# Primitive knapping tools



## Son (May 12, 2010)

Just posted these on my forum, though some of ya might like to see em too. Found in Ark back in the early 80's. These three antler tools were found cached in an area dated to around 1000 AD. Nodena points were the most common type found there.







Couple ulna awls from the same site






Antler tips, cut off to make points





Antler with tips cut off. All from the same site. Wish that bone needle had been whole


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## dmedd (May 12, 2010)

Those are some amazing artifacts Son. Thanks for sharing them here.


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## schreck_1 (May 12, 2010)

Forgive my ignorance Son, were the antler tips cut off to be used as projectile points or were they used as tools for making stone points?


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## Lobo69ss (May 12, 2010)

Antler tips were sometimes used as points on arrows ... you can tell the use easy when they`re drilled up into the base area for hafting.
  Thanks for showing those Son, great finds for whomever it was that found the cache.


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## Son (May 12, 2010)

I found all those artifacts. Used to take vacations out to Ark to look for stuff and spend time collecting with other collector friends.
Those tips were cut off to make points. I have some that are finished, drilled etc..  Will try and find the picture.


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## Son (May 12, 2010)

Still looking for the antler point picture.

Here's some arrows I made many years ago. One has been used to take several wild rabbits back in the 1970's. I made the points too.


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## Nugefan (May 12, 2010)

very cool finds Son ...


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## schreck_1 (May 12, 2010)

Very cool.  Thanks for sharing.


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## Dawg Tired (May 12, 2010)

Man now that is some Awsome Neat Stuff There!!!!


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## DEERFU (May 12, 2010)

Awesome finds Son! Was the cache buried or found in a cave? How long does the antler material last if it's unprotected?


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## Son (May 12, 2010)

This material was found underground in a farmers field. It was just below the plow zone. I would imagine there were many other fine artifacts that the plow had already gotten too, and destroyed. Small pieces of antler, animal bone and pottery was to be found on the surface.


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## DEERFU (May 12, 2010)

I've got a spot in middle Ga. that's completely littered with pottery but i haven't found any tools and very few points there. It is however heavily wooded and about the only land disturbance is done by the timber company. I bookmarked your sight and want to thank you for your service sir!


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## Son (May 12, 2010)

Middle Ga, if it's quartz where you are. Most pottery sites should have some nice little points like these I found in Middle Alabama


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## Tailfeather (May 12, 2010)

Those are incredible.  Very cool.


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## Katera73 (May 12, 2010)

You got some cool stuff Son thanks for sharing.


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## Son (May 13, 2010)

I missed ur question about how long the antler stuff last. If untreated, I don't know. 

Here's some good information about preserving, posted by a member on my forum. 

Regarding preservation:  

The technique should match the rarity of the artifact. Elmers and water in a 50% solution is fine on fossils that are not likely to fall apart, or aren't worth more trouble. If you use elmers, start applying coats while the fossil is still wet. Not dripping wet, but damp.  

On teeth that nice, I use Butvar. Polyvinyl Butyral is it's other name I think. My source, a chemical company in Kerrville Texas said it's no longer being manufactured, so it might take some detective work to track some down. It ain't cheap as they jacked the price way up when it went out of production. But a pound of it will work for like 15 teeth.  

It's just a plastic resin, so tell the dealer it's safe to send by any mail service.  

While waiting for your Butvar, you can start the drying process. (If you will store the teeth for over a week in water, add a few drops of chlorox to it. This will prevent the growth of mold and save you a nasty cleaning job.) Go to any hardware store and buy a gallon of acetone. Add some to the water your tooth is in until it is 10% acetone. Wait a week. Then make the solution 20% acetone. Repeat each week until you reach 100% acetone.  

At this time, your tooth is now 'dry' relative to water. The acetone displaced it out of the tooth. Acetone is very volatile, more so than gasoline. So if you took the tooth out of the container, it would be bone dry in less than a minute. But once it's been in pure acetone for a while, it's time to drop it into the Butvar instead.  

