Replica stone-age knife by Hans Joachim Stein

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Dennis La Varenne · #1 Post by **Dennis La Varenne** » Thu Dec 11, 2003 1:43 am

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.

TRASH · #2 Post by **TRASH** » Thu Dec 11, 2003 11:27 am

Yeh they are rippers aye Dennis
Have ripped out a couple of jaws with mine seems to work well enough.

Timo · #3 Post by **Timo** » Mon Jan 12, 2004 1:33 pm

Very nice work, in all aspects!

I haven't got the scottsbluff stye down yet.I've play with some knife river flint,( alot of this type was made from it) It's tough for a hacker like me.

It's nice to see such craftsmanship!

gundy · #4 Post by **gundy** » Wed Jan 28, 2004 7:38 pm

Man oh man! Sure would like to get my grubby lil hands on one of those!

Guess I will setlle for my Scagel style for a bit longer.

Very nice work.

JensenEliteBlades · #5 Post by **JensenEliteBlades** » Wed Feb 04, 2004 10:20 pm

Now that is very interesting i wouldnt mind having a closer look either