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Post by **MichelleH** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 5:26 pm

Now look what you've done.....set Steve loose again....

Charlie Hatchett · Post by **Charlie Hatchett** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 5:07 pm

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Post by **Minimalist** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 5:24 pm

That looks well worn.

Charlie Hatchett · Post by **Charlie Hatchett** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 5:50 pm

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Charlie Hatchett · Post by **Charlie Hatchett** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 6:08 pm

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Post by **Minimalist** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 6:33 pm

Just curious but have you ever tried to make one of those and see what it can be used to cut?

You know, see how effective it would be at cutting down a small tree or something?

Charlie Hatchett · Post by **Charlie Hatchett** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 7:02 pm

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stan · Post by **stan** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 7:09 pm

Be sure someone sober is standing by to call 911 and apply tourniquets.

Charlie Hatchett · Post by **Charlie Hatchett** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 7:33 pm

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Charlie Hatchett · Post by **Charlie Hatchett** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 7:34 pm

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Post by **Minimalist** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 8:11 pm

stan wrote:Be sure someone sober is standing by to call 911 and apply tourniquets.

Solid advice, Stan.

Sounds like a good idea.

Science is about experimentation but the trouble with archaeology is that it is damned hard to figure out what to experiment on. Add in the fact that the act of digging up a site destroys the site and there is your dilemma. But, yeah...I'd love to try something like that.

Charlie Hatchett · Post by **Charlie Hatchett** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 7:16 am

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Charlie Hatchett · Post by **Charlie Hatchett** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 7:19 am

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Post by **Minimalist** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 9:23 am

Yes, but again, isn't the carbonate one of your prime dating mechanisms? Once you remove it, all you have is a sharp rock.
Maybe suspend a rock in a vinegar solution so that only part of the edge is cleaned and photograph the whole process? That way, if the cleaned part of the edge shows knapping you'll still have the natural part for dating.

I was thinking about this last night. Knowing that flint is sharp but brittle from my black powder shooting I was wondering how much abuse a stone edge could take if used to cut down a tree or shape wood? I don't think ancient people were inherently stupid. In fact, they probably had a more practical knowledge of their little worlds than we do today. So, it is a simple question of efficiency that if it takes x number of hours to make a stone tool and you can only use it for two or three swings at a tree before it crumbles away that would not seem to be an efficient use of resources... especially in an era when survival was dependent on such resources.

Bruce · Post by **Bruce** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 8:33 pm

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/ ... 030607.php\

There's a scholarly debate brewing about whether pre-Columbian Amazonian populations settled in large numbers across Amazonia and created the modern forest setting that many conservationists take to be ‘natural.'

I tend to believe the human occupation to be about 1.28 million bce

Charlie, you need to put dates on all these rocks. pre-clovis just doesn't cut it anymore.