Utah Statewide Archaeological Society Newsletter, Volume 10, Number 1, March 1964

A Newsletter

UTAH STATE HISTORICAL SOClET)!'

603 EAST SOUTH TEMPLE SALT L;\~E CITY, UTAH

'NDEXED Vol. lC, No. 1

A Beetograph

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19"4

Box Elder C6., Utah.

UTAH ARCHAEOLOGY is published quarterly by the UTAH STATEWIDE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. Subscription is included in membership. Membership in the society is available from the secretary-treasurer at $2.00 per year. Correspondence concerning the activities of the society should be directed to the president. All manuscripts and news items should be sent to: Utah Statewide Archaeology Society ~ Dept. of Anthropology, University of Utah .

UTAH STATEWIDE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY PRESIDENT: John L. Cross, 860 South 10th East, Orem, Utah VICE PRESIDENTl Francis Hassel 906 Rancho Blvd, Ogden, Utah SECRETARY-TREASURER: Veone aale, 1432 Sunview Dr., Ogden, Utah ADVISOR: Dr. Jesse D. Jennings, Univ. of utah, Salt Lake City 12, Utah EDITOR: W. D. Pack, 310 South 3rd East, Preston, Idaho

EDITOR I SNarES The tim~ has come for our annual meeting of USAS. It will be held in Salt Lake City April 18, 1964 at the University of Utah Archeology dept. We hope you can all make it. A very interesting program has been arranget. We hope to aee you there.

Remember this date - Sat. April 18th at 10100 A M This is the place - unIVersity or utah Arclieology dept.

I

The travelling Glen Canyon Archeological Exhibit is having considerable success, The Logan exhibit was set up in the U.S.U. 1ibrar.y, and was viewed by many people. About 300 attended the Show. It has been traveling around the state since and we should get a full report from l~el at the meeting.

George T,r ipp oompiled the article on American Indian Stone Working Techniques. It should be interesting as well as educational to all us amateurs. Keep it up George.

Our issue is a Ii ttle short this time as we had no more available material, Our organization is grew ing all of the time so some of you must have some interesttng mterial that the rest of us would be interested in. No area in the state has a monopoly on si tea and material and what rray be "01d shoe" to you may bg very interosting to the rest of us.

Have you noticed the change in the newsletter? :"Ie have a new machine that works "like a charmn. No one oan apprecia te it any more than the editor.

AFERICAN nmIAN STONE ;-:ORKING 'lECHNIQUES

George Y!. Tripp Frequetltly, visi tors tn our National Parks and Archae0logical l"useums ask, "How did the Indians make stone tools and ~eapon6?" Fortunately tor the inquisitive several early explorers have left uritten acoounts ot how they, as eye witnesses, sau Indians i70rk ,lith stene. rrany cullectors of stpne artifacts feel that it must have taken a great deal ot time to produce the beautifully finished projectile points that they value so hiehly. Ho~ever, all available evider.ce points to the contrary.

The parly fur traders and explorers noted iii th apparent surprise the speed vii th which the American Indians could produce finished stene t0C1ls a.nd 't'JeapoDs. Accordine to the aooounts of the men T/h0 watched the Indians makf' stone tools, three or more steps Here systematically follov/ed by the Indiatl81

(1) To reduce a large stone mass into chips atld flakes of suitable size and

shape BO that the desired end product could be made tram them. This wa& usually accomplished by breakinc up the rock ,lith stone hammers.

(2)

Once workable pieces of rock were obtained, they uere chipped into final Bhape by means at stono hammers (percussion) or by bone or antler punoh es (prc9nure).

(:~)

If the article Vias to be attached to a ahatt or handle, it flas notched to provide a meane of eecurina it in place.

No two written acoounts of the prooedures folloT/ed by the Indians are identicalJ however, the recorded accounts poitlt to enoueh similarities in the procedures followed that four different techniques of stone workine can be indcntifiedt Perouseion flaking) PreSBure flaking ) :3. Pecking 4. Grindine or abradine 1.

