THE PREHISTORIC ART OF BLADEMAKING

Figure 2.1 - Dorsal side of a 4.9-inch long unifacial blade,
surface recovered on private land in south-central Wyoming. 
John Bradford Branney Collection.

Figure 2.1 is a wonderful example of the dorsal side of a well-flaked side scraper on a unifacial blade that was surface recovered on private land in south-central Wyoming. After the knapper removed the blade from the core, he or she worked a scraping edge onto it. The ventral face of the blade is smooth with a slight bend and a small amount of linear retouch (figure 2.2). The ridge or aris running down the dorsal face of the blade is the scar from two previous blade removals from the blade core. Since this was a surface find out of archaeological context, I cannot say for sure that someone from the Clovis prehistoric culture made it. 

 

Figure 2.2 - Ventral side of the 4.9-inch-long unifacial blade in figure 2.1, surface recovered
on private land in south-central Wyoming. John Bradford Branney Collection.

My prehistoric adventure book series is called the SHADOWS on the TRAIL Pentalogy and it is about prehistoric people who existed over 12,000 years ago called the Folsom People. These people roamed North America in the Late Pleistocene from around 12,900 to 12,200 years ago. I have published several articles about the Folsom Paleoindian culture, so I won't be writing about them in this article. I am focusing my writing for this article on unifacial blades, but I will be comparing the toolmaking of the Clovis prehistoric culture with the Folsom prehistoric culture.

Figure 2.3 -  A Recent Book - CLICK to ORDER

In the archaeological record of the High Plains of North America, at least two distinct cultures or complexes preceding the Folsom complex, Clovis, and Goshen. Many people contend that the Clovis people were the ancestors of the Folsom people, but there is no archaeological evidence that defines the relationship between Clovis and Folsom. Since the Clovis nor the Folsom culture did not leave behind any written transcripts, we must speculate as to their relationship with what these people left behind in recorded archaeological sites. This is insufficient at best when trying to establish the cultural relationships between two prehistoric peoples.  

We know from radiocarbon dating and geology the general time frames when the Clovis and Folsom cultures existed. We know from their campsites and kill sites what they ate and generally how they lived. We know that both cultures focused a good part of their sustenance efforts on big game. Based on the archaeological record, the Clovis culture was known as mammoth hunters while the Folsom culture focused on bison and smaller game. However, based on archaeological data, both cultures were not too proud to eat almost any animal, no matter its size or taste.   

There were a few differences between Clovis and Folsom that investigators see in the archaeological record related to lithic or stone tool technologies. We know that both Clovis and Folsom fluted their projectile points and that the fluting process for Folsom was more involved and intricate than that of Clovis. On some of the Clovis points in my personal collection, fluting appeared to be an afterthought or not a significant part of the process at all while fluting on Folsom was the critical deliverable that defined Folsom.  

Figure 2.4 - Probable Clovis blade surface recovered 
5/24/2003 in an arroyo in Weld County, Colorado.
John Bradford Branney Collection.   

Folsom flintknappers made very thin bifaces with biplanar or biconcave profiles, instead of the typical biconvex biface profile of Clovis flintknappers. We call these thin Folsom bifaces ultrathin knife forms. I have previously published articles on ultrathin knives so I will not cover them here. 

We also saw an increase in the making and use of end scrapers from Clovis to Folsom. End scrapers appear to have been a much more prevalent part of the stone tool kit during Folsom times.

One of the most intriguing differences between Clovis and Folsom stone tool technologies was the heavy use of blades by the Clovis culture. After Clovis, the archaeological record showed a significant drop off in blade knapping and usage. Although, investigators do find an occasional blade in Folsom and later tool assemblages, blades were more of an exception in the post-Clovis record.

Figure 2.4 is a probable 3.3-inch-long Clovis unifacial blade surface recovered by me in a small arroyo in Weld County, Colorado on May 23, 2003, and made from a gem-quality, pale red Flat Top Chalcedony. The length-to-width ratio on his blade is 3.3 to 1. The blade demonstrates linear retouch along all its edges. Two other blades and two Clovis projectile points have been surface recovered by me in this same arroyo.

Figure 2.5 - A handful of stone tools on blades for cutting, drilling, gouging, and scraping. 
John Bradford Branney Collection. 

What is a blade?

Blades are one of the most misunderstood terms in North American archaeology. Some people refer to unnotched projectile points or any kind of stone knife as a blade. Or if a well-made knife form does not have a hafting notch component, it instantly becomes a blade. The above examples should be called bifaces, not blades! Over the past few years, there has been a concerted effort from professional and amateur archaeologists alike to call bifaces what they are; bifaces! And to call blades what they are; blades! I understand old habits are hard to break, but we should try to call them by the appropriate terminology.

