Enterline Scrapers

[uniface]

Witthoft (spelling from memory -- reports were stolen long ago and I'm too lazy to look it up) identified two previously un-recognised paleo types/procedures in his original report on the Shoop Site assemblage.

One was what he called the Enterline Fluting Technique, which many of the points and fragments there showed : the practice of running narrow "guide flakes" up each side previous to striking off the main flute to keep it running straight.

The other, a tool form, he called Enterline Scrapers. As with the two below, these are endscrapers on which the working end is narrower than the rest of the tool, rather than (as usual) wider.

When even more extreme, these would be called "bec"s (French) or "nosed scrapers."

For what it's worth.

 

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[Tnmountains]

Its worth a lot. I read the post and start wanting go digging thru everything,,,,again.
Thanks appreciate your post.
Regards

TnMountains

 

[uniface]

Having mentioned becs, I figured I might as well illustrate one. Worked into a square knife of pink mottled jasper from wherever that stuff comes from (Mississippi ?)

The blue "15" is some butt-wit's collection number in magic marker that was only partly removable with acetone.

 

[uniface]

No edit feature

Revise above. Not Jasper -- Horse Creek Chert (Brian Williard OSL ID)

 

[H.P.]

Nice examples, tools are cool..

 

[joshuaream]

Cool tools. There is value in careful study of tools, a point type could hypothetically change pretty quickly for some unknown reason, but the underlying skill and learned behaviors behind the tools were probably much more consistent. (Tools are the mDNA that is passed down for centuries, and points are just regular DNA that has variability within a couple generations.)

I think it was on a now deceased forum, but a couple of good knappers commented that they didn't see the functional benefit of enterline fluting. It obviously exists in the archaeological record, but it when you whack the biface with enough force to flute it, a couple of smaller side flutes didn't do much to "funnel" the forces up the piece for clean flutes. The did work to help isolate the flute nipple/platform, but the longer ones see on Crowfields and some Clovis points might have just been a cool aesthetic feature.

 

[uniface]

FWIW on that, the moderns were/are whacking them with billets, which are completely unknown in the archaeological record -- both in our, and in European prehistory. I can't speak from experience with them (Benjamin Eble could, and did), but the force directed through a small punch hit by a hammerstone would be a different matter than what would be done with a moose- or elk-antler billet (precious few of those crittiers in places like Florida).

What's crazy is that an archaeologist frustrated with the limitations of hard-hammer percussion discovered that antler billets were the key to replicating ancient knapping feats. Where it went off the rails is everybody deciding that because it could be done that way, therefore it was done that way -- an assumption contradicted by the archaeological record.

 

[joshuaream]

FWIW on that, the moderns were/are whacking them with billets, which are completely unknown in the archaeological record -- both in our, and in European prehistory. I can't speak from experience with them (Benjamin Eble could, and did), but the force directed through a small punch hit by a hammerstone would be a different matter than what would be done with a moose- or elk-antler billet (precious few of those crittiers in places like Florida).

Good point in the billets vs mechanical jigs used for fluting.

Bob Patten and others were using pegs and punches before Ben was born. That is where people soured on Ben's enthusiasm... claiming the one true enlightenment and his discovery of the technology wore thin. Heck, many knappers argue about abo tools (rock & antler) vs modern tools (slab saws, kilns, copper tools, delrin rods, complex mechanical fluting jigs, etc.), having someone come in and saying "you all are doing it wrong" didn't go over well.

 

[BenjaminE]

Good point in the billets vs mechanical jigs used for fluting.

Bob Patten and others were using pegs and punches before Ben was born. That is where people soured on Ben's enthusiasm... claiming the one true enlightenment and his discovery of the technology wore thin. Heck, many knappers argue about abo tools (rock & antler) vs modern tools (slab saws, kilns, copper tools, delrin rods, complex mechanical fluting jigs, etc.), having someone come in and saying "you all are doing it wrong" didn't go over well.

Hello Joshua,

I would appreciate if you would cease and desist from publishing false information about me.

Some of the people who were witness to everything that transpired between 2010 and 2011 - not including you - know that the things that you are parroting ARE FALSE.

First of all, I was a member of multiple flintknapping groups in good standing from 2004 until 2010.

So, after six years of being "buddy buddy" with many flintknappers, what happened?

What happened is that in 2010 I was researching Lacadon flintknapping technology, and I ran across North American prehistoric evidence of the use of punches which were documented between the 1890's and the 1940's, under the name of "antler drift".

Thinking that no one knew about this information - as I never saw it on any flintknapping forum since 2014 - I returned with a "boatload" of information to present.

The answer from Bob Patten is that Native Americans did not use indirect percussion in bifacial reduction. Not taking "no" for an answer, I then proceeded to show for six solid months all of the evidence from both archaeology as well as historical records. Patten did finally break years later before he died. I know this from a top knapper.

Also, I presented the evidence in non-adversarial manner FOR SIX STRAIGHT MONTHS.

When I saw that I was not going to be treated fairly - AS YOU ARE AGAIN DOING NOW - I went after the top guy, when he went after me. And, he backed down once he saw that I was now taking the gloves off.

What was at stake is that these people were determined to disparage the WORK of over CENTURY'S WORTH OF ARCHAEOLOGISTS, AND HISTORICAL OBSERVERS.

The page that I created called "antlerdrift" was created in 2011 because the flintknappers said that they did not want any of the evidence on their pages. Huh! This is evidence that they previously denied EXISTED.

