When I first saw this knife sitting on a display table in Oklahoma, I was surprised to see it was still hafted to the original handle. Many times, broken authentic knives are put into recently made handles as examples of how they appeared in ancient times - this was not the case with this one - it was the real deal. I talked to the owner, and he explained the item was found in a rock bluff in Peco Texas.

Most knives, due to moisture and time, have seen their handles rot away and the only thing remaining are the flint points we collect. Occasionally though, knives were tucked away in dry environment areas out of the weather, and so they are able to remain in-tact. It is a rarity, but it does happen. Normally, these pieces are found in the desert southwest parts of the country, and were recovered back at the turn of the century were such areas were being explored for the first time. Occasionally they were tucked away in boxes and attics, and every once in a while one will surface.

I showed this item to Matt Rowe of Oklahoma who was hosting the show, and he agreed it was an authentic example, and we were both amazed at how thick the ashpaltum application was to the hafting area. Different substances such as asphaltum and pine pitch were used as a glue substance to help hold the blade in and to protect the hafting sinew or plant fiber.
 

Matt and I both help out at the Museum of Native American Artifacts down in Bentonville, Arkansas and thought this item would make a nice addition to the display there. We gave the owner of this relic the contact information for the museum, and took a few photos which were then emailed to the museum owner David Bogle.

A couple months later I got a call form David and he told me that he acquired the item for the museum, and we discussed what point type it probably was. It is hard to tell without seeing the base of the item, and we discussed having a C-14 test done, but that tends to be costly.

On my next visit to Arkansas, I picked up the knife and brought it back to Ohio here where I could study it further, and where I could have some x-rays taken to see if we could determine the basal style of the knife and try to get an approximate age date for it. David, Matt and myself all felt it was an archaic knife - but really needed a good view of the base to confirm if that was a correct guess.

An appointment was set up with the local hospital, Ashland Samaritan, where I have received help in the past with similar projects.

The first thing we tried at the hospital was a x-ray of the item laying flat to see if it would show the basal style. Unfortunately, the result was a good view of the bone handle - but the knife base would not show through the heavy asphaltum coating the hafting area.

As you can see in this photo of the x-ray, even when the technician tried to increase the depth of the x-rays, it still would not show the knife base.

So - the next thought was try to obtain a cat scan of the knife and see if that would give a better view.

CT scans work by obtaining slices of the item, and can usually provide a more 3-dimensional view of the item. We had a short wait for the next available time slot in the CT room, and within the hour we had this several thousand year old patient sitting on the scan table.

The hospital employees were great to work with. They all were very careful with the knife, and they were as intrigued as I was to see what could be seen inside the knife handle. Was this a Pedernales, a Bell, a Marshall? It didn't take long for the machine to start sending data to the computers and a view of the knife began taking shape, one slice at a time.

Straight sides, straight base, no lobes - that certainly helped narrow it down. To be honest, I was expecting a Pedernales style for some reason, so I was abit surprised to see the straight base. I took the photos to my next visit in the LIVE chat room at arrowheads1.com where a discussion ensued regarding the type, and based on the basal style, it was generally agreed this is probably a Marshall style knife dating from the middle to late archaic period. Then I took the photos over to another site visited heavily by Texas collectors, and the result there was that it was a Shumla. 

The knife is now on its way back to the museum in Bentonville where it will be displayed with the CT scan printoffs, and hopefully will be a good learning display for the kids that go though so that they can better understand how the knifes we find in the fields were actually used thousands of years ago.

To date, opinions are still coming in on the correct type, and it is leaning more toward a Shumla, with one Texas collector even responding that it was a Shumla and that I should stay away from Texas types since I said above that I thought it might be a Pedernales when i first saw it I guess he must stay away from any artifact not from his backyard area - what a shame to limit oneself so. I sure would encourage all collectors to expand their horizons, and handle relics from other areas. Sure you will run into some arrogant know-it-alls wanting to make themselves sound smart at your expense. It happens all the  time in every walk of life, even collecting. Just don't let it bother you and keep learning about the artifacts - every area has great relics to offer! 

Jim Bennett

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