Photos: Wooden Cylinder Punch Flakes

[BenjaminEble]

These are photos of wooden cylinder punch flakes. They were made from thermally altered stone. Originally, I tried using regular Colha. But, because Colha is notoriously hard to chip, it seemed very "hit and miss". When I tried the same process with heat treated stone, it actually worked quite well. My guess is that the process would work with glass, obsidian, and heat treated stone. Also, I recently had some translucent Colha cut by a Mexican stonecutter. And, he said that it is the hardest stone he has seen, in 22 years of stone cutting. So, I don't feel too bad about having difficulty with it.

Anyway, I want to jump into the technique. It seems to me that the extra buffering effect of wood allows for flatter flakes. They are lipped flakes, because the wood comes into contact with a large portion of the platform. Also, the slow compression of wood allows for a "prying effect" to occur, rather than a "blasting effect" which is more common with antler on antler indirect percussion. In this case, I take advantage of wood's slow compressing quality, and I match it with the handstone's heavy, dead mass, plus lack of elasticity. Combining these qualities into a single strike creates something like a powerful prying effect, during impact, under controlled conditions. As a result, it takes a fairly hard blow to achieve a break. And, the stone cannot be allowed to move very much. So, like all peculiarities of indirect percussion, what I have found, in this case, is that I actually have to lock my elbow, at a right angle, while holding the stone, and punch, in my hand, in front of me. Locking my elbow helps cause the stone to resist, during impact. Thus, a hard hit will produce a break. And, the flakes can travel fairly far, while remaining relatively flat. Also, as mentioned before, it is far easier to flake either heat treated stone, or high grade stone, in this manner. But, if stone is really tough, and resistant, it may resist all blows. Still, I believe that this technique could be very good for creating large flat flakes, such as Folsom flutes, in high grade stone. An isolated platform, about a half an inch wide, could be ideal for initiating a wide break, in the center of a biface. I have found that I can sometimes initiate breaks, in really hard stone, by isolating the platform, when the break would not occur, otherwise.

Let me know what everyone thinks. Also, I can say that the flakes are very distinctive, due to the lipping, and due to the flatness. I am pretty sure that wooden cylinder punch flakes would be easy to identify, in an archaeological context. Also, I want to give credit where credit is due. Here is what we know from Ishi:

"But if a large spearpoint or knife-blade is ultimately desired, an intermediate tool is needed. This is apparently (Ishi never made one for me to see) a short, stout, blunt-pointed piece of bone or WOOD serving as a sort of PUNCH and sometimes as a lever. As a matter of fact, what is wanted in the case of producing a large implement is not the division of the obsidian mass but the trimming down of this mass by the detachment from it of all unnecessary portions."

[neralich]

Very fascinating! I use to dig on a Early Archaic manufacturing site and found many a flake with the said lipping. The majority of point types found exhibit wide/flat flakes,, Your demonstration with insight from your experiences has me wondering...

Not so much high quality flint though... I would call it middle grade. No heat treating...

Thank you for your time and insight. Makes me think and wonder, ya know!

[BenjaminEble]

Hello Jason,

Here are further pictures that illustrate this lipping. Also, what can be seen is the relative flatness of the initiation. I suspect that this is because wood loads so slowly that it does not produce much bulbing, whereas antler on antler indirect percussion produces flakes with more bulbed initiations.

In direct percussion, early researchers observed that the harder the percussor, the worse the bulbing. This is probably what led to organic baton (antler billet) experiments, in the mid 1930's, in England. I think that there is some correlation to indirect percussion, too. Both are forms of percussion - direct, and indirect. Both forms of percussion can produce more bulbing, or less bulbing, partly depending on the hardness of the percussor. What led me to use wood, for this, is Ishi's own explanation. I realized, that wood should produce flakes that are flatter, and less bulbed, than antler, since the compressibility of wood would lead to the slower loading of force, and reduced shock. Thus, I expected flatter, longer flakes to be produced.

It is my theory that if these types of punches were used, then they should still be in existence in dry sites, such as dry cave sites, where organic materials can remain preserved for millenia.

Ben

[neralich]

Thanks! The type is exactly like some I found! I remember finding these type of peices years ago and thought I had found broke peices of arrowhead. I guess in essence they are, just not from the finished product!

What about direct percussion with something like moose antler billet. ? Will Those produce the same style you think or is that too hard of a percussor? I know as compared to copper bopper, the antler billet produces wider flakes.....??

Limited knowledge here on the subject but enjoy experimenting and learning. One of these days I'm going to hook up with M.Reuter and start learning the ABO way. A way that I respect more so than the copper tools I use. Either way gets the job done, but learning the ABO would be hard to beat the connection to the ancient ones and experimenting the same problematic issues they encountered, etc....

Jason

[BenjaminEble]

Hello Jason,

Steve Nissly is a very experienced flintknapper. And, he also found flakes like these all over the Northeast. Also, I think if they could be made with a moose billet, he probably would have mentioned it.

I have not used billets since 1996. But, I do not remember making such pronounced lipped flakes, with billets, in raw chert. Also, I could not work raw chert with whitetail billets.

Anyway, I have more photos that will give you some idea as to the thinning effect of the wooden cylinder punch.

[BenjaminEble]

Photos Continued: