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Cognito



Joined: 04 Aug 2006
Posts: 35
Location: Apple Valley, California

PostPosted: Thu Oct 26, 2006 11:53 pm    Post subject: More Artifacts Reply with quote

Here is something retrieved on January 1, 2006 just up from the shoreline of Lake Manix near Calico, California. I call it a Swiss Army Knife since it has the following functions: scraper, knife and notch for shaft straightening. All in one. The tools in this area are estimated at 16 to 18,000bce and older. The lake catastrophically drained circa 16,000bce and local settlements were abandoned.


Upon close examination it is apparently that the notch was carefully made and the concave nature of middle makes the tool easy to handle with the right thumb.

Patrick
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Charlie Hatchett



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PostPosted: Sat Oct 28, 2006 7:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote







Nice collection coming together there, Patrick!
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DavidCampbell
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 28, 2006 7:41 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for posting those, Patrick and Charlie; I've been eagerly awaiting more artifacts from Lake Manix. In light of all the breaking news from Hueyatlaco, it certainly seems to be the right time for all these extreme paleo artifacts to come to light. Some of my own new excavations have started to turn up some interesting lithics again but I'm not sure at this point if they are quite as old as my first Caney Creek dig material. I sent Charlie a link to an article on terra rossa, the mid Pleistocene red clay from Central Texas but I don't know if it might apply to your area or not. Do you think you could post some stratigraphic background here for those who might not be familiar with the Lake Manix assemblages? Again muchas gracias for posting these "new" photos.
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DavidCampbell
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 28, 2006 12:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've been looking over the responses to the photos Charlie posted of his newest finds at the Archaeological forum. They are all typical of the ones I've gotten ever since Coop and the old Cultural_Diffusion crowd introduced me to American Extreme Paleo. In truth before I began to compare Calico, San Diego and other sites to Olduvai and elsewhere in Africa, I would never have even picked up one of these. After your eyes are "opened" you can spot them in many places amid float, old alluvial fans and in situ in excavations. It's really easy to get frustrated with people who are just getting exposed to these old tools who cannot see them as anything but "plain old rocks". In going over an old National Geographic which had an artfully arranged double page spread on the Oldowan tools, I have to admit that even today, I would not have recognized some of them as artifacts in the field. I think the idea of presenting accepted comparable artifacts beside these new finds is an excellent idea for acquainting the novice with what to look for. Also I think we should show some real geofacts which don't pass muster as a further means to distinguish what is manmade and what is fortuitious natural fracturing. This is a pretty rarified territory in terms of layman (and laywoman) interest; most amateur collector sites focus on the more glitzy complete points. To me, it's an acquired gourmet taste, somewhat like nasty tasting food, foul tasting alcoholic beverages and ugly looking art. Hard to take at first but it sort of grows on you after a while like callouses and thick toenails. Laughing
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Charlie Hatchett



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PostPosted: Sun Oct 29, 2006 6:03 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
I've been looking over the responses to the photos Charlie posted of his newest finds at the Archaeological forum. They are all typical of the ones I've gotten ever since Coop and the old Cultural_Diffusion crowd introduced me to American Extreme Paleo. In truth before I began to compare Calico, San Diego and other sites to Olduvai and elsewhere in Africa, I would never have even picked up one of these. After your eyes are "opened" you can spot them in many places amid float, old alluvial fans and in situ in excavations. It's really easy to get frustrated with people who are just getting exposed to these old tools who cannot see them as anything but "plain old rocks". In going over an old National Geographic which had an artfully arranged double page spread on the Oldowan tools, I have to admit that even today, I would not have recognized some of them as artifacts in the field. I think the idea of presenting accepted comparable artifacts beside these new finds is an excellent idea for acquainting the novice with what to look for. Also I think we should show some real geofacts which don't pass muster as a further means to distinguish what is manmade and what is fortuitious natural fracturing. This is a pretty rarified territory in terms of layman (and laywoman) interest; most amateur collector sites focus on the more glitzy complete points. To me, it's an acquired gourmet taste, somewhat like nasty tasting food, foul tasting alcoholic beverages and ugly looking art. Hard to take at first but it sort of grows on you after a while like callouses and thick toenails.


Great idea, David.

If you want to set up a separate category, I'm sure you'll get plenty of input from me, Patrick, and Jeff.

Your idea is novel...I haven't seen anything like it on the net.

Lol @ "Hard to take at first but it sort of grows on you after a while like callouses and thick toenails." Razz

Peace Cool
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Cognito



Joined: 04 Aug 2006
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 29, 2006 10:38 pm    Post subject: Paleo Tools Reply with quote

Quote:
Do you think you could post some stratigraphic background here for those who might not be familiar with the Lake Manix assemblages?

Yes, David. I'll post some stratigraphic information on the site. Further, your observation about "plain old rocks" is true. Most people would walk right over a paleo tool assemblage ring and not see anything. It is full of flakes and odd shaped debitage. However, I look for different background coloring and odd shapes. The hand-axes are the easiest to see, and I try not to pick up anything that has less than half a dozen flakes per side unless it was particularly well-formed.

Upon close observation it is easy to see the impact "ripples" that occur when the flakes are removed. Nature can do some of this, but not half a dozen per side while forming a bifacial hand-axe. Here's one that I would be skeptical about except that there are nine flakes removed from the upper right portion of the tool ... they almost look like they were pressure flaked!

