Digs: Site Activities

Field Walks Photos

 

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For additional information on the making of stone projectile points, please click Steps.

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( all photos taken in October, 2008 by Jim Hall )

Clean artifacts using warm or cold water and a toothbrush. This can be done with either stone or ceramic materials. Let them air-dry.

This is a medium-sized quartzite pebble used as a hammerstone. The wear pattern on some of its surfaces verifies its use as a tool.

This is a fire-cracked hearthstone of basalt material. The large flake that is spalled from its outer surface was caused by excessive heat.

This oblong pebble shows the initial step in manufacturing a projectile point, which has been outlined for clarity.

This is the opposite side of the oblong pebble shown in the previous image. It clearly shows the turtle-back form.

These are flakes and/or chips of flint (the dark material) and quartz. These are a by-product of stone tool manufacturing. The term 'debitage' is applied to this type of material.

This is a fragment of a modern-day ceramic plate inadvertantly discarded in the field.

These are fragments of freshwater clam shells from prehistoric Native American midden (trash-dump) features. Years of recent plowing have reduced the shells to these very small fragments.

North American tool makers would select small, oblong quartz pebbles from stream beds or gravel banks with which to produce projectile points. The original smooth overall surface of these pebbles is called the "rind." The rind is produced by glacial and water action over a very long period of time.

The initial step in manufacturing a projectile point is to remove material from one side of the long axis of the oblong pebble. Once this material is removed the specimen is termed a "turtle-back" because of its resemblance to the back of a turtle when turned over and the original, remaining rind is viewed.

The next step is to remove material from the long axis of the opposite side of the pebble, thus eliminatintg the original rind. The whole pebble is further thinned and reduced until its desired form is achieved. In this case, impurities in the pebble material meant this could not be completed. So the pebble was discarded.