According to Bradley, Collins, and Hemmings in their book Clovis Technology, blades are defined as specialized, elongated flakes intentionally detached from a core selected and prepared for that purpose. These flakes or blades are often twice as long as they are wide. 

Figure 2.6 - 3.4-inch-long unifacial blade surface found on private land on 5/5/2015 in central Wyoming. The Paleoindians who made this blade used it as a knife. The lower left-hand corner of the piece also has a graver tip. Material is a grayish red Tiger Chert. John Bradford Branney Collection.    



How did Clovis People make blades? 

Figure 2.7 is from another wonderful book entitled Clovis Blademaking Technology, written by Michael Collins. A general overview of how we think Clovis People produced blades is as follows: the Clovis flintknapper found a suitable rock or cobble (2.7 a) which allowed the flintknapper to remove as many blades as possible from the blade core. The flintknapper started the process by knocking off one end of the cobble with a hammerstone (2.7 b). The resultant fractured surface on the end of the cobble then became the striking platform for subsequent blade removals.

Most cobbles selected by the flintknapper had at least one face that was pointed or convex enough for the flintknapper to remove the first blade. When the knapper removed this first blade, cortex or rock rind covered it. Cortex partially covered subsequent blades (2.7 i) until the cortex was completely gone from the blade core. If the cobble did not have a suitable pointed or convex face, the flintknapper created a ridge on the cobble through bifacial flaking (2.7 c and 2.7 d). This bifacial ridge is called the crest and the detached triangular blade that came from the crest is called a crested blade (2.7 e and 2.7 g). Once the flintknapper removed several blades from the blade core, it looked something like 2.7 f.



Figure 2.8 - High Plains blades, showing the variety of shapes and sizes.

Blades were used for cutting, scraping, gouging, drilling, and slicing. The longest

blade in the frame is 4.3 inches long. John Bradford Branney Collection

Even though we want to adhere to our definition of a blade twice as long as it is wide, blades come in all shapes and sizes. While some blades show very little modification by a human hand, other blades are well worked. While some blades were purposely used for cutting only, other blades had drilling, scraping, cutting, engraving, and gouging functionality. Figure 2.8 shows a variety of shapes and sizes of unifacial blades from the author's collection. 

One of my big regrets is not learning about blades earlier in life. I wonder how many blades I walked over in the field without giving them a second glance because I thought they were just chipping debris. Having a real answer to that question might give me heartburn. That is why when I artifact hunt now, I pick up and inspect every suspicious flake  

What makes my prehistoric artifact passion so fun is learning something new each and every day!

 

Figure 2.9 - CLICK for MORE INFORMATION

The Hell Gap Complex Along the SHADOWS on the TRAIL

Figure One - Flintknapping technology from Agate Basin to Hell Gap projectile points. 
The point on the far left is Agate Basin while the other three points are Hell Gap. For  
 scale, the Agate Basin point is 2.45 inches long. John Bradford Branney Collection.   

In figure one, I photographed four high plains projectile points from my collection: on the far left is a 2.45-inch long Agate Basin projectile point and on the right are three Hell Gap projectile points. Bradley (1991:382) proposed that the manufacturing process for Hell Gap projectile points was an outgrowth from a well-developed Agate Basin projectile point technology. He postulated that the production sequence was the same for both projectile point types; first, there was percussion thinning and shaping followed by pressure thinning and shaping. Bradley stated that the makers of Hell Gap projectile points just terminated their flintknapping process earlier than the makers of Agate Basin projectile points. 

Fortuitous circumstances led to the discovery of the Hell Gap archaeological site in southeastern Wyoming. Since its discovery over sixty-some years ago, Hell Gap has become one of the most important archaeological discoveries in North America and the type site for the Hell Gap projectile point. 

On May 22nd, 1958, James Duguid and his family were traveling north along a gravel road between Guernsey and Lusk, Wyoming along the eastern flank of the Hartsville Uplift. Along came one of those afternoon rain showers that temporarily flooded a low spot in the road. The flood waters forced the family to stop and allow the water on the road to drain. The family bided their time by walking and artifact hunting in the immediate area. Duguid discovered some interesting artifacts in an arroyo and promised himself that he would return the next day to finish the hunt (Duguid 2009:313-314).

Figure Two - A 2.55-inch long