stone knife or spear point

[carr52]

The guy at USC Archeology dept. told me it was about 10,000 years old. Give or take a few hundred years. He said it was used as a knife/spear/everything tool. Whatever it was used for I bet the owner was mad about losing it. I've found others on my property but this one is the largest, about 4". I put it on a handle just for the heck of it.

Tom

[TwinOaks]

Interesting find!

My guess is that it's probably a knife. The photo doesn't clearly show whether the edge is knapped all the way, but I do notice the lack of a notch. That is where the spear haft would be lashed at. Either way, AWESOME thing to find.

[carr52]

Interesting find!

My guess is that it's probably a knife. The photo doesn't clearly show whether the edge is knapped all the way, but I do notice the lack of a notch. That is where the spear haft would be lashed at. Either way, AWESOME thing to find.

No it doesn't have the notch like the clovis points do. But the edge is serrated "knapped" all the way around. And it's still sharp.

I found 3 others like it but smaller. Only about 2" long.

Tom

[oldgringo]

Hi Carr52: Just happened across your post of the point. I am a professional archaeologist with over 30 experience. But my experience is mostly in Calif. I'm sure the archaeologist know what he's talking about. Something that old where ever it is found is very rare indeed. The form seems a bit general to me, (e.g no notching) but maybe that type of point has been established through some of the many dating techniques to be that old. I have been knapping most of my life and some of the best folks at it live out your way.

OG

[electrathon]

The guy at USC Archeology dept. told me it was about 10,000 years old. Give or take a few hundred years.

Of course it is OLD, it is a ROCK! LOL

Very cool find.

[rhall]

Carr52 that is extremely interesting..Makes our Single Action Army Colts look like Rocket Science!You have found others as well ,there is some story behind those I Bet!

[Saddlebag]

I believe this was used to scrape fat from the inside of hides. That is why no notches. It would be small to better control the scraping so as not to puncture the hide.

[Echo4V]

Not an archeologist ( although wouldn't that be a cool job) but I do love to read historical stuff ( and since I work at a university I have access to a lot of it) so I guess I'll throw my opinion out here.

I think it's a spear point and I think you hit on hafting it just like it's meant to be. I've seen a lot of pictures of spear points and that appears to me to be a leaf style spear point because:

1 it's sharp all the way around which some knappers did so that it would be easier to push into the wood of the handle/spear. ( hand held hidescrapers had one side broke off flat or dulled so that it wouldn't cut the hand when held)

2 At almost 4 inches long it would be too heavy to be an arrow head

3 The back of it is a lot thicker than the tip which implies it was meant to puncture something with the tip ( the back was thicker so that it wouldn't just push back further into the wood when it hit something)

So, that's my opinion based on what I have read and by no means an expert opinion.

David

[carr52]

Seeing this post again gave me to the desire to go back to something I started awhile back. That is to try and make my own points. Right from the get go I found out the hard way that they are sharp the moment you pick them up. You probably cant see the little red spots on them. Thats me blood. The one on the right was really starting to take shape till I knocked the side off of it. Bummer. I'll see if I can't make a smaller one out of it.

Tom