In ancient times the hides of animals were depended on for clothing, blankets, and covering for structures. Once an animal was killed, the skin (hide) would be removed, staked to the ground, and then the fat that remained on the underside of the skin had to be removed in order for the hide to be cured.

Depending on the animal, some hides have very little fat, such as rabbits, squirrels and deer - while others have a significantly thick layer of fat such as raccoons, o'possums and buffalo.  If the fat was not removed properly, the hide would not cure properly, and thus scraping hides was a daily task that had to be done, and couldnt be rushed.

I spent much of my youth hunting and trapping and working on mink ranches in the late 70's and then working for a fur company in Minnesota in the early 80's. Thus, I am pretty familiar with hide preparation. Let me tell you - it is not a fun job, and it is time consuming. It also requires a bit of skill as applying too much pressure with your scraping tool can easily cut into or through the hide itself.   

Most collectors are familiar with prehistoric flint hide scraping tools. They come in different sizes and styles with some being hafted, some hand held, some uniface, some biface - plenty of different varieties, but all designed with the task-at-hand in mind, to remove fat from the underside of a skin. 

When we say "scraper" we generally think of a flint scraper. Usually hand held, and not very large. However, other scrapers were used in ancient times that were made from Bone, wood and stone. The below example is a historic era scraper style from the 1800's that are commonly seen.

 

The hash marks on the handle are said to represent how many buffalo hides the user scraped. This one has over 40 marks.



What is often not known about this style scraper, is that this is simply a piece of the total scraper tool, which had a bit fastened to the end as seen in the below example.

 
 
 

The example shown here has a bit made from metal, probably traded for, or salvaged from a pot, kettle or similar such item.  Often seen, especially in Alaskan artifacts of the same time period and earlier, were bits made from stone that were flat in design and had a bit end, often made from slate.

I think it is quite likely that many of the thin, flat stone celts that are found in the midwest may well have been used as hide scraping tools in a fashion similar to the design shown above, while the thicker rounder style celts were used for daily chopping tasks.
 
Just an interesting set of photos that I had laying around, so I thought I would post them and offer my opinion on how flat celts may have been used on similar such scraping tools in earlier times.

Jim Bennett
10-28-08   

        

  If anyone were to ask me what question I hear the most with regard to artifacts, it would have to be "how do I get this danged glue off the back of these points?"  Before people started using the glass and foam style black cardboard riker mounts and wood frames, points were either tied onto a board using wire, or glued on using elmers glue.  Once in a while I come across points glued on with some other higher strength type bonding material, but more often than not, it is white elmers type glue.

I remember when I first bought a frame at auction that had the points glued to a cardboard sheet, and I carefully peeled them off, having no clue how to get the glue off the backs of the pieces. One day my friend Bob Bright (a long time local collector and one of my first artifact mentors) was visiting and as he looked at the points with the hard clumps of glue and pieces of cardboard paper stuck to them, he said "these sure would look better with all that crap off them". He chuckled when I told him I would love too, but had no clue what type solvent to use that would'nt damage the relic. "Why not just stick em in some hot water?" was his reply ... no way it could be that simple I thought. Well, Yep - it really is.

I thought about that yesterday as I sat in the kitchen with a couple hundred points from an old collection I recently bought that were glued on. So, I got the camera out and figured since I hear this question so often, I might as well put this tried and true complicated process down in text for anyone else wanting to remove glue from the backs of their artifacts.  here is the entire process, step by step: heat water, soak point, peel off glue. Yes, it really is quite that simple. The hard part is when your thumbnail gets soft from being in too much hot water - but other than that, usually the glue begins to disolve in the hot water, gets tacky, and comes right off in clumps as you peel it with your nail.

Every collector seems to develop his favorite little method to apply this process for glue removal - mine has been developed over a 20+ year period around two important factors:  1.) do it as fast as possible as it is a boring job   2.) dont burn fingers because that hurts.

