Jim Bennett's Artifact Blog

Hafted Hide Scrapers

Jim Bennett — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 00:07:00 GMT

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

Removing Glue

Jim Bennett — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 08:41:00 GMT

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

A Couple Slate Traits

Jim Bennett — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 16:14:00 GMT

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

Ohio Slate Pendant? Nope.

Jim Bennett — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 10:57:00 GMT

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

An old box that helps answer an old question ....

Jim Bennett — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 21:46:00 GMT

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

Divoted Net Weights

Jim Bennett — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 17:48:00 GMT

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

"Backed" Knives

Jim Bennett — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 18:17:00 GMT

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

Later Ancient Salvage

Jim Bennett — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 14:49:00 GMT

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

A visit with Old Scarface

Jim Bennett — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 14:46:00 GMT

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

Flint Saws

Jim Bennett — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 02:10:00 GMT

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

An Inside Look at Some Quapaw Pottery

Jim Bennett — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 22:54:00 GMT

I was talking with a customer a few days ago about pottery and how hard it can be to detect restoration. I mentioned to him that I had access to the analysis of some rare Quapaw pottery that the Museum of Native American Artifacts had sent out for CT scanning and study to a company called Rare Collections (www.rare-collections.com). This company is on the cutting edge of identifying reproduction and restored artifacts for museums and collectors around the world.

The analysis consisted of CT scanning, high-resolution photography, thermoluminescence (TL) testing, microscopy, UV and IR analysis. While we can look at a flint point under a 10x loop or scope and see what we need on the surface - for pottery you need to be able to see inside it to actually see all that needs to be seen.

A few images from the analysis have been graciously provided by for this posting by Rare-Collections (© 2007 Rare Collections) and it is greatly appreciated as the sharing of infomation about topics such as this need to published.

Most of us will probably never own the high end type vessels shown here - but this study represents what kind of restoration is being done on all levels of pottery, not just the museum grade relics.

Many complete and undamaged pots have been found, but the larger the pottery gets, the more likely it is to have damage. Quite often pottery will be found in many pieces, and those are known as "sack pots". One question you have have when looking at a pottery item is "how much of the item has been restored?" Some may just have a small amount of restoration to the rim area or a patched probe hole where it was struck by the long thin probe used to find pottery, while others will be completely restored with large amounts of filler.

The best way to determine its exact condition is with the use of CT scanning. Here are a few examples:

This teapot was restored from a few original pieces and has extensive over-painting.

This Otter teapot was restored from original pieces with a smal amount of filler material and in-painting.

This deer/fawn effigy pot was restored from both original and unrelated fragments. The lower portion of the pot appears original (including the split toe hooves). In addition, the head appears original (and related to the base of the object). One “painted spot” (one of the apparent deer/fawn spots) on the proper left side has been identified as being original to the piece and seems to validate the restorative painting on the upper portion of the pot (although it has been restored using unrelated fragments, etc.). The 3D CT view clearly illustrates the condition of the pot in addition to confirming the associated and unrelated fragments.

Again, I thought these images were interesting and worth sharing and serve as an example of what can be done with today's technology. They also provide a good example of how the outside of pottery may differ from what is under its surface.

Jim Bennett

** My thanks to the Museum of Native American Artifacts and Rare Collections for allowing me to use these images for this article **

Recent Addition to this post:
Mark from Rare-Collections was kind enough to send along the below image to add here - thanks Mark!

if you ever need CT testing done, or if you have high-end pottery or artifacts that really need a thorough checkout, the people who did the pot pictured here can be contacted at:
CT scanning and analysis by Rare Collections - www.rare-collections.com

Bone Hoe - Tool

Jim Bennett — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 14:10:00 GMT

At first when I posted this, I assumed this
was a moose horn - then I received a comment
by one of the blog visitors who stated this was
probably a buffalo scupula bone - and after looking
at the photos again, that sure makes more sense.

I took these photos when I was at the Museum
of Native American Artifacts down in Arkansas
last year. I have seen examples of these types
of tools being used for various tasks ranging
from hoes that were attached to handles
to digging tools to paddles.

This example does not have much in the
way of use polish any where along its
edges, so I doubt it was heavily used
as a hoe or spade. Bone and antler will pick
up a polish along its edges from use, and this
one does not exhibit any polish indicating it
was not heavily used as a digging tool.

