I think I would be ok posting my writings in a thread if it would help people. If I do this I want to make sure everyone understands that this is only how I do it, not how everyone should do it type stuff. Also these writings would be about my abo ideas today and they change weekly so I would update the info from time to time. Also these are skills with ABO like tools and skill that produce points that look like other historic points but I make no claim this is how it was done only that it can be done. I my journey has revealed very little original information that I think I can say I came up with and 99% I learned from others.
If you are interested in Native American knapping (all prehistoric knapping from North America, South America, and Central America), then it would be critical to study the flintknapping tools that they used. Actually, it is super, extra, double important critical, because without looking at the knapping tools that were once used, it is a complete shot in the dark.
Also, it appears going all the way back to Anzick, and earlier, the Native American people always maintained a firm belief in the afterlife. And, they usually buried personal items with the deceased, to accompany them in the next life. If they had not done this, Columbus would have encountered people loaded with stone tools that were handed down for millenia, as we hand our belongings down, through wills. But, this was not encountered. The deceased were sent into the afterlife with important belongings that were deemed necessary.
Because of this tendency, archaeologists have been able to focus on grave items, in order to make an inference as to what the person might have done during his or her life. Their respective livelihoods were reflected in the items that were interred with the their remains. And, the good news is that archaeologists have been recovering presumed flintknapping tool kits, for probably the last hundred years.
Some people think that we could never know anything about ancient knapping, because we do not have a time machine to fly back in time, in order to see ancient people knap. But, guess what? We DO have their flintknapping toolkits. And, as far as I can tell, the known toolkits should be the starting point.
If a person wants to understand Native American knapping, the first thing to look at is the tool kit. The second thing to look at is the flakes and flake scars produced by the tools, during all stages of reduction. And, the third thing to look at is the finished points.
While this may all sound simple, probably the biggest problem is that for the last century, people have not really been able to figure out how some of the most prominent flintknapping tools were used, in the Americas. This is probably what led to the antler baton theory being adopted from European theorists Barnes, Leakey, and Bordes, by the American flintknapper Don Crabtree.
I don't believe that Barnes had Native American flintknapping in mind, when he invented the flintknapping baton, during the 1930's. I do not believe that Luis Leakey had Native American flintknapping in mind, when he made oversized bifaces, in Africa, with wooden batons, in the 1940's. Bordes said that he did not know much about archaeology, probably in the 1950's. And, Crabtree simply followed in their tracks, with regard to the antler baton theory.
So, what needs to be done is that someone needs to go beyond Don Crabtree, and ask, "What TOOLS did Native Americas use, when they made their points? How could these tools have been used? Are certain tool processes reflected in certain stages of reduction?"
This is a very difficult path to take. It is a path that many other people stumbled on, or simply abandoned altogether. Nevertheless, Native American flintknapping will never be understood, so long as the evidence remains abandoned.