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DavidCampbell
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 30, 2006 7:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for the new upload, Cognito. In culling geofacts from artifacts, I first look at the material from which the suspected artifact is made. If it is not a material suitable for tool use, I discard it unless it is really odd. One thing that I have noticed here on Caney Creek is the abundace of water polished white quartz pebbles in areas where I find artifacts. Although they are not strictly artifacts, their concentration in small clusters near recognizable artifacts makes me suspect they were collected for some reason by the artifact makers. Likewise, I frequently find small pebbles with chisel shaped ends which are highly polished. In reading about various groups that had pottery, I find that some of these smoothed stones have been found in sites which are associated with smoothing or incising designs in "green" pottery before firing. That would make a lot of sense in a Caddoan or Witchita site which are numerous in my location and would go along with Gary points which are the most common here, extending from the Archaic predessors of the Caddo to the Late Woodland period. I've never found any pottery here on Caney Creek though aside from historic shards from the 19th to mid 20th century. Also in the same category would be the small pebbles with both ends knocked off like mini prepared cores or anvils. I had always assumed these, because of their small size to be accidental fractures due to nature. However, when I became acquainted with the Fourche-Maline culture which preceded the Caddo, I found that they utilized very small pebbles due to the scarcity of suitable lithic resources in this area. In addition they had an uncanny ability to utilize every bit of the material at hand. In other words, if they had a two inch pebble, they produced a two inch point. Lastly they used quartzite with a special heat treating method never used by Paleoindians or later groups who generally rejected quartzite because of its characteristics which make it hard to knap without the special heat treating. On the other hand, Henry Helene once observed that quartzite was the preferred material in the California deserts up until around 9,000 BC. Are any of your Lake Manix artifacts made of quartzite? I have one artifact made of ferruginous sandstone, a very hard iron rich sedimentary stone known locally as iron rock. I was very dubious about it until I learned of its extensive use among the Fourche-Maline despite the fact that it seemed to me an obvious artifact due to its size, and crudely flaked edges; it looked like a hoe or digging instrument to me. I'm glad I hung onto it.

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Cognito



Joined: 04 Aug 2006
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Location: Apple Valley, California

PostPosted: Mon Oct 30, 2006 9:23 am    Post subject: Quartzite Reply with quote

Quote:
On the other hand, Henry Helene once observed that quartzite was the preferred material in the California deserts up until around 9,000 BC. Are any of your Lake Manix artifacts made of quartzite?

There is very little if any quartzite at the sites I have stomped around in the Lake Manix basin. Readily available material is calcedony, chert, some agate, petrified palm root, and some imported obsidian from a nearby volcanic formation (Pisgah crater).
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Cognito



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Location: Apple Valley, California

PostPosted: Tue Oct 31, 2006 1:05 am    Post subject: My Site Reply with quote

David, my site is located five miles east of the Calico site. Although in the same general area, the site consists of small hills just off the shore of Lake Manix. The Mojave River entered the lake to the south, forming a delta. Views were 360 degrees with an elevation and location that would make it somewhat safe for foragers. Annual rainfall in that location was about 30 inches due to Pacific moist air impacting glacial cool air from the north. I will send site pictures when downloaded.

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DavidCampbell
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 31, 2006 12:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here's one of three photos of artifacts found on the North Sulphur River by Joe Brown and donated to the Fannin County Historical Museum in Bonham, Texas. Like Charlie's artifacts, these are from float in the North Sulphur and its tributary creeks. Alan Skinner has been making a survey to determine where the Paleoindian artifacts are coming from but as yet the source has not been found, which is presumed to be at the headwaters of the North Sulphur. He did however find a biface near where his soil profile was made in the banks of the North Sulphur, indicating a probable date of 18,000 BP

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PostPosted: Tue Oct 31, 2006 12:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Second set

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Last edited by DavidCampbell on Tue Oct 31, 2006 4:39 pm; edited 1 time in total
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 31, 2006 12:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Last one

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Charlie Hatchett



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PostPosted: Tue Oct 31, 2006 9:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Cool, David.

Definitely some unusual ones mixed in with some Archaic types.

In the first photo, what do you make of that white biface? That's different looking.

In the second photo, bottom row, second from the left...is that Archaic? Confused Or maybe a stemmed Paleo? Again, different looking.

And in the third photo, what is that sucker on the top row, far left?

Cool pieces, bro!! Cool
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DavidCampbell
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 31, 2006 10:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I don't have a clue as to what the white biface is except that it's made from novaculite. The stemmed point I assumed was Archaic, early. The last one second from left looks like a fluted large Gary variant if there is such a thing.
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Cognito



Joined: 04 Aug 2006
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Location: Apple Valley, California

PostPosted: Wed Nov 01, 2006 12:05 am    Post subject: Fire Rock Reply with quote

Alright, here's something a little different. I picked this "rock" out of the site, but it's just not any kind of rock. There is a hole in it and the area outside the hole has been worn smooth in a two inch diameter circle. It may have been part of a large rock that was sheared in half, but this puppy was used for rubbing sticks together to spark a fire. Either that, or I'm hallucinating again.

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