However, while I am not sure what the
ancient use was exactly for this artifact,
I do know is that it was modified from
its original shape in ancient time to be used
a tool.

When I looked along the bottom edge, it was evident it had been
intentionally rounded off.

This is a photo of the worked edge showing how it was rounded off, and you
can see the "bit like" angle put along the edge.

In a couple areas you can still see the original scribe marks and saw cuts
from when the bottom edge was originally shaped.

Although I can't say for sure what the exact use in ancient times was, there
is no doubt this was intentionally shaped for a specific purpose
by ancient man. Just another oddity in the artifact world

Jim Bennett

Tinder Starters

Jim Bennett — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 10:53:00 GMT

One of the daily tasks ancient man had was getting his fires started,
and one way that was done was with friction. We have all seen images in
movies of a stick being spun in hand or with the use of a bow drill to create
friction which would then catch some dried moss or similar substance on fire.
Rocks like the one pictured here were used for starting a fire by friction.

Tinder starters are generally a cobble that has had a hole drilled at
a shallow angle aproximately 1 1/2" to 2" deep and a naturally formed
or intentionally pecked-out "pan" area in front of the hole.

View showing the pan area in front of the hole.

A stick would be inserted into the hole, probably with a small amount
of starter material, and then spun until an ember or two wer
ready to be pulled or tapped back to the pan area where additional
tinder was waiting.

As you can see in this photo, often the outside of the cobble was pecked
and shaped so that it would fit in one's hand. This way, once the
tinder on the pan was ignited, the user who was holding the cobble, could place it at
base of the fire and tip it over so that the embers could do their job of starting
the fire.

So far, I have only found two of these artifacts that I can say for
certain were tinder starters, both of which were found in Kentucky.
I have seen several others that I believe were used for fire starting based on thier
having the angled intentionally drilled hole, but they lacked the "pan" area.
The other example I have which is not pictured has a pan that was pecked into shape.

Tinder starters are just another of the many artifacts that are occasionally seen,
but usually overlooked.

Jim Bennett

A Couple Pottery Basics

Jim Bennett — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 23:17:00 GMT

A customer today asked me about how to tell if Mississippian pottery is authentic. I am far from being an expert on pottery, but in the last year I have spent alot of time talking with Matt Rowe down in Oklahoma who is an expert. Matt does restoration, and I find him to be a very reliable source for artifact information, and an extremely honest person. If you visit his website at www.arrowheads1.com you will see how much work he has done for the artifact community. Anyways, although I cannot post a course on how to tell good from bad pottery, I can share a couple small things that people new to pottery may find interesting.

With flint artifacts, there are the "no brainer good" pieces that have everything that you want to see visible to the naked eye - proper patina, heavy deposits, proper weathering and wear etc. Pottery is much the same way, only with a different set of traits to look for. I personally prefer to only buy pottery that I can tell at first glance is correct. True, there is alot of pottery I pass up that is good as gold, but I am just not comfortable with anything that doesn't scream "I'm old".

The yellow circles on this photo to the left indicate pieces of shell that were used to "temper" the clay, and help strengthen it and hold it together. Mississippian pottery can usually be identified by the shell tempering. Other materials were used to temper pottery, but the Mississippians liked to use shell. The presence of shell tempering is not an indication of authenticity - but since I had the picture here showing it, I thought I would address that quickly.

What does help a person tell if a pot is ancient are worm tracks and pressure cracks. I like to see both of these on pots that I purchase.

If you look at the red arrow, you will see a pressure crack in the clay that comes from age. Not all old pots will have pressure cracks, but I like to see them on pots that I buy.

The second thing I like to see are what are called "worm tracks". (Green circles) There were not really caused by worms, but rather by plant roots that grew around the pot while it was in the ground.

This is a photo of the bottom of the above pictured pot showing a couple more pressure cracks.

The above bowl, also Mississippian and from Arkansas shows some pressure cracks (red arrows) and the inside of the bowl is covered with worm tracks.

Not a long or deeply insightful article on pottery - but as I was photographing these to be listed on the website for sale I just thought I would share a couple things about these pieces that I thought might be helpful.

Be careful - pottery can be as addicting to collect as flint and stone items once you get started

Jim Bennett

Curious Hoe

Jim Bennett — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 18:18:00 GMT

Often in collections I find that the collector who previously owned and assembled the collection either made, or bought, an axe, celt or other tool that was modernly hafted to a handle. I think these are great examples to show kids and new collectors as it gives them a visual of how these items were hafted in ancient times.