In 2012, top Danish Dagger replicator asked to go over the evidence that I had collected. And, he concluded that I had produced the biggest boatload of indirect percussion evidence that he had ever seen in 15 years of study. He also wrote two public apologies. He privately told me that he felt terrible for the way I had been treated. And, he publicly told Steve Nissly that I was owed an apology, because they created a pile on for six straight months, while I attempted to present evidence in a non-adversarial manner.

I was called "Mr. Indirect Percussion" as a matter of ridicule in 2010 while these so-called "flintknappers" maintained that I was WRONG:

Now, you want say that somehow they knew? I was forewarned that once people understood the technology they will change their tune one more time and lie and say, "Oh, we knew it all along." Really? After trying to make sure that the EVIDENCE was never shown on any flintknapping pages or groups? Why? Because THEY KNEW THAT THEY HAD NO IDEA. And, some of the top people spent decades unwittingly misleading people, WHILE THEY WERE IGNORANT OF THE FACTS.

As you must know, when suddenly a person gets involved in politics, and he suddenly is WINNING, then all of the sudden his opposition will have all sorts of stories to make up, that never existed until he started winning. That is what I did. That is why I never had a doubt about taking on 10,000 ignorant people, who were unacquainted with the facts.

Then, in February of 2015, after every experiment failed, I understood how to resolve tine-based overshot - something that they cannot do, and they make all sorts of nonsense childish stories about - and I produced the results on the second try, which by the way upends the top standing theories in the world. If you do not like that, then too bad! That is not my problem, it is your problem!

After producing the results, I showed both the tools, and the results, from February of 2015 until December 25th of 2017. And, for all of the hundreds or thousands of people who asked for an explanation, not one single person could figure it out. So, on Christmas Day of 2017 I released the explanation, finally. Why did I do that? Because I already know what a big pack of liars I was dealing with. And, to set the record straight, I made them wait for almost three years, before showing the actual process, simply so that they could not say, "Oh, we already knew."

See, I have been through the lying game over and over again, once I figured out that they do not have an earthly clue.

So, you can keep up your nonsense. But, I have zero respect for you. Also, YOU WERE NOT THERE. Bill knows how the same people tried to have me banned from four different forums, after they had been my friends for SIX YEARS! Why? Every honest person knows why. You do not have to admit the truth. Good for you! Philip Churchill, whom they all loved, perfectly explained why they had turned against me.

Have a nice day.

 

[BenjaminE]

Bill,

As I told Joshua years ago, "In this life honesty comes before diplomacy."

Fortunately, Bill, you saw everything unfold from the beginning. How many times have you seen these people change their tune, since 2010? It is like watching chameleons.

The one thing that never came forth was, "We don't know." Patten easily could have made many discoveries if he had looked at the evidence that had been presented, just as the late Philip Churchill looked at the evidence.

Unfortunately, Patten chose to take the COWARDS PATH and run away.

Years later, he did write an apology to Marty Rueter, and he admitted that he was wrong. I know this firsthand from Marty.

Patten was so engrossed in his forty years of billet knapping EXPERIENCE, that he simply did not have the guts to face something that he did not understand.

The rest of them were actually far worse. Because they spent six months trashing something that they were not even worthy of knowing about. It was like presenting fine pears to swine.

Today, when people see all of the indirect percussion being carried out at knapins that is largely because of what people learned from my research, especially the development of the under the knee technique by "Jack Crafty". What inspired him to think of that technique? He told me. It was the account I had published of Cushing which dates to around 1890.

All the stigmatism that had been attached to indirect percussion IS GONE. I took all the hate, and all the lies. AND I AM PROUD THAT I DID, because five years later, indirect percussion was now on the map largely because of my refusal to back down, and because I continued to publish in the face of perpetual liars. Even professional knappers ended up using indirect percussion.

Today, one technique that I am using is being noted by PhD level archaeologists because of the presence of an unexplainable tool that is ubiquitous in the North American archaeological record that appears to show wear patterns consistent with FLINTKNAPPING. This small tool is not even a "cylinder punch".

Recently, a noted archaeologists made a study of such tools and he explained to me that he is finding EMBEDDED SILICATES. Right, after years of persecution they will now change their tune to, "We knew all along." Right! What a pack of liars.

Anyway, I did what I had set out to do back in 2010. I resolved everything that everyone had doubts about. I left the proof for all to see. Now, it is on the flintknappers, and it must be nice to be able to change the tune everytime the wind blow. Ha ha!

 

[joshuaream]

My apologies for dredging up this... Careless on my part.

Ben, I forgot you were here. I hope all is well down in Tulum. I see your communication style hasn't softened much.

 

[CodyPratt]

So... You're saying there's a chance...?

 

[uniface]

Clearly a scraper but not an Enterline scraper, which has convergent edges and a round nose which is a scraper. Edges may or may not be : shape and nose flaking are key.

 

[CodyPratt]

Clearly a scraper but not an Enterline scraper, which has convergent edges and a round nose which is a scraper. Edges may or may not be : shape and nose flaking are key.

Oh I see. I misinterpreted the written description. Still, great to hear that it is a scraper. My friend keeps handing me these things saying they are random trash chert flakes, and I don't want him to break them trying to prove to me that they aren't tools (which he did with one), so I just tell him I'm collecting chert flakes and let him hand me these that all look like scrapers to me. lol