THE LEARNING CENTER
Ancient
re-notched points
Contributed
by member Jim Bennett "woodman32"
On of the most fascinating aspects of ancient
Amerinds was their lack of waste. Their use of bones for tools,
animal tendons and muscles for sinew, turtle shells for spoons,
and flint for so many different tools. Often times a flint knife
or point would break and instead of discarding the broken piece,
they would simply add a couple new notches and re-haft the broken
piece continuing its use.
Here are some pics of anciently broken relics that have been re-notched in ancient times. You can tell they were previously broken by examining the base of the artifact where the break is evident.
BEWARE! Many collection include freshly re-notched points, where a person will buy up broken relics and add new notches to make them appear whole. There are two ways to tell if the notches were in fact added in ancient times.
1.) Examine the patina on the point. Is the patina around the notches a different color? If so - the notches may be fresh.
2.) Examine the broken area. Is it sharp and unpatinated? if so, it is a fresh break and most likely the notches are fresh also. If the break is ancient, it will not be sharp to the touch and the patina will be uniform.
Hope this helps!
Jim