The two items to left were in a collection I bought some time ago, and they are an authentic axe, and an authentic celt, that were recently placed into handles for just this purpose.

So when I bought a collection from Western Indiana last year, I didn't think much about it when this hafted hoe was found in one of the boxes. I thought it would make a great example for when I do talks at the schools, and I tossed it on a shelf in my office, and really didn't think much about it for a spell.

Then, a couple of my local Ohio collector friends came over to look at and talk relics for a while, and my good friend Rob Dills kept handling the hoe, and looking it over intently. Finally, he asked me what the story was on it, and I explained it was just an item that I found in a box with a collection I had, and that I set it off for a prop to use when I next talked to the school kids. He continues to look it over, and finally asked if I had taken a close look at it - which I hadn't. Rob told me he didn't think it was made all too recently, as it looked like it had some age on it. I didn't think much about it at the time, but later that evening with nothing on TV and everyone in the house shuffled off to bed, I decided to take a better look at it, and I became quite puzzled. While I had just assumed the item was made in the last 20 or 30 years or so, I was seeing some things that made me wonder just how long ago this hoe was really hafted to that handle.

The first thing I did was take a good look at the flint hoe itself. While the hafting was unique, and the leather strapping looked like it had some age, that is just not my area of expertise, so I thought I would study the flint. It was no doubt Midwestern flint that is commonly seen in the Indiana/Illinois/Missouri area, and I decided to put it under a scope and see what all I could see with a little magnification as there were some visible signs of age on the surface.

The first thing that caught my eye were the heavy iron deposits that are found scattered about on much of the relics surface. (blue)

The second thing I noticed was the use polish on some of the high spots of the flint (red)

The third thing I noticed were areas of use damage along the very edge of the bit where the flint edge was damaged from striking hard objects. (green)

There was no doubt this hoe had done some work in its time.

There was also no doubt that the hoe itself was an ancient hoe, but what about the handle, and the hafting? Were they old - or was this just an example of an ancient hoe that had been inserted into a handle for display - just like the axes shown above?

For the next week or so, I would pick this hoe up and look it over, trying to notice the little things that one doesn't look for when first handling an item. I wanted to know just how long this hoe had been in the handle, but was not sure where to start looking.

One of the first things I saw was a piece of wood that had, over time, attached itself to the bottom of the flint hoe itself. This sliver of wood is firmly attached, most likely from moisture etc. acting as a bonding agent.

At first I thought this wood had become separated from the main handle - but upon talking to several experts a bit later on, I learned that often after the haft was secured with leather strapping, sinew or cordage, small "wedges" or "shims" would be inserted in various areas to tighten the tool in place so that it would not wiggle free. This just struck me as a step that a person making a display type item would not do - why worry about it coming loose during use if you are only making an item for display?

As I looked closer at areas where wedges could be placed, I did find two other wedges that had been inserted to tighten up the hoe. The arrow to the left shows a piece of a wedge that was placed under one of the "ears" of the hoe.

As I talked to more people familiar with historic era items and reservation period items, one of the things I was told to look for was to see if the leather was machine cut - or hand cut. Machine cut leather would be a consistent width, while hand cut would fluctuate in width. Most reproduction items and alot of the later reservation period items used rolls of machine cut manufactured leather strapping.

As I took a closer look at the leather strapping, I noticed that there were actually two different types that were used. One, which appears to be the original leather ( B ) is thinner and more brittle than the other leather ( A ). I decided to compare the older original leather first to see if there were any differences in the width.

When comparing the width, there was no doubt this was not machine cut leather - it varied in many places. Some variations were slight, other areas like the one indicated in the photo to the left were vastly different.

Once again, the thought kept running through my mind that if someone was going to make an item such as this for display, they would probably go out and buy some leather that was ready to go at a craft shop rather than taking the time to cut it up into strips.

When I took a look at what appears to be the "newer" leather, I found the same differences in width, and I also found one area (green arrow) where the person cutting the strips of leather began to cut it too narrow, and corrected themselves before they cut the strip in half. Again, alot of work for a display type item.

While I was looking at the ear areas where this hoe had been notched, I noticed that one of the ears had broken off. I was not sure when, but then I noticed on the good ear - pictured to the left - that the leather had worn where the ear had rubbed against it. I would think that such wear would be a result of use, once again - not something I would expect to see on a display prop type item.

