flint knapping in yuma

[Teufel_Hunden]

i have a question for all of the knappers out there. i recently found an intrest in ancient weapons and stone tool manufacturing. does anyone know what kind of stone to use for flint knapping here in yuma? any advise would be appriciated...

[Sandman]

Deer or elk antler works well for shaping once you have found a good source of chert. Obsidian works the best. It can be found in areas of volcanic activity. Chaldoceny will work too and produces interesting coloration in the final product.

[Teufel_Hunden]

thanks for the reply sandman, im in the process of making all my tools. i have a medium-size billet, a 1/2" billet, and a pressure flaker. elk and deer antlers aswell as obsidian are somewhat hard to come by here in yuma. what i was asking was what other kinds of stone did the indians in the days of yore use. i remember when i worked out at YPG, all of the archaeological sites where they made their tools but i dont remember what kind of rocks they used...

[roc2rol]

Good responses guys!

what i was asking was what other kinds of stone did the indians in the days of yore use

Here’s something I found interesting. I was at the Pueblo Grande Museum in Phoenix and they had a display on arrowheads ect… It was mentioning that the Indians had a difficult time finding good materials for knapping in their immediate area. I thought that strange.

So how far would Indians travel to get good rocks for knapping? Actually I think it was major concern to them & I suppose, your wanting to know what rocks are native to Yuma that make for good knapping? Obviously chert, flint, & obsidians are the big 3 and highly prized by the stone workers. But with skills-- stone tools could be fashioned out of the other mentioned difficult materials.

Thanks for posting and post pictures if you crack any rocks!
Ed

[Teufel_Hunden]

from what i understand they did alot of trading with other tribes. with yuma being on the colorado they could have traded from tribes miles away...

i think ill hop in the jeep and hit red cloud mine road and see what i can find.
FYI, if there are anyone who's planning a trip to red cloud/clip mine beware of the care taker. he comes armed and ready to shoot. he tries to charge $10 per person that stops, even though its on a county road that has county road signs. i suprised hes not dead with the amount of people who carry here...

[Guz]

If you're looking for some company drop me a line teufel, I'd like to see that area. bigguz2112 at gmail dot com


Guz

[roc2rol]

FYI, if there are anyone who's planning a trip to red cloud/clip mine beware of the care taker. he comes armed and ready to shoot. he tries to charge $10 per person that stops, even though its on a county road that has county road signs. i suprised hes not dead with the amount of people who carry here...

Ha Ha
Wonder if this redneck uses a flintlock mechanism on his gun?
Which bring up an interesting question.
What is flint?
I mean… I know its a fine grained silica based mineral.
But does it spark? When your knapping it -do sparks fly?
Actually I used to theenk that! Till I did a wikipedia reading..
Ed

[Jim Hatt]

Deer or elk antler works well for shaping once you have found a good source of chert. Obsidian works the best. It can be found in areas of volcanic activity. Chalcedony will work too and produces interesting coloration in the final product.

Interesting topic guys! Obsidian, Chalcedony, and Chert are found in abundance in my area. I know a place in the Superstitions where there is a vein of chert (at least it looked like chert to me). It's smooth and brittle, and there were chips of it laying all over, as if someone had been breaking pieces of it off for a long time. It is about 30 feet long, and 6 inches wide. It is the strangest thing I have ever seen. It starts at one end, a sort of reddish color, and goes through all the colors of the rainbow by the time it gets to the other end. Yes, it even goes through shades of green, blue and yellow. Has anyone ever seen anything like that?

Jim

[roc2rol]

Interesting topic guys! Obsidian, Chalcedony, and Chert are found in abundance in my area. I know a place in the Superstitions where there is a vein of chert (at least it looked like chert to me). It's smooth and brittle, and there were chips of it laying all over, as if someone had been breaking pieces of it off for a long time. It is about 30 feet long, and 6 inches wide. It is the strangest thing I have ever seen. It starts at one end, a sort of reddish color, and goes through all the colors of the rainbow by the time it gets to the other end. Yes, it even goes through shades of green, blue and yellow. Has anyone ever seen anything like that?
Jim

Wow Jim that is beyond interesting!
I have read accounts of ancient stone workers/knappers working in a line.
Something like a production line for manufacturing stone tools.
Could this be the phenomena your describing?
(There is a tribe in New Guinea that practice this art
& surprisingly still rely on stone age tool technology).

Did early inhabitants of the Superstitions have a line of workers knapping out stone tools?
What you describe could be evidence of this!
That would be an amazement and rare archeological discovery!
Ya know what I’m going to say. Get pictures & samples!
Ed

[Teufel_Hunden]

If you're looking for some company drop me a line teufel, I'd like to see that area. bigguz2112 at gmail dot com


Guz

I have no idea when the next time were going, guz. but when we do i'll drop you a line. are you in yuma?

and roc,
lol, no. it looked like a 10/22. either way, a 10/22 will kill you just as dead as an m1a. he even had a little stain can with him, which was probably bullets...