 

 

The water just needs to be good and hot - no, you do not need to boil it.  I nuke a bowl for about 2.5 or 3 minutes and then place a dozen or so points in a strainer and set the strainer in the bowl covering the points. Let them set for about 5 minutes, and the glue will begin to disolve. The hotter the water - the hotter the flint is going to be when you take it out. Call me a sissy, but I like tongs to pull the rocks out as I like to keep the water consistently hot so I can do several batches at a time. Once the glue is pliable, it will peel right off with your thumbnail.  If there is glue residue still on the flint, give it another dunking in the hot water. When the glue is off, wipe the point with a soft damp cloth to remove the gluey water and let dry. Add salt, pepper and a little nutmeg and ... ok, not really  

     

Thats it - fast, simple and effective. If you end up with artifacts that were glued on with a tougher non-waterbased adhesive, I have yet to find a simple and easy way for removal. Actually, before I buy a glued-on board of relics, I like to make certain that it is white glue that was used so that I know the points can easily be cleaned within an hours time without damaging the relic.  The problem with other stronger adhesives is not just that the glue substance is much harder to remove - but there is more chance of breakage when prying the points off the board. 

Hope this helps - nothing like some coffee, toast and a bowl full of warmed up arrowheads to start one's day  

Jim Bennett  

        

I was putting this gorget up on in my store at the sales gallery on arrowheads.com, and as I was describing it, I thought I would pop in here and mention a couple of the terms that are often heard when talking about slate - those being "hole wear" and "spotting".  So, I took a few extra pics, and here are the explanations of these two terms:





Hole Wear / hole wear pattern
The reason gorgets and pendants are perforated with holes (pendants have one hole, gorget have two or more holes) is so that it could be attached with a cord, or suspended, as ornamentation.  A couple reports I read on an exavation with multiple slate ornaments had the placement of the slate just below the waist of the skeletal remains, situated in the front. This leads one to believe that while we like to think they were worn around the neck or on the chest area, in at least some cases, they were worn on the belt handing down in front.

They were attached loosely with a cord, and as they moved, the hole(s) would become worn from the cord moving back and forth. This would leave a "wear pattern" on the surface of the artifact. 

Examples:



 






In this pic, the white line is an example of how the cord would have been tied through the holes. This is why on Gorgets, you most always see the wear marks point in, towards each other.



Close up of the wear pattern on the edge of the perforation hole.

Wear marks are positive trait to look for on authentic slate, and the study of them adds to the fun of collecting as it adds that dimension of reality to the fact that these stones were long ago worn by our American forefathers.


Spotting :




Often on completed drilled slate items as well as preforms, you will see where the slate was "spotted" to be drilled - that is - a mark was placed on the surface to line up the hole.  On preforms, they would spot the hole on one or both sides, then begin drilling.  If the hole didnt go exactly as planned, or if they found the spots would'nt line up correctly, the crafter would re-spot the hole, then drill, leaving the orginal spot mark on the surface, as is the case here.  Another phrase you may occasionally hear that refers to these marks are "touch marks".  

Hope this helps anyone curious about the above terms -

Jim Bennett
10-04-08

        

Not every piece of slate with a hole drilled in it and made in ancient times is a pendant. The piece pictured here is in fact an ancient artifact - but, it is not a pendant as it was reported to be when it was sold to a collector I met not long ago who was selling me part of his collection.  As I looked at the relic, he related that he bought it from a dealer who told him it was found in Ohio, and that it was a drilled slate pendant. Well - it is drilled, and it is made from a type of slate - but the fact is that is not a pendant, and it is not from Ohio. Actually, this relic hails from just a bit farther west than Ohio - like China. 

  

What is pictured here is an ancient Chinese suspension knife.  While the slate is thin like a pendant and comes in shades of gray to black like many N. American slate relics, the hole was actually used to tie a cord through to slip around the wrist to keep the knife handy during use. One edge of the slate will taper sharply to a cutting edge. This is the tell-tale sign that it is a chinese knife, not a ornamental pendant. 





