I have recently received from Hans Joachim Stein an astonishingly beautiful replica stone knife in the style of the so-called SCOTTSBLUFF II culture (circa 7,500 - 6.500 BC) which extended from Western Canada as far south as Louisiana in the USA according to the brief website below (and others).
http://www.theaaca.com/typology/Scottsbluff_Texas.html
The blade is made from Mahogany obsidian and hafted to sika deer antler handle using sinew binding and (hide???) glue.
The Scottsbluff culture occurred in 3 distinct stages apparently and characteristically produced this style of knife in three different lengths and tapers during its existence.
This knife is 20cm long and, as Hans explained in a letter to me that -
"Personally, I was fascinated by their elegance which is combined with simplicity and sturdiness - beautiful(ly) parallel flaked from base to tip (most of the found pieces) and a tough (sturdy) cross-section which resists breakage.",
and later . . .
"Furthermore, it doesn't appear that the superb pieces are isolated remnants of a handful of gifted artisans; the entire culture seems to have been driven by the decision to do its best to combine the functional and the artistical aspects. "Remember, these blades and points have been made for actual use and a non-parallel flaked point/blade is as good as a paralledl on from the view-point of functionalism."
Hans has made and given at least 4 of these beautiful example specimens of the skills and craft of an archaic American people to friends in Australia that I know of. The first went to Jeff Challacombe and two more went to the blokes at Trash.
I am a very fortunate number 4.
By modern standards, the amount of time taken to make each of these pieces is considerable. As Hans said in his letter to me -
"The secret of replicating these blades and points is that you need to prepare you percussion preform very carefully; the smoother the preform percussion scars and percussion platforms are, the greater is your chance of getting a good flake scar pattern when pressure flaking later.
Mostly, you need two or three passes of pressure flaking on each side. The first does further smoothing and the second lays down a nice regular pattern while the third corrects pattern irregularities if necessary and (if) possible.
Your knife needed only two pressure flaking passes (with outer flakes of different sizes), but four percussion passes."
And again "I myself have made these blades only from agatized wood (Jeff's piece) and obsidian, lately also from heat-treated Burlington chert. Never have I been successful with novaculite, hornstone and your Australian chert (from Mt Isa).
Part of the importance of a gift from a very good friend is the story behind it.
Dennis La Varenne
PS: Hans teaches Comparative Cultural Anthropology in the Faculty of International Studies at the Osaka Gakuin University in Japan and has lived in Japan for the past 20 years.
Replica stone-age knife by Hans Joachim Stein
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Replica stone-age knife by Hans Joachim Stein
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Dennis La Varénne
Have the courage to argue your beliefs with conviction, but the humility to accept that you may be wrong.
QVIS CVSTODIET IPSOS CVSTODES (Who polices the police?) - DECIMVS IVNIVS IVVENALIS (Juvenal) - Satire VI, lines 347–8
What is the difference between free enterprise capitalism and organised crime?
HOMO LVPVS HOMINIS - Man is his own predator.
Have the courage to argue your beliefs with conviction, but the humility to accept that you may be wrong.
QVIS CVSTODIET IPSOS CVSTODES (Who polices the police?) - DECIMVS IVNIVS IVVENALIS (Juvenal) - Satire VI, lines 347–8
What is the difference between free enterprise capitalism and organised crime?
HOMO LVPVS HOMINIS - Man is his own predator.
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