I call them “ARTifacts because that’s what they are… art.
I primarily use traditional techniques: knapping, pecking, polishing, etc. Since I believe in being honest, on 4 of these ARTifacts (I won’t say which ones) I admit that a grinder was used to get the rough shape, then I finished the shaping process with pecking/polishing so the end result looks legit.
I really love making these. In many ways it makes me feel closer to the ancient people who made them so long ago than handling actual artifacts! I think it’s because even though I’m not holding something that someone held so long ago (as you are when holding an actual ancient tool) instead you are actually doing what they did. It’s as if the act is the artifact… not the actual stone.
I also think it has given me insight into sooooo many things that I would never have had if I hadn’t been going through the process of recreating them. Over the course of many hours of pecking/polishing/knapping thoughts seem to spontaneously appear in my brain and they have an “Ah ha!” quality to them.
For example I can imagine that, say 6,000 years ago, when someone was walking a trail through the woods they knew they were approaching a settlement not only because they might have smelled smoke for burning wood and cooking food, but they also would have heard the constant “peck, peck, peck…” of people making tools. That pecking sound must have been a staple of indigenous life. It takes so long (maybe 20 hours?) to make even one stone axe and if there were multiple people all making tools at once the sound must have been ubiquitous. It must have been nearly 24/7.
Now, in modern times, that sound is not a regular part of our regular experience. I’d wager my neighbors probably want to shoot me at this point but whatever. Their dog barks all the time so we’re even. I bet people back then got used to it though. It’s analogous to people who live in the city today that barely hear the cars and sirens (and all too often gunfire) outside. It's becomes background noise to them. Then when these people come to a place like where I live the incessant din of crickets, wood frogs and peepers is maddening to them. I barely notice them at all and when I do it's lovely. I bet indigenous people were able to sleep right through the “peck, peck, peck, scrape, scrape, scrape…”
It’s also clear to me that, as the saying goes: “It takes a village”. There is no way one or even a few people could make all the axes, chisels, adzes, plummets, pestles, net weights, PPKs, braided rope, woven baskets, fish hooks, spear shafts, cloths, etc etc. Each one is a skill in and of itself and took a lot of practice become expert at. There was certainly division of labor. I wonder how that was decided? Did some people just naturally gravitate towards one skill or was it forced upon them in some way? Family tradition passed down through generations? I bet there were lots of factors.
Anyway, as usual I could go on-and-on but maybe I’ll do that later in some other post.
I hope you like looking at these. Any thoughts or criticisms are welcome. Don’t hold back. If something seems off LMK. I want to get these things right.
PS: All of these or going in an educational display at a local heritage center.
I primarily use traditional techniques: knapping, pecking, polishing, etc. Since I believe in being honest, on 4 of these ARTifacts (I won’t say which ones) I admit that a grinder was used to get the rough shape, then I finished the shaping process with pecking/polishing so the end result looks legit.
I really love making these. In many ways it makes me feel closer to the ancient people who made them so long ago than handling actual artifacts! I think it’s because even though I’m not holding something that someone held so long ago (as you are when holding an actual ancient tool) instead you are actually doing what they did. It’s as if the act is the artifact… not the actual stone.
I also think it has given me insight into sooooo many things that I would never have had if I hadn’t been going through the process of recreating them. Over the course of many hours of pecking/polishing/knapping thoughts seem to spontaneously appear in my brain and they have an “Ah ha!” quality to them.
For example I can imagine that, say 6,000 years ago, when someone was walking a trail through the woods they knew they were approaching a settlement not only because they might have smelled smoke for burning wood and cooking food, but they also would have heard the constant “peck, peck, peck…” of people making tools. That pecking sound must have been a staple of indigenous life. It takes so long (maybe 20 hours?) to make even one stone axe and if there were multiple people all making tools at once the sound must have been ubiquitous. It must have been nearly 24/7.
Now, in modern times, that sound is not a regular part of our regular experience. I’d wager my neighbors probably want to shoot me at this point but whatever. Their dog barks all the time so we’re even. I bet people back then got used to it though. It’s analogous to people who live in the city today that barely hear the cars and sirens (and all too often gunfire) outside. It's becomes background noise to them. Then when these people come to a place like where I live the incessant din of crickets, wood frogs and peepers is maddening to them. I barely notice them at all and when I do it's lovely. I bet indigenous people were able to sleep right through the “peck, peck, peck, scrape, scrape, scrape…”
It’s also clear to me that, as the saying goes: “It takes a village”. There is no way one or even a few people could make all the axes, chisels, adzes, plummets, pestles, net weights, PPKs, braided rope, woven baskets, fish hooks, spear shafts, cloths, etc etc. Each one is a skill in and of itself and took a lot of practice become expert at. There was certainly division of labor. I wonder how that was decided? Did some people just naturally gravitate towards one skill or was it forced upon them in some way? Family tradition passed down through generations? I bet there were lots of factors.
Anyway, as usual I could go on-and-on but maybe I’ll do that later in some other post.
I hope you like looking at these. Any thoughts or criticisms are welcome. Don’t hold back. If something seems off LMK. I want to get these things right.
PS: All of these or going in an educational display at a local heritage center.
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