spring.

http://forums.arrowheads.com/forum/general-discussion-gc5/show-and-tell-%E2%80%93-your-site-finds-and-in-situs-gc8/220543-hey-luke

I find hundreds of tools that were minimally worked, and used until worn out and discarded.