2.

otten oombined

Perouseion tlaking can be desoribed as strikiDB the stone with a suitable liammer of eome Id..nd, u6ually another stoDe or bone ( see illustration), in such a way as to remove all unwanted stone. The prooedure tollowed is like the "Do-It Yourself r::h1te Elephant Kit" which consists of scisBors, a sheet ot white paper and instructions to cut away everything that doeen 1 t 160k like a white elephant. Atter everything

1

that doesn't look like the desired stone tool has been operation is considered completed.

removed~

the

A skilled workman with a good grade of stone to work with oan produce a useable tool in an unbelievably short period of time. Dr. L.S.B. Leakey, a trequent lecturer at the University of Utah, has demonstrated that a skilled workman with a switable piece of stone to work with can produce a useable knife trom a pebble in les~ than thirty seconds.

The principal variables encountered in percussion flaking are the size and shape of hammer employed and the force and angle with which the hammer strikes. If the above mentioned variables are oorrectly applied, a chip of almost any desired shape and size can be struck trom the stone being worked with each stroke ot the hammer.

Pressure flaking was oommonly used to finish and to sharpen stone implements made by percussion flaking and to manufacture small artifacts. The stone being worked was usually held firmly in one hand, resting on a thick piece of leather to shield the hand from sharp chips of stone (see illustration).

The chipping tool, a prong of a deer antler, bone awl or other suitable tool is held in the free hand. Pressure is applied to a sharp edge of the stone through the chipping tool in such a way that a flake is removed from the stone each time sufficient pressure is applied. It is this observers opinion that most blind Indians in the "good old days" were victims of stray stone chips.

As with percussion Chipping, an experienced workman could eaSily produce a workable arrowhead or other desired stone artifact in less than 15 minutes, provided he had good tools and stone to work with.

Pecking was the technique commonly used to make stone ax blades and stone mauls. The uninitiated might eaSily contuse pecking with percussion flaking because both techniques require the use of a stone hammer. In pecking the stone is struck with a direct blow from the hammer stone in such a way that each blow crumbles a small area of the surface of the stone. Repeated bloVls struck by the hammer stone gradually wear away the stone to bring it into the desired shape. Once shaped to the owners satisfaction, stone axes were generally polished and sharpened by rubbing the implement on a stone having abrasive characteristics.

2

Grinding was used to make implements where the nature of the stone being worked or some other consideration rendered other stone working techniques impractical.

For those interested in pursuing this subject further read: Adam's Anoestors by L.S.B. Leakey Harper Torchbooks Handbook of Aboriginal American Antiquities Bulletin &J Part I by William H. Holmes Bureau of American Ethnology All illustrations were taken from the Handbook of ABORIGINAL Bulletin 60 Part I by ~',rm. H. Holmes

Al:ERICAN ANTIQUITmS,

'\I Page 290 - Aboriginal American Antiquities.

Pressure Flaking

Shap~ng

By

a Stone Pecking

Ax

4

CHAPTER NEWS

IK>AB lioab is one of the most active communities in the State on a per capita basis in interest sh~,n in archaeology. At present there are ~vo organizations in existence.

Points and Pebbles Club :.e issue a newsletter, <lnd we are building a permanent rock display in the Moab 'Huseum. The new officers e1ected are - John Gray Pres.

Bud "Iaucan Vice Pres. I~arie Duce Sec. Treas. ana the Directors are Neil Kretzer, Bob Trent, and I.!aJrI;ine Husselman. The meetings are held on the 2nd Thursday of each month a t the Helen 1:. Knight School , with field trips usually the following Sunday.

MOAB UUSEUi'

Our merilbers parUcipa ted on excavation with the Universi ty of Utah Departnen t of Anthropology am Gordon Grosscup. The Museum featurs rotating monthly displays.

CODEN

The Jan.4 7ar. 1964 meetings of the Ogden Chapter January 10, Floyd Sharrock met wi th us at the Gales home. With the aid of color slides, he explained s eme of the best ways to excavate a site.

In February we reet at Fran and Carol Hassels for a business meeting. Fran Hassel als 0 showed us some slides he had jiaken on our ghost town field trip.

Uarch was our election meeting. We greet you with a new slate of officers: President Jerry Girvin, Vice President Gary Parker, Sec. Treas. Leah wanczyk (J'rs. Charles) Submitted by Judy Girvin