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May 7, 2000
Learning by doingArchaeologist learns about ancient tools by making themBY SARA SYVERSON Journal Staff Writer JEFFERS PETROGLYPHS -- A practitioner of an ancient skill demonstrated his art Saturday at the Jeffers Petroglyphs Historic site. Dan Higginbottom, an archaeologist from Des Moines, Iowa, gave demonstrations at the site on how ancient knappers would use various tools to make flint arrows. Flint knapping is a craft which is approximately one million years old. Tools such as deer antlers, obsidian (volcanic glass), copper punch tools, and chert stones are used in the process of making flint arrowheads. Chert stones have a glassy structure and are found in limestone beds and the deer antlers are used for "pressure flaking" the flint pieces. The larger deer antler can also be used as a hammering tool. Higginbottom works for the State of Iowa as an archaeologist. He began flint knapping in 1995 as a graduate student in the Twin Cities. For his graduate work he conducted a study of stone tools and their uses. For two years during graduate school, he would work as a flint knapper for approximately eight hours a day. "I figured the best way to do this work was to make the tools and use them ... so it was experimental archeology ..." said Higginbottom, "After two years, you can tell what's happening on a site if you have a representative sample." The "representative sample" is the remaining pieces of stone that have been chipped off from a flint knapper's flint stone. Higginbottom said there has been evidence of trading that went on in the early days of North American history because various pieces of stones have been found in this area which normally would not have been found here. For instance, mica came from the southeast and various shells came from the east coast and the Gulf of Mexico, Higginbottom said. A flint knapper begins with a piece of flint or stone and then chooses the various tools to make the desired shape. "In the preliminary stages you must get the cortex off," said Higginbottom, "You kind of have an idea of the size of the piece when you start out." The "cortex" or outside part of the piece must be taken off, this process is also called primary reduction, to get down into the part of the stone the tool maker must develop to make the flint piece. Higginbottom said it had been about a year since he had demonstrated flint knapping. In his prime flint knapping days, Higginbottom could make a flint arrowhead piece in 10 minutes. He used extreme concentration because every chip to the flint stone would set up conditions for the next chip he would make. A flint knapper must use caution when working, Higginbottom said. "Obsidian is volcanic glass from Yellowstone," said Higginbottom, "You have to be very careful with obsidian. It can be as sharp as the sharpest steel."
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