I thought I would point this out as occasionally I have seen these at shows that have been mixed into collections, and unless you are aware that slate was worked into relics in other countries such as China, you may be buying a pendant when in fact, you are getting a knife from a different part of the world.


As a side note - when I was photographing this relic, I got a good shot of an edge of the slate that was scored and snapped during manufacture. Slate and also Jade was often "sized" by cutting two lines into the surface on oppposite sides from each other and then the crafter would snap it at the score lines. This process was used in many places around the world when working this type of material as seen on N. American slate, Costa Rican Jade relics and as shown here, Chinese slate artifacts as well.  The below pic shows the original score lines that were placed in the surface before it was snapped, and you can see how the snapped edge was then worked/polished over. 

  

 Have a great week folks!

Jim Bennett
09-24-08

        

I received a call form a gentleman on the east coast who found a couple old cigar boxes full of arrowheads and other artifacts in his grandfathers attic after he had passed. It was decided that he would send them to me and I would put them in an upcoming auction and let the market bring what it would on the items. All in all, it was a neat little collection that was put together long ago, and it had many of the items one would expect to find in such a collection:  some assorted arrowheads, some smaller stone tools, some broken relics, a few fossils and a couple neat looking rocks. There were some papers and old envelopes in the box that dated to the early 1900's, one being 1910. Also in the boxes was a little container with the following assortment of "interesting" points. 

  

What was the most interesting to me was not this assortment of these points - but rather this note that was in the container with them, written shortly after the turn of the century:



So for those who wonder how long reproductions have been floating around - I guess we can safely say at least since 1887 - and - if you look at the low quality of the items, so much for the common misconception that people wouldnt waste their time making common grade fakes - at least they did in 1887 in the state of Mass.

Have a great day!

Jim Bennett
09-15-08

        

 

Fishing was done several ways in ancient times. We know that traps, trot lines and net were all used, and each required a different tactic, and different tools to reach the same end result - dinner. Whether or not ancient man sat along the rivers and streams relaxing with a pole in hand may never be known, but it would not suprise me if occasionally when time allowed, he enjoyed the same enjoyment in fishing as we do today.

All three of the above mentioned approaches to fishing are still being used to this day to seperate fish from water, and I have tried all three at different points in my life.  When I was a kid, my father had a small bait shack at the end of our driveway which sat along a main route that lead to Lake Erie. We would head to the local creeks a few times a month with our nets in hand to glean minnows and chubs from the creeks.  My brother and I would hold the net across the stream while Dad started up-river a ways walking towards us , driving all the fish in front of him into the net. When we went camping & canoeing, which was a favorite summer passtime for us, we would set trot lines out at night before crawling into the tent and going to bed. Trot lines are simply a string attached to a branch or sapling leaning ove the river with a hook and bait on the end. The fish would eat the bait, hook themselves, and the branch the line was attached to would act as a spring to keep the line from breaking under too much stress as the fish tried to get away.  In the morning, we would retrieve the fish, fillet them, and breakfast was served. On more than one occasion we had the pleasure of attempting to free a snapping turtle from the trot line which caused some memorable moments and more than one sore finger.  Another type of trot line is a long cord or rope with multiple hooks placed at intervals.  One end is tied to a stationary object on shore such as a rock or tree, and the other end is tied to a weight, similar to the one pictured here. Lastly, fish traps have been found that were made in ancient times that were woven into shape using a variety of the natural materials that were available and were anywhere from small to very large and worked well in lakes, rivers, streams or tidal ocean inlets. A simple design that allows fish to enter, but not exit. I have tried fish traps on several occasions, but never with much success prefering trot lines myself when camping.  

The artifact pictured above is a grooved net weight/fishing weight from the west coast. Net weights or fishing weights can be found in all areas along the rivers, streams and lakes and vary in style, but all have similar traits. Most are simple river rocks with either a man-made groove, perforated hole or notches in its sides.  The most common type here in Ohio is a flat river rock with two notches crudely removed from its sides to allow a cord to be tied around it securely.  Being a utilitarian tool form, there was no need to spend alot of time making the surface attractive - its job was simply to hold a net or line in place.    

