Microblades

[Mud Hawk]

Short and sweet:

Wikipedia:
Microblade technology - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Just a personal query for the forum and would like to see examples if anyone has one. I would anticipate that such an item wouldn't necessarily exhibit the normal use wear as it probably had a more delicate application.

Sorry for the bad pics, but I am making due with very poor light at midnight.

This very well could be a waste flake, but it has enough features to make me ask some questions...

[rockhunter]

hope to see some examples and learn a bit more, may have some in my flake bucket.

[ghost recon]

Microblade technology was used extensively in the areas I hunt. This first frame is all from one 50 X 50 yard spot. Second pic is a variety of blades, many of these show retouch as well as usewear. It's not common to find these small blades with retouch. I'd say less than 5% show secondary flaking. I'm sure a good number of these are simply waste flakes as well. Last pic is some microblade cores from the same aforementioned area.


Some links to more microblade assemblages and info.

http://www.chaz.org/Arch/45SN100/Blades/blades.html

http://lithiccastinglab.com/gallery-...creekpage4.htm

http://www.nps.gov/gaar/historycultu...s_360605_3.jpg

http://www.nps.gov/gaar/historycultu...6_360602_8.jpg

http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=23566

I'll get some Hopewell microblades / bladelets up shortly.

[cgode]

A Connecticut find that seems to have some of the characteristics to be a microblade........

[shartis]

I find a few around here I think are micro blades. For years I would just throw them back down till I learned they might be microblades and not just a flake. Now I keep about everything. Of course about all the sites I use to hunt are about all gone.

[Mud Hawk]

Nice pieces guys. Ghost, thanks for the pics and links, it will be my morning reading.

cgode that brown one is a dandy.

Shartis, would like to see an edge macro on that. Looks darn useful to me...

[joshuaream]

The wikipedia page references some of the pieces from Northern China. Here are some I have from Inner Mongolia (Northern China) and Mongolia. I've got a bag I bought from a herder with several thousand in it, PM your mailing address and I'll send you some.

One thing I've noticed from Mexican, Mayan, Hopewellian and Cahokian sources is that when you are near a major site many of the bladelets show two or three ridges from the previous bladelets coming off the core. Probably experienced people who made them all day long in quantity for trade that could maximize the yield of the core. You tend to see less efficient core work the farther you get from the center of the culture.

[ghost recon]

Good observations Joshua, I agree. Especially when I got my hands on some Hopewell cores and blades from various southern Ohio sites to compare and study. There is a much higher degree of skill and execution of blade removals, alot of consistency. Those small Mongolian cores show alot of skill and efficiency and the bladelets look pretty much identical to the Hopewell culture imo.


Here is some of my Hopewell material from Ohio.

[rockhunter]

wow , nice stuff showin up here, ghost recon are you beveled blade?

[Buckeye]

Wow Joshua, those bladlets are cool, I love seeing the Mongolian artifacts you post, they really had some excellent lithics to work with.

There goes Ryan posting that awesome Ohio eye candy!


A few cores and bladelets from Ryan and a mess of bladelets from Gibby, all Ohio as far as I know: