5,000 Year old Axe Stone

[garry3]

Rock used to sharpen tools 5,000 years ago discovered

Archeologists called it an

talker.news

 

[Square_peg]

That's fascinating stuff!

 

[Twindog]

I didn't know there was such a thing. I thought hand axes and such, after dulling, had to be re-flaked or replaced.

Wouldn't that boulder have to be harder than the flint or obsidian of the tools?

 

[John A. Larsen]

I did not see anything about the axes being flint or obsidian. I have a stone axe head, I think found on Long Island, my Father gave me, which has a nice "Apple Seed" grind, and groove around teh head of the axe for it to be bound to a shaft. If someone one wants to see some photos of the stone axe email me at: johnalarsen@aol.com, and I wills end them to you, and you can post them if you like. John

 

[Square_peg]

I didn't know there was such a thing. I thought hand axes and such, after dulling, had to be re-flaked or replaced.

Wouldn't that boulder have to be harder than the flint or obsidian of the tools?

While cryptochrystaline rocks are extraordinarily sharp they are also brittle. A very fine edge won't stand up to impacts.

Not all stone tools are made from very hard rocks like flint, chert or obsidian. Impact tools like stone adzes were more often made of tougher stone that could be ground sharp.

And even flint and obsidian can and were ground on other stones. The other stones wore more quickly but the hard stone is also worn. This technique can be useful to create a 'striking platform' where impacts can be made to break multiple blades of a single core of parent rock. Check out some flint knapping videos if your are interested.

I took some archaeology classes in college and spent a summer working a dig in Eastern Washington. One of my courses included a 'lithics lab' where we were instructed in the basics of stone tool making. I never practiced enough to become proficient but I can make a crude but very sharp tool.

The things I learned in lithics lab were very useful later in life when I worked for many years as a construction superintendent. Understanding how rocks break was helpful when performing demolition of large boulders and blocks of concrete.

 

[jude_061]

Many axes in my area were ground. There isn’t much silica-rich “knappable” native stone here; a lot of “points“ are basalt, rhyolite, or quartzite. Many axes, adzes, and gouges were pecked and ground. My first major in college was anthropology and I had a penchant for lithics. Pecking and grinding was tedious to be sure.

 

[Twindog]

Many axes in my area were ground. There isn’t much silica-rich “knappable” native stone here; a lot of “points“ are basalt, rhyolite, or quartzite. Many axes, adzes, and gouges were pecked and ground. My first major in college was anthropology and I had a penchant for lithics. Pecking and grinding was tedious to be sure.

Thanks for that interesting information. In another recent thread, we learned that archeologists found a 300,000-year-old hand axe, also in England, that was made out of flint and flaked to produce a very sharp edge. The makers must have been Neanderthals.

So 295,000 years later, humans have replaced Neanderthals and are are making dull, low-technology hand axes out of softer stone.

Maybe the intervening ice ages took a toll on technology.

 

[Square_peg]

So 295,000 years later, humans have replaced Neanderthals and are are making dull, low-technology hand axes out of softer stone.

Hardly low technology. The newer ground stone axes were tougher, more impact resistant and haftable. And they weren't dull.

 

[jude_061]

Knapped flint axes may likely have been used to butcher meat, while ground stone axes were used to cut wood where a very sharp edge is less important than the ability to withstand the impact. The utility of one does not preclude the utility of the other.

Also, basalt (for example) and chert (for example) are both very hard stones. Their makeup is different however. Chert (like flint, obsidian, and jasper), when struck sharply or pressure flaked, make a conchoidal fracture — the scalloped-shaped edges, like broken plate glass. Basalt and granite and similar coarser-grained stones don’t. But they’re hard and less likely to shatter when chopping say a sapling.

Resharpening a ground tool certainly wore down the sharpening medium.

 

[G. Scott H.]

 

[Gato do mato]

What a fantastic job. Congratulations.

Make sure you see the end result of your work.
The ax turned out beautiful.

 

[G. Scott H.]

What a fantastic job. Congratulations.

Make sure you see the end result of your work.
The ax turned out beautiful.

Not mine. Just a couple of videos I borrowed from youtube to show the technique.

Btw, the second video is but one of a long series that's quite fascinating to watch if you're into this sort of tech. Well worth watching the whole series.