This west coast example here is a commonly found grooved type, which has been hammered and pecked into a basic shape to allow it to do its task. 

 

One interesting trait occasionally seen on west coast grooved weights is a divot placed inside the groove.  A simple yet ingenious was to keep the cord from slipping out of the groove. The divot allowed a place for the knot in the cord to sit, allowing it to remain securely in place. 

Jim Bennett
09-13-08

        

I was sitting here writing descriptions for the artifacts that are going into our next auction, and I came across this knife. I picked it up, turned it over in my hand and thought to myself, neat relic - it's a backed-knife.  Then as I set it aside, I began to wonder if everyone knew what a backed-knife was? So, I decided I would stick a couple of pictures up here and some info incase anyone out there hasnt run across a backed-knife.



Knifes in ancient times were made in various sizes and shapes to hadle various different tasks. While we tend to assume ancient knives were mostly hafted to a handle, the fact of the matter is that many were actually held in hand while perfoming their inteded duty. Hand knives were a common item in ancient man's tool kit, and some tasks, especially the skinning of animals were more easily done using hand held rather than hafted knives.  A few years ago I skinned a deer using an assortment of different ancient knife styles, and found a backed-hand knife was the most efficient.

When a hand knife is "backed", it simply means that one side of the knife (one blade edge) is ground smooth. This way, it can be held in hand without the risk of cutting ones hand. Another trait on backed knives is the ground edge will often be shaped to fit the palm comfortably. So, a backed knife is simply a knife that has be altered to make it safer during use.   




The next time you are picking up hand knives, check both sides of the knife blade edges, and you may be suprised how many hand knives were backed in ancient times. 

Jim Bennett
09-06-08



      

        

We all know that an artifact in one's hand is like holding a link to the past. Iit is hard not to visualize in our minds the ancient crafter making the item, and then using it for its intended purpose. While many artifacts are similar and their use pretty much the same (example - flint dart points), others have something about them that is different, and their link to the ancient past has more to tell.  Anciently salvaged artifacts are an example of this - and I find them fascinating to collecting. A broken point that was renotched, a knife that was reworked, a pendant that was broken and then redrilled are some examples of such salvaged items.  But adding another layer of intrigue to salvage relics are those artifacts which were broken and discarded, only to be picked up hundreds or thousands of years later by another ancient one and then salvaged and put back into use.

Think about this: You are walking along 5,000 years ago - you look down, and there is a big knife with a broken base. First, it would be a curiosity even back then to pick it up and look it over - see how it was made, what the material was, etc. Then, if it were possible to add a couple notched and use it again, why not? It would save time as it is already made. Add in the fact that we do not really know the mystic qualities of such items in ancient times, but it is possible that they viewed such items as good luck, or a link to their own past. Who knows. What we do know, is that tools were in fact picked up generations later and put back in use, and such items are a favorite of mine to collect.

With that being said - I came across this flint hoe not long ago.



One of the first things I noticed about it was the use heavy "use polish" to the bit area. If you are not familiar with use polish, it is a polish that flint (and stone) takes on around the bit area from repeated use in ancient times. Sometimes just the high spots on the flake ridges with have polish, while other times the entire bit area will be highly polished smooth and taking on almost a tumbled look to it, as is the case with this hoe. 



This is a good shot of the glossy use polish that covers almost 1/3 of the hoe's top surface.

When I turned the hoe over, I saw something that was really cool - it had been anciently salvaged by someone hundreds of years or longer after it was originally made.



If you look at the reverse side of the bit that is shown here, you can see three things: 1.) the heavy patina that has built up on back 2/3rds. of the relic   2.) The different color patina on the bit area where it was reworked at a much later time removing the heavy patina 3.) a fresh nick to the blade edge which removed the second stage of patina and shows the original unpatinated flint color (bright white). 



