Wednesday, April 5, 2017

Clovis Points

Clovis point, Keokuk chert. Front and back
view of the same point.
2017 has been a busy year so far and I've been a bit lax in keeping track of Elfshot projects on this blog.  I was teaching the Lithic Analysis class at MUN, taking an evening class for interest's sake, working on a report from last summer's field work in Iqaluit, and trying to keep up with Elfshot orders.  It all kept my attention divided and blog posts fell off my weekly to-do list.  I'll try to share a backlog of photos and stories, starting with this look at a pair of Clovis points that I made earlier this year.   

Clovis Point, Obsidian. Front and back view
I find fluting points challenging and since I'm rarely asked to make them, there is always a bit of trial and error to get back into the groove of things.  I have a half dozen failed points on my workshop floor, before I finished two that I was happy with.  The white one is Keokuk chert and the black one is obsidian.

Fluted points and their channel flutes

Photo Credits: Tim Rast

4 comments:

  1. You should post photos of the 1/2 dozen points that you broke while fluting?

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    Replies
    1. Yeah, I can probably gather them up. I have a little display case made up of past fluting failures from attempts to make Clovis points out of Onandaga chert a few years back. There are a lot of informative ways to blow up a fluted point.

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  2. I may have missed it but how did you flute? Direct? Indirect? Great blog btw, I need to visit more often!

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    Replies
    1. I use direct soft hammer percussion with an antler billet. Sometimes I'll use an antler punch if I'm unable to isolate the platform sufficiently and I'm worried that I might miss with the billet.

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