When I looked at the side where the ear is missing, having broken off at some point in time, I saw two areas where the ear had made contact with the leather, and both areas displayed wear consistent with the leather around the remaining ear. The ear was still in place, at least for a while, while this hoe was being used as a hoe.

I have spent about 8 months showing this item to some very respectable collectors of historic as well as prehistoric artifacts, and no one has any idea how old this item really is. opinions vary from "quite old" to one person saying it was probably made by boyscouts or for use in an Indian village recreation - but I have a hard time believing that they would use wedges and hand cut leather when they made such items.

The other thought is that the minerals on the flint hoe itself could only get there by having direct contact with the ground and moisture which would allow the minerals to form - but that would surely have caused rotting to the leather if not the wood, and both are in excellent condition.

My thought after looking at this from as many angles as I can think of, is that a person - either Native or Pioneer, found the flint hoe which was not in its original handle, and then placed it in this handle so that they could put it back in use for tending their crops. Whether this was in the 1400's or 1800's is really hard to say without some scientific testing of the leather or wood. There is no doubt in my mind that this item as seen now was used just as it is for its intended purpose - cultivation. One fact that leads me to believe this hoe and handle set are have been together for at least a hundred years is the way that the wood wedge naturally adhered itself to the surface of the flint. My guess, and it is only a guess, is that it would take some time sitting for that to happen.

This was a fun artifact to handle and look into, and I learned alot of valuable information while talking to the people who are experts in the historical artifact area about leather and hafting techniques. I hope you have enjoyed reading and viewing the pictures - I would love to hear what anyone else thinks about this piece or its possible history. If I ever do find out exactly how old this item is, I will be sure to post an update.

Jim Bennett

Etched Slate

Jim Bennett — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 03:57:00 GMT

I just got in a new consignment from a local friend of mine who just purchased a nice little Ashland County, Ohio collection. We sat at the kitchen table tonight for several hours drinking coffee, talking relics and looking over the artifacts in the collection. There are few things in life I enjoy more than an evening spent talking with friends over coffee and artifacts. This was one of those collections that had a little bit of everything in it. Nice relics from most of the time periods, some slate and stone artifacts, and those great little cigar boxs of broken relics, scrapers, knives and debitage. I love going through cigar boxes. It's like opening Christmas presents as a kid, - what little oddities or hidden treasures might be waiting in those boxes.

When we got done going through the items, we had sorted out the below consignment, and in there were a couple neat items I thought I would post here on the blog. Of course - I did find a wonderful artifact to add to my collection before we were done

Now lets take a look at a couple pieces from this collection that I found to be quite interesting, and thought maybe some of my visitors here might enjoy seeing also.

First is a giniculate......

(The giniculate to the left is from the collection of Jon Dickinson)

For those that do not know, a giniculate is a drilled slate piece that resembles a bannerstone ... and a golf club. These were used in ancient times as atl-atl weights it is believed.

A complete giniculate should look like the example shown here, which is from the Jon Dickinson collection. I shot some pics of this one for the book on bannerstones that I am working on.

The hole in the lower, wide part of the item would have allowed it to fit over the atl-atl main shaft.

Giniculates do not have round holes, but rather oblong shaped holes. Like most bannerstone type artifacts, when these items broke in ancient times, it was usually at the hole area as that is the weakest point.

Now this example shown here is one from this collection. This is a giniculate that broke in ancient times at the hole, and the user decided to salvage it by putting grooves around the outside of the artifact so that it could be tied back together, and still be used for its intended purpose.

Salvaging bannerstone as well as many other slate artifacts was very common in ancient times. While some salvaging was done for utilitarian purposes, so the item could still be used, other times items were salvaged that one would think should have been discarded. This raises the question of whether there was a more personal, or perhaps mystical, attachment to slate artifacts.

This photo is of the reverse side of the broken and salvaged artifact. Like many broken and salvaged slate artifacts - we find etchings on them. Salvaged slate quite often will have had etched designs placed on them, and I have no clue as to why.

If you look in the broken hole area of this relic, you will see that horizontal lines have been etched across it.

I have heard some argue that there is no way to tell if the etchings were done before, or after the item broke, so it is hard to say if there is a relationship between the salvaging and the etching. Well, on this example - we know it was etched after it broke as there is no way ancient man could have places such lines across the center of the hole area if it were complete.

These etchings were definitely placed on this item after it broke.

