This was a surface find hiking up a steep hillside among pine trees. It is 2 inches long, 1 1/8 inch wide at the base. The flute is 1 1/4 inches on each side. Base is ground on both sides and flute base. The sharpening curved cutting area is still sharp. The sides are ground to the touch 1 1/4 inch. My brother had a name for this discarded Clovis, but with the cutting edge so limited, it was discarded is our Theory... and I am sticking to it. It had been sharpened down to the base of the handle.
She thought it was a flake, used and discarded for the cutting edge ignoring the 'color'... then reconsidered, backed up and ended up finding a Clovis. This is a very hard jasper and a quarry is known within 100 miles. I am not disclosing any location information, except when in person conversation. She was not sure what she found but when she saw my reaction... she immediately knew.
It is a 'stray find' and not a campsite, nor were any jasper flakes, percussion or pressure, found in the general area. We have much experience in the area and have never seen any Jasper flakes or nodules or signs of this material in the area found. They would have been carried in as the material does not exist in this entire area, except at the quarry with massive amounts of percussion flakes and quarry activity.
This material is not like Obsidian or Sedalia Missouri Chert... both are much easier to percussion and pressure flake, fine cutting edge work. I scanned this and the blade is almost... the thickness of four nickels stacked. This blade was made to last... and it served its owner very well. It may not be pretty... but holding a blade this old makes you sit down and try to visualize what this person, and not doubt others were along this rough area thousands of years ago. Makes you appreciate how, on foot, these people managed to survive... without a cell phone.
We are deciding if we should give the location in the State it was found and send it to the appropriate people. Often it would be treated as questionable and put in some drawer as questionable and forgotten.
She thought it was a flake, used and discarded for the cutting edge ignoring the 'color'... then reconsidered, backed up and ended up finding a Clovis. This is a very hard jasper and a quarry is known within 100 miles. I am not disclosing any location information, except when in person conversation. She was not sure what she found but when she saw my reaction... she immediately knew.
It is a 'stray find' and not a campsite, nor were any jasper flakes, percussion or pressure, found in the general area. We have much experience in the area and have never seen any Jasper flakes or nodules or signs of this material in the area found. They would have been carried in as the material does not exist in this entire area, except at the quarry with massive amounts of percussion flakes and quarry activity.
This material is not like Obsidian or Sedalia Missouri Chert... both are much easier to percussion and pressure flake, fine cutting edge work. I scanned this and the blade is almost... the thickness of four nickels stacked. This blade was made to last... and it served its owner very well. It may not be pretty... but holding a blade this old makes you sit down and try to visualize what this person, and not doubt others were along this rough area thousands of years ago. Makes you appreciate how, on foot, these people managed to survive... without a cell phone.
We are deciding if we should give the location in the State it was found and send it to the appropriate people. Often it would be treated as questionable and put in some drawer as questionable and forgotten.
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