Looking for a difference in patina color is a great way and the first thing one should do when trying to determine if an artifact has been modernly enhanced - but make sure you keep in mind that in rare circumstances, some differences in patina could still be thousands of years old - just a case of later ancient salvage.

Jim Bennett

        

Of the millions of artifacts that have been collected over the years, a few are so exquisite they become well known throughout the artifact collecting community. Many of these rare few artifacts take on their own name along the way as a tribute to their individuality and rarity. Examples of this would be the Sweetwater Bi-face, one of the thinnest and largest blades in existence - or the Rinehart Dove, a massive Dovetail knife that will have Dovetail collectors drooling for decades to come. Another such example of the personification of an artifact is the artifact pictured here, known for obvious reasons as "Old Scarface".
 
Old Scarface is in the collection of Mr. Charlie Wagers in Ohio, and recently I was honored with an invitation to view this magnificent collection with permission to photograph some of the artifacts for my upcoming books.  While I was at Mr. Wager's, I was amazed and intrigued by many of the super relics this collection houses, and I was able to obtain some great photographs for the Bannerstone Artifact book I am completing for the late Lar Hothem - yet - while I was there, I just couldnt leave Old Scarface sitting on the shelf. While the main purpose of the visit was to photograph bannerstones and atlatl hooks, standing only a few feet away for the display case that housed Old Scarface was too much to bare. Towards the end of the evening, as I was finishing shooting photographs of some wonderful bottle banners and composite atlatl hooks, Mr. Wagers invited Old Scarface out of his case for a short visit. As I held him and turned him over in my hands, I was amazed at the amount of detail that was put into this centuries old work of art.



Body scarring, a form of tatooing among natives was done not only in America, but has been practiced in many other countries as well and continues within some remote tribes on other continents to this day.  While occasional finds have revealed evidence of scarring by cultures associated to the Mississippian time period, Old Scarface truly opens a window into the past by showing to what great lengths this body art sometimes took.

In the above photo, I find the design of the facial features and the construction of the head unquestionably tied directly to the makers of headpots. Notice the thin lips, slotted eyes, peirced ears and the squared perforated protusion at the top of the head - all traits seen on most Native American head pots. Another stylization link to headpots from this cultural time period is the coloration split at the top of the forehead. 

 

This photo shows to what great extent the scars covered the body, including the arms, shoulders, chest and stomach areas.
 




This photo clearly shows the back of this person acted as a large human canvas for a variety of geometric style designs.  Since no written record is available for study or referencing such designs made during the Prehistoric, we can only speculate as to the meaning of the shapes and design styles, but there can be no doubt that many of these designs must have held some significance in ancient times warranting them to have been carved into ones body.   

I wish to once again express my thanks to Mr. Wagers for the exciting and fun visit we had, and hopefully the next time I stop by to shoot some photos there he will allow me to feature another one of his superb artifacts here on the Artifact Blog.

Jim Bennett

        

I have only come across a few examples of what are called
"Flint Saws" in the last decade or so, but I know that many
are out there. Saws are made off a large spall or flake, and
are unifacially flaked (flakes off one side only)

While uniface knives are often associated with the Paleo culture,
the truth is that uniface tools of all shapes and sizes have been
found in every cultural time period. What distinguishes a saw from
other uniface knives and scrapers is the large, widely spaced
serrations along the cutting edge.

When I first became introduced to this tool type, I had assumed
it would have had a use such as cutting slate or some other very hard
material due to its being designed to be a hand-held tool, where a
high degree of down-force could be directed to the cutting edge.
However, while all of the examples I have handled thus far have exhibited wear
on the tips of the serrations, none appeared to have ever been resharpened
like you would normally see along the edges of other styles knives.
Also, saws usually are devoid of heavy damage to the serrations, which
makes one wonder if these were actually used for cutting softer, rather
than harder material.

If anyone has examples of flint saws in their collection, I would love to see
a photo or two so that I may continue studying this interesting tool form.

Jim Bennett