Slowly pour butvar into enough acetone to cover your tooth. Stop adding butvar when more will no longer dissolve. It will be about as thick as maple syrup. Put the tooth in. Cover it tightly so your acetone doesn't evaporate. Leave it in there for about 3 weeks. Then take it out and dry it on a rack. If you end up with any butvar bumps or snotcicles on it, you can remove them with acetone on a rag.  

The good thing about butvar is the process is completely reversible. Soak it in pure acetone, and all the butvar goes away.  

I did my rarest finds this way. Really dense bone pins are the hardest thing to conserve without them flaking apart, IMO, and I had about a 90% success rate with this technique.   

Regarding iron conservation:  

The easy technique for not so rare stuff: Knock all the rust off with a hammer until you are down to the silver-colored unaltered iron. Brush with one of those paint removing brushes with the steel bristles, or brillo pads, and WD-40 until no orange rust comes off at all. Done. (Or you could put a coat of sealant on it.)  

Better iron artifacts: Keep in water until ready to conserve. Then do electroysis.  (That ax is a great thing to practice on.) Put the ax in a tank of water. Add an eloctrolyte until the pH reaches 11. Sodium hydroxide (lye/drano) or sodium carbonate. (Don't use the hydroxide in a fiberglass tank, and it's poisonous.) Get an anode (stainless steel is good), and put it in the tank. Get a DC power source and hook the positive lead to the anode, and the negative lead to the ax. Turn on the power.  

You don't need much power. 1 or 2 amps is plenty. Or if you can see little bubbles coming to the surface, it's working. Rotate the artifact once during the process. Once the crust starts coming off, take it out and remove the crust as much as you can, then put the ax back in the tank for more treatment. You should be done in a week. Watch for shorts. If you lose power, your artifact will become the anode (not good).  

Then when done, put ax in clean water to rid it of elecrolyte. Hook it up to power as before, but increase the amps for a few days.  

Then take it out and hit it with WD-40 before it gets dry. Then seal it.


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## Son (May 13, 2010)

The forum that goes along with my website has the auto registration locked due to spammers. If any of you are interested in joining, just let me know by PM and I'll hook ya up. It's all about Indian artifacts, knapping and a few other topics. Mostly Kolomoki Society members. I notice, several of those members are also here on GON.  

Here's another antler knapping tool, found in the same site as those above, but not in the cache.


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## Son (May 13, 2010)

I'm assuming those small knapping tools were used for making small points. Due to the small size, and the small points found in the site. Knapping experience has proved that to make small points, antler tools are not really needed. Experimentation proves that small points can and probably were sometimes made by using any other hard rock material available to pressure flake a point. the antler tools were a luxury for those who were fortunate to have em. In this site, i also found a large engraved deer antler, but it was in such bad condition it couldn't be saved. Digital cameras would have been great back then.


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## fish hawk (May 13, 2010)

Awesome!!!


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## schleylures (May 14, 2010)

Son you said you just posted them on your forum, where is that forum and what is it about? Information please


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## dmedd (May 14, 2010)

schleylures said:


> Son you said you just posted them on your forum, where is that forum and what is it about? Information please



Son's website is www.sonandersonartifacts.com  check it out. It's one of the best artifact sites I've ever been a part of. There's some great folks over there.


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## Son (May 14, 2010)

Thanks Dmedd for the nice words. Auto registration had to be blocked due to people manually spamming the forum. To join, I need an email from ya, and a username you would like to use. You will then be signed up and given a password. One you can change to your liking when you get on the forum. fla@windstream.net

Noticing the many knappers on this forum, I figured the knapping tools would be interesting to ya'll.
On my forum, we have experts on most any type artifact you can find. Shell, Bone, Hardstone, Flint, Chert, Coral and others.

A picture always improves a post


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