Archaeologica.org

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Charlie Hatchett wrote:

Minimalist wrote:What was the trick? Strike at an angle instead of head on?

You have to hold the core, and slightly tap it with the maul until it doesn't move anymore. The you let the maul do the work. You just guide it, and let it fall under it's own weight. It's sets up some complex of forces that work themselves out by fracturing the material. We were trying to muscle through the core. A good analogy is golf. Just swing the club, and guide it, without muscling it. You get that signature "ping" when you hit it just right, and goes flying much further than you could get the ball to go by muscling it. Physics stuff I guess.

Hi Charlie,

You've produced some nice flakes there. Your comment with regard to letting the maul do the work bears out our earlier discussion about using the weight of the object rather than trying to muscle it.

Regards
Richard.

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Charlie Hatchett wrote:I noticed you started a tool section on your website. Would you mind posting a few of those here. Some are no brainers.

problem is I'll be removing the current site soon... so I don't want to post too many (soon to be dead) links.

I have shown this item before but since we are on the subject of bipolar reduction it seemed apt. It's a nice colourful piece which I believe has been heat treated - possibly to harden it?? (I came close to getting it TL analysed recently until the other party backed out - disappointing considering I was willing to pay and they really had nothing to lose).

Note the difference in patination to the cortex compared to the debitage, and note also the apparent residue where the thumb rests.

Hi Manystones...

Very interesting stone... If you are fairly certain that one of the two matching pieces was heated and the other was not (might consult a petrologist on this to make sure), I'd think it would be worth your while to have both parts TL dated. Radically contrasting readings from two pieces of the same stone would (to me, anyway) in itself be rather compelling, even if circumstantial, evidence of human agency. Certainly you can find a lab in the UK that will do this, at least for money.

Regards, Alan

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Charlie Hatchett wrote:Certainly looks like the result of bipolar reduction. Same context as the other pieces you're finding? Hmmm...that's strange: A lab declined to date your piece, even though you were willing to pay??

Hi Charlie,

Yes, it is getting quite frustrating... At first it looked very promising, however the guy apparently showed these pics to a couple of "palaeolithic experts" whose opinions differed from mine and yours on this piece. I didn't like to question their experience - it is obviously the result of bipolar reduction and tried instead to recover the situation by showing a couple of clear examples of tools. However, I feel he had already made up his mind at this point. In the end I probably blew it by showing pictures of faces sculpted in stone and asking whether his business was customer centric.

There is another lab that I am aware of and I will try again... if not I'll send pieces across the water cause I am sure as hell there must be a lab in the states that is willing to do the work in return for a fee.

Regards

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Great post Charlie!

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Color and carbonate morphology are the most reliable

There's that idea again.

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