Shown here is close up of the 5 horizontal etched lines that were placed across the broken hole.

One more example I have is a wonderfully etched salvaged giniculate that is from the collection of Rob Dills. Rob is a great guy and a fellow Ohio collector, and he has become a good friend of mine over the last few years. He allowed me to photo this item for the book on bannerstones.

Since we have been talking about salvaged slate having etchings - here is the second example from this same collection.

Shown here is a slate pendant or gorget that broke in ancient times. The broken edge was ground down by by the ancient user, so we know the piece was not simply discarded. This relic was heavily etched, my guess would be after the item broke.

As I mentioned, I did find an item for my personal collection in this group of artifacts, and yes, of course it was a salvaged piece

The little axe shown here was salvaged from the broken bit of a larger axe. Once the original axe broke, the ancient user took the section of bit that remained and added a new groove to it. Obviously, there was no additional work done to the poll end as the original rough break is still quite visible.

Thanks for visiting!

Jim Bennett

Rare hafted Knife

Jim Bennett — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 18:04:00 GMT

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

My New Rock

Jim Bennett — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 16:13:00 GMT

While I was at the Expo I got a chance to look over alot of artifacts, purchase some good ole ancient relics to run in the next catalog, and to simply enjoy seeing some of the "best of the best" artifacts that were there on display. Of course, I was also looking over the many tables for those little oddities that I like to collect personally - salvaged relics, abnormally styled stone and flints etc.

As I walked past one table, an artifact caught my attention - not because it was a G-10 example of some great rarity, and not because it was a great example of ancient craftsmanship, but rather because it looked totally out of place amidst the other flint points, slate ornaments and stone tools which covered the tops of most of the tables.

As I read the tags on the artifact, I knew I had found the table I had been looking for.

Ah yes - my favorite phrase in the artifact world .... "what is it".

As I handled the huge chunk of stone with the interesting full groove that had been anciently pecked around the middle, it became clear this was not a preform or unfinished item - this was a completed artifact ... but what was it for?

The heavy patina on all of the surfaces except the pecked groove indicates the original shape of the rock was not altered. If the exterior edges had been altered, the coloration of the surface patina on the rock would most likely match the patina color of the pecked area where the original patina had been removed. There is no doubt in my mind this thing was used just as it was, the groove added not to tie it to something like you would find on an axe or hammerstone, but rather a groove for suspension such as you would find on a plummet, net weight or sinker.

While it is possible this may have been a huge weight used for fishing such as a trot line weight, the shear size and weight of the stone makes me doubt it was intended for that use.

After talking with the owner of the relic, I found out that this was originally found by a collector named Gene Lentz, who as it turns out was also in attendance at the Expo. I found Gene and showed him the rock, and we discussed its location when found and his thoughts on the possible use. Gene stated the rock was found along the shore of a waterway. With this information, there are only three possible uses for this item that I can think of:

1.) A weight for a large trot line
2.) An anchor
3.) A counter-balance for a lever used to withdraw water or muscles from the river

There is really no way to tell if this was used in ancient times for any of the above three reasons, or if it was made for a totally different use - but strange artifacts such as this turn up from time to time and indicate that ancient man did occasionally apply their talent of converting the materials readily available to them for specific uses.

This to me is one of the fun parts of collecting ancient relics - it offers the collector the opportunity to theorize, form hypothesis and apply basic logic on a regular basis as we study some of the anomalies that are out there in the artifact world.

Jim b.
............................................. The Rest of the Story .........................................................

After buying the rock above, I brought it back and set it on my table, and my good friends Eric Wagner and Pear Bauman who had tables next to mine began ribbing me a bit about my strange desire to obtain the strange - and a comment was made in gest about its authenticity. Well, I made the mistake of walking away from my table for a short spell, and while I was gone some of friends decided to remove any doubt that this was in fact an authentic rock, and they issued this beautiful COA, complete with a sketch drawing:

Now that I have this .. ahem .. "wonderful" certificate there can be no doubt that this thing truly is, a rock with a groove in it ......

Thanks Cliff Jackson, Eric Wagner, Gary Noel, Rocky Hall, Jon Dickinson and Monty Pennigton for issuing this wonderful COA free of charge ... you all have my word that I will get even with you all at a future show

Bear Effigy

Jim Bennett — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 17:13:00 GMT

It's amazing how often artifacts tend to travel from one part of the county to another. A point found in California gets left to a family member from Idaho who sells the collection to a collector in Illinois who breaks some out and sells a portion to a guy in New Jersey. It happens all the time.

