3 New Odditites
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
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
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