Lithic Slate tools.

flintoff · Post by **flintoff** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 10:46 am

It is known Slate was used for making knives & scrapers mainly, during the Neolithic period, although such specimens seem to be a rarity amongst our museums & similar bodies. There are i believe 1 or 2 museums in Scotland that house a couple of pieces but the BM dosen't have any, although they are aware of their existance, but they refrain from accepting my pieces as being the latter purely because they have no similar's for reference. I now have a few dozen, collected over the last few years, each 1 coming from the soil of rich lithic area's that are littered with flint tools & implements deep in the Nene Valley, known for its duration of habitation. Each 1 is man carved, some have notches, others smoothed down blades & all averaging the same in size.

Phil harding & Nick Ashton contacted me via email recently & told me that due to the fact Northamptonshire has not reaped any such pieces, they cant be tools....what absolute rubbish....have these people dug up every square inch of Northants?...are they aware of every lithic settlement in Northants?...have they viewed these pieces i have in the flesh to state they are not the latter?...NO to all!!! After sending some scanned pics to show what i have, they still refrain from accepting them as being actual tools, ok fair enough pics sent via scanner dosen't show the full dimention of the piece & i agree they could be seen as just Slate pieces...but these are only found on 1 or 2 rich lithic patches, there are no records of any building on this site...(i have done my homework on this), there are no brick fragments, no modern rubbish, just flint tools & these Slate implements. I even have a piece with typical lithic "lined" detail engraved on it along with a nice pottery shard also housing stunning engraving...all from the same spot & yet they still say no to accepting them...Nick even said that my engraved pottery shard wasn't such.

If i could find where to add some pics?? i could get a few more opinions.

Also look at the measurments of the Slate pieces, all similar in size, alot are in common lithic tool form & there are no records anywhere of any1 from any era smoothing down the sides of Slate for no purpose what so ever so how do they explain my smoothed down pieces from over 10mm down to a fine cutting blade?...well they cant, apparantly its a natural occurance LOL naturally occuring smoothness in Slate....worth logging is that!

Sam Salmon · Post by **Sam Salmon** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 11:04 am

flintoff wrote:If i could find where to add some pics?? i could get a few more opinions.

You need to have the pictures hosted on a web site-http://www.photobucket.com is easy to use and popular.

They have instructions on how to then link your hosted photos to a Forum like this.

Post by **Minimalist** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 11:13 am

Absolutely.

We LOVE pictures of rocks, eh Charlie?

(Just kidding. Welcome aboard, Flintoff.)

flintoff · Post by **flintoff** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 11:19 am

No worries Min, erd em all before...& thanks Sam, i found the site very easy & helpful so here is 1 pic...this is the "Lined" detailed scraper?....may not be a scraper because it is actually broken around 1 or 2 edges but the detail is very clear to see & to those who are knowledgable on the common Neo lined detail should recognise it as being such straight away.

Rgds F

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r214 ... dcross.jpg

This is the engraved pottery fragment found in the same place...Neo?

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r214 ... gment1.jpg

Here are a couple more nice pieces that im stuck with regard to their correct ID & purpose.

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r214 ... ndhave.jpg

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r214 ... endh-1.jpg

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r214 ... thic-2.jpg

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r214 ... thic-1.jpg

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r214 ... hicfli.jpg

Sam Salmon · Post by **Sam Salmon** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 11:37 am

Yup!
Those are rocks alright!

flintoff · Post by **flintoff** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 11:42 am

...and more

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r214 ... hnotch.jpg

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r214 ... cleann.jpg

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r214 ... craper.jpg

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r214 ... craper.jpg

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r214 ... earrow.jpg

Post by **Minimalist** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 11:59 am

These are all, or mainly, slate?

War Arrow · Post by **War Arrow** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 12:08 pm

All Chinese to me, but I thought I'd drop in to say hello Flintoff. Some interesting looking stuff there, especially the second jpeg of the pottery fragment. I'll admit it looks more like rock than pottery to me (from the photo) but anyone who would deny its handworked quality is evidently on some very serious drugs. And I'm talking Keith Richards dosage here.

flintoff · Post by **flintoff** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 4:45 pm

this is the obverse side of the pottery fragment along with a view showing the thickness & convex structure ...its 12mm thick at thickest part

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r214 ... enobve.jpg

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r214 ... entsid.jpg

also is any1 familiar with rock crystal pieces....here are a few nice finds inc a nice arrow head, a couple of natural rhomboids & a couple of scrapers

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r214 ... perexc.jpg

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r214 ... escrap.jpg

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r214 ... dperfe.jpg

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r214 ... oids-1.jpg

stan · Post by **stan** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 6:13 pm

This is a beautiful piece...but looks like maybe flint or chert.
My understanding of ochre is that it is rather like dried mud, not something that you could use as a tool.

Could this be the remains of a core? Or a tool in itself?

Somehow I can 't copy this link and make it work.

flintoff · Post by **flintoff** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 6:53 pm

Deffinately flint stan...i have a couple more similars...i used to work with the PAS up until a 2 years ago but my FLO was not able to ID alot of my stuff so i gave it up...iv got over 400 pieces recorded within that scheme & i sell on a regular basis to international buyers & have done for the past 11 years...iv got quite a few chert pieces which is generally Black...only seldom do i find other coloured chert pieces ...i have probably over 20,000 pieces here at home, all mainly flint pieces but all tools of some discription....some more here

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r214 ... napped.jpg

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r214 ... eobver.jpg

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r214 ... xample.jpg

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r214 ... 500BCE.jpg

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r214 ... 000BCE.jpg

flintoff · Post by **flintoff** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 1:00 am

Here are a few shots of some more Slate pieces & slint pieces

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r214 ... arvert.jpg

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r214 ... aper-1.jpg

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r214 ... ection.jpg

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r214 ... craper.jpg

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r214 ... craper.jpg

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r214 ... perssi.jpg

flintoff · Post by **flintoff** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 1:02 am

flintoff wrote:Here are a few shots of some more Slate & flint pieces

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r214 ... arvert.jpg

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r214 ... aper-1.jpg

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r214 ... ection.jpg

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r214 ... craper.jpg

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r214 ... craper.jpg

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r214 ... perssi.jpg

flintoff · Post by **flintoff** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 1:10 am

...Neolithic chief animal seal, long necked animal or dinosaur with feet & tail, carved into the stone

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r214 ... ealwit.jpg

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r214 ... animal.jpg

Charlie Hatchett · Post by **Charlie Hatchett** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 5:54 am

Absolutely.

We LOVE pictures of rocks, eh Charlie?

Lol!! Between me and Flintoff, we'll push you guys over the edge.

Some of his stuff does definitely look worked.

Hey, Flint. What context did you find your etched slate pieces? Those have certainly been worked.

Also, the following look worked to me:

Are all these coming from the same context?

Cool stuff, bro.

Archaeologica.org

Lithic Slate tools.

Lithic Slate tools.

Re: Lithic Slate tools.