Just because a relic is in an old collection from one area never means that artifact is from that particular area. Many people collect from all over, and collectors have been doing that since collecting began.

Often I will hear someone say "well, I am not sure exactly where it came from, but the collection was in Texas". OK, but just because the collection was assembled in Texas certainly doesn't mean all the artifacts in the collection are from Texas. I think this is one way incorrect provenience gets associated with a particular item.

Case in point: The bear effigy pictured here:

This cute little guy was sent to me by a customer who had bought part of a collection from Indiana. He is a great guy, and I really enjoy working with him as he sends me various items from time to time that he is selling. When discussing what animal it probably represented - he advised he thought this was a buffalo effigy as it was from Indiana.

Knowing material types is very important when collecting artifacts as it really helps one identify a probably area of origin. I am not saying that a person needs to know every detail about every type of material out there - I certainly don't know that much detail about all the various types out there - but simply learning the different appearances of materials sure helps to tell when something is out of place for an area.

When I saw this "buffalo" I had two thoughts .. 1 - it looked like a bear to me and 2 - it was definitely a material type from out west, not Indiana.

So - I called the seller back and asked him if he could get some more info on it. He then called the elderly lady that had the collection, and she advised after a little checking on her part that the item was actually from Alaska. Now that provenience certainly fits with this relic.

I decided to write up this story about this bear that just came in to remind us all that not every provenience tag on a relic is accurate - and the more different material types one can learn to recognize, the easier it is for a red flag to pop up when a situation such as this comes along. When I am at shows, I am always asking questions about material types, and I probably always will be. From identifying different types of flint and stone to learning about relics styles from different parts of the country, the best asset we collectors have at our disposal are other collectors - don't ever be afraid to ask questions - collectors are truly a walking resource waiting to be accessed!

Jim b.

Curiously Salvaged Axe

Jim Bennett — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 13:48:00 GMT

When it comes to Ancient Axes, most of us are familiar with the 1/2 groove, 3/4 groove, full groove, the rare double grooved - but has anyone ever seen a a doube 90 degree angle 3/4 groove? I think this could go down as a one of a kind - as many creatively salvaged artifacts can.

This is one of the stranger salvaged stone relics I have come across. Many of my customers and friends know that I am very intrigued by anciently salvaged artifacts, and while some people go from table to table at shows looking for G-10's at a good buy - I tend to scour the junk boxes and bargain bins for some ancient salvage that someone has missed.

I ran into Matt Rowe from Oklahoma at a show down in Arkansas this spring, and he had this beauty. We scratched our heads trying to figure out the story behind the strange shape, and I decided on the spot that I had to talk him out of this one. How can anyone pass up such a ... a... well, ok - its not exactly a beauty - but it sure looked cool - and no doubt, a subject of an ancient salvage job.

There was no doubt that the poll end was damaged in ancient times, with a large break removing a big part of the poll end. When axes would get stuck during use, the poll end would be struck with another rock or stone tool to free it up - that is why the poll ends of many axes and celts often have some ancient damage on them. When this one was struck, it obviously caused some serious damage.

After I got back and unboxed it, I pondered the design for a while, and the only thing I could figure was that once it had broke, it must have come loose from the haft, and the ancient user added the second horizontal groove to the top of it to allow him to secure it tighter to the haft.

The poll break angled into the hafting area and the break ran into the original groove, and must have loostened the haft, and the axe was no longer securely attached to the handle. To correct this, the ancient user modified the axe, and added another groove to the top of the axe runing at a 90 degree angle to the original groove. This allowed the user to re-secure the axe to the haft and handle.

In order to further illustrate what the original axe looked like prior to the break, I decided to have a little "photoshop fun" and digitally recreate the probable original shape of the axe before it broke, based on the angles of the existing edges.

My bet would be the original axe, before the bit was resharpened down from use and before the poll broke, would have probably looked like the below picture - this was definately a nice size axe when it was originally made.

I guess when it comes to salvage, for some reason, I can see the ancient owners looking at their broken tools and weapons, pondering how to fix them so they didn't have to start over again, and then creatively making corrections to continue the use of the items.

Everyone has their favorite examples of artifacts in their collections - this axe will remain one of my favorites for some time I think.

Thanks Matt for letting me get this one from you so that I could add it to my salvage collection -

Jim B.