One of the most common compliments I receive is about the quality of the artifact photos that we put into our catalogs and on our website. Every couple of months, someone will call and ask me how we get the pictures to come out with no shadows, and what program we are using to get rid of the shadows around the points. The fastest way to get rid of shadows is not so much using a photo editor like photoshop, but rather, taking the pictures in such a way that there are no shadows to start with.

So, instead of talking about relics in this blog post, I thought I would address photography and some things that have worked good for me, so that collectors who want to share pictures of their treasures with other collectors or dealers who would like to take better pics might try a couple of these things that have worked well for me.

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Taking No Shadow Photos

Shadows are the biggest problem we all face when taking pictures of our artifacts. Depending on the type of lighting and angle of the lens and object to the light source, shadows can be an ever present annoyance. After spending almost 20 years now taking pictures of artifacts, I have tried dozens of techniques to take shadow-free photos, and have narrowed my system down a very easy to use set-up that cost around $100 - $150 to set up and will provide you with nice shadow-free photos.

Compare these two photos:
 

In the first photo (left), there are shadows along the left edge and around the base and the beveled edge along the left side cannot be seen.  In the second photo, (right) there are no shadows, and the beveling is nicely visible. The difference is not the camera angle or lighting angle - I actually used the same exact identical set-up for both shots.  The difference is "shadow diffusion". In the first photo, the point is sitting flat on the background cloth. The shadow has no where to go, hence you can see it quite visibly. In the second photo the point is actually suspended 5" above the background which allows for two things: First, the shadows dissipate. Second, the background cloth material & stitch details can no longer be seen as it blends out. So - how do you suspend a relic above the background?

The set-up seen here is where all of my catalog and internet photos are taken. This is a light tent with two external flood lamps I bought as a set off eBay for around $80.
 Inside I have a copy stand that cannot be seen as it is under the blue cloth - the copy stand holds the camera in place at the top of the tent. A copy stand is simply a camera holder that will hold the camera out over an object allowing you to shoot straight down.
 I use a Cannon and a Nikon digital SLR camera - but to be honest, so long as you have a decent digital camera, you can take nice pics if your lighting and set-up is a good one.

Now the secret to getting rid of thos pesky shadows - place a piece of glass 4"-6" above the background and place the relic on the glass, then shoot straight down from the top of the light tent.  Two things that I found worked great for this set-up: 1.) Clear plastic photo-holders you can get for a buck or so at walmart to hold the glass up. By using something clear, like these plastic holders, it does not cast shadows onto the background cloth under the relic. 2.) While you can use picture frame glass and it will work well enough, if you call a local glass company and get a piece of non-glare glass that is cut to fit you will find it works better. (Make sure to have them sand the edges.) The non-glare glass distorts the background nicely and also will not show most of the dust and fingerprints.

I hope this helps those wanting to take nice artifact photos!

Jim Bennett

Bennett's Ancient Artifacts & Auctions
www.oldrelics.com

12-24-08

        

I decided to drive down to Columbus yesterday and visit with some friends at the ASO show.  The ASO is the Archaeological Society of Ohio, and thier shows are interesting and quite fun. They are actually meetings, but from 8 am until around 1 pm there are a hundred or more tables set up with plenty of good offerings for sale. I have been an ASO member for almost 20 years, and since the ASO has 4 or 5 of these "meetings" a year, you get to know alot of the local collectors and dealers.

When I arrived, I spent the first hour chatting wtih friends I havent seen for a while, spent a couple hours looking over tables, and then afterwards went out for a nice fish dinner with a group of 8 collector friends to extend the pleasure of the day. 

While at the meeting, my good friend Rob Dills who was at the show with his friend Keith Ray walked over holding an artifact he found on a table and wanted to show me.  Rob and Keith Ray are both collectors and dealers and they partnered up several years ago to sell relics as "Ohio Valley Artifacts". Its hard to find two guys more committed to authenticity, or two more likeable personalities, and I have truly enjoyed getting to know them over the years.  While Keith is a bifurcate collector, Rob loves Dovetails and Slate relics, and also shares my fascination for tool forms and salvaged relics. (Incidendly, stop at their site when you get time - these are two guys you can trust, and lord know we need more of that type in this hobby http://www.ohiovalleyartifacts.com  

Anyways, so Rob walks over and handed me an axe he found sitting on a table for sale that he knew would spark my interest, and he didnt want someone else to grab it before I got to see it - gotta love good friends It was an anciently broken celt or axe that had been re-grooved in ancient times to extend its use as a tool.

I also found two other oddies that intrigued me enough to pull my wallet out of my pocket, and coming home with these three new items for my collection in addition to enjoying the company of friends made the whole morning a very pleasurable experience.

Here are the three pieces I came up with at the ASO show ...



The top is the salvaged axe from Ohio, bottom left is an eccentric from Ohio, bottom right is a salvaged Clovis found in Illinois. 


The axe is very unique as it is double grooved. I am fairly certain this was actually made off a long celt that broke in the middle, and then had the grooves added to put it back into use. Double grooves are a very rare type, and while such items as this salvaged double groove many never be high in retail value, their uniqueness value is exceptional.







Eccentrics are simply flint fetishes and come in all kids of weird notched shapes and styles. No one really knows exactly what their purpose was in ancient times, many think they were simply practice peices resulting from a newer knapper trying to learn to notch flint. There is no way to tell for certain what their exact purpose was, but that theory makes sense to me. 

 


lastly, I was excited when I saw this double fluted Paleo Clovis sitting on Gary Noel's table. First because finding salvaged Paleo tools is hard due to their limited quantity - secondly because I have dealt with Gary for the last 20 years so I knew no matter what price he wanted for it, I could beat him down at least $20  




 

This relic appears to have been a huge Paleo knife, and after it broke, it was removed from its haft and turned into a hand knife to continue its use. We can tell it was removed from the haft as the salvaged edge is worked completely around the one bottom corner which would have been below the haft line and inside the handle.

The flaking on the salvaged side is unifacial, meaning flakes were only taken from only one side of the piece to reshape it, which is a knapping trait known to have been heavily used in Paleo times. Thus, I think this was salvaged in the Paleo period and not as the result of a later culture Amerind finding the piece and using it. 

All in all, it was fun day and as I sit here this morning enjoying my coffee and getting ready to start the day with three new relics on y desk, I wanted to take a moment and share some photos of the 10,000 + years of history I was able to add to my collection this weekend - 

Jim Bennett
11-10-08 

        

There is no doubt that best part of my job as an artifact dealer and author is getting to see and handle so many artifacts from around the country.  The longer a person in this hobby, the more knowledge they accumulate, and the fewer opportunities there are to see and experience types of artifacts they have never come across before. With me, I am always excited when I come across a type of artifact I have not seen before, and today was one of those days when I got to experience that fun side of collecting. 

I agreed to purchase a collection of around 400 points and three stone tools that were all found in the Washington State area from the son of the finders who collected from 1948 to 1968. The gem points were awesome, and included some great examples of Columbia river gems that I could add to our website and our store on arrowheads.com. But when I unboxed the below stone tool, I first thought it was just a grooved maul or net weight that is commonly found in that part of the country - until I turned it over.



From this side, it just looks like a typical maul or weight - but .........................






When I turned it over and saw the other side, I realized it was a highly stylized club head, and boy was this a cool one. I have seen a couple pictures of such items, but until today I had not had the opportunity to handle one close up. 

Here are some other shots from different angles.....









After I got done looking this one over, I knew I had to share some photos of this one here 


Jim Bennett
11-07-08     

        

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