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Author Topic: Old Wheat sled  (Read 3046 times)

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Offline StevenT

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Old Wheat sled
« on: December 30, 2014, 03:57:18 pm »
I was recently on vacation in California. I was in a shop in Sonoma and saw this. If you look in the first picture, you can see both sled runners. Someone had take the runners and made a shelving unit out of them. The second picture shows the bottom of the sled and this was the interesting part. The runners had a ton of slots cut in the wood and in each slot was a knapped piece of flint. When I asked what it was originally used for, I was told they were the runners on an old sled that was pulled over wheat stalks to separate the wheat grain from the stalks. I thought it was pretty cool the way the knapped stones was used.

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Offline Chippintuff

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Re: Old Wheat sled
« Reply #1 on: December 30, 2014, 08:05:57 pm »
I wonder whether any other people have used such a tool. Is there any archaeological evidence for such tools anywhere in the world? Of course I have no idea how old that thing may be. How would it be used? On a wheat floor? Surely not in the field.

WA
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Offline le0n

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Re: Old Wheat sled
« Reply #2 on: December 31, 2014, 01:23:55 am »
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Offline Tower

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Re: Old Wheat sled
« Reply #3 on: December 31, 2014, 10:38:03 am »
I've never seen anything like that.   It's kinda like stepping back several thousand years into the past.  COOL!
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Offline mullet

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Re: Old Wheat sled
« Reply #4 on: December 31, 2014, 08:40:22 pm »
That would be neat to find and see what kind of flakes were used.
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Offline JackCrafty

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Re: Old Wheat sled
« Reply #5 on: January 01, 2015, 12:49:51 am »
Those sleds were in use for a long time and originated in the Near East thousands of years ago.  A lot of surviving examples come from Spain and probably from Mexico too.

Thanks for posting those pics!  ;D
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Offline Sparrow

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Re: Old Wheat sled
« Reply #6 on: January 01, 2015, 11:26:29 am »
figure out what wood you have there and that might answer as many questions as analyzing the stone , put them together...... very interesting  '  Frank
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Offline YosemiteBen

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Re: Old Wheat sled
« Reply #7 on: January 01, 2015, 11:50:00 am »
StephenT - you came all the way to cali and you didn't come see me?!

Seriously though - nice pics and an intriguing story!
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Offline Hopewell point

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Re: Old Wheat sled
« Reply #8 on: January 01, 2015, 02:48:38 pm »
The last of those came from Turkey I believe. I have an article about these that I will have to look at.
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Offline StevenT

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Re: Old Wheat sled
« Reply #9 on: January 02, 2015, 12:10:47 pm »
Ben, it was a whirlwind trip. Only 7 days and we started with 4 in LA, then drove to Frisco and then to Napa. Planning another trip out that will include the mountains and national parks. So maybe I'll see you then.
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Offline Dalton Knapper

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Re: Old Wheat sled
« Reply #10 on: January 05, 2015, 03:42:58 pm »
That's a fancy one. I once had the opportunity to see one when I was the director of an agriculture museum in Scott, AR. They are sometimes called a "doven" as well. Here's some puctures I took and put on photobucket. This one probably came from a Scandnavian country originally - in keeping with the family name that owned it.



« Last Edit: January 06, 2015, 12:26:16 pm by Dalton Knapper »
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Offline StevenT

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Re: Old Wheat sled
« Reply #11 on: January 06, 2015, 10:55:41 am »
 You got some much better close-ups of the knapped stones. It looks to me that your sled runners are just about the same as the ones I saw. When I saw the runners in the store, it just blew me away. Just had never seen anything like it. Thanks for posting your pics.
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