Archaeological Quality Control
I used to own an archaeological site in Texas. I found a number of lithic artifacts there, mostly Archaic Culture, but one more recent and a couple older. I found two pieces about 6 cm long and about 1.5 cm thick in cross section. The cross section was roughly a rhombus. They sort of look like heavy wrought iron nails, but are made of flint. I am not sure what their purpose was, but it has been suggested to me that they are pre-forms, pieces to be traded or worked later to a final form. The two pieces are virtually identical, same size, same shape. They are a remarkable example of Quality Control several thousand years old among Stone Age People.Another piece I have is a small point about 3-4 cm long. It is nominally an "arrow point," but it has no notches or stem. It has a flute on one side. The butt end is blunt. Unlike the other pieces, which are made of a gray flint that corrodes to white, this piece is reddish, I think made of jasper perhaps. Although many of the points and tools I found at the site are still somewhat sharp, this item is pretty dull, almost like it was stream worn a bit. I picked up an old used archaeology text book which had a section on Paleo-Indian culture. It had a two page layout of the collection of the Lehrner Site points found in southern Arizona, mostly within the bone scatter of a mammoth. The drawings it says are actual size. Item D in the display looks just like my jasper fluted point. If I lay it down on the page, it fits right in the outline of the drawing, as though it is the same point. However, from another source, I found that Item D has flutes on both sides, while my point is fluted on only one side. Nevertheless, the Quality Control at two sites several hundred miles apart is pretty good.
posted by X-Bar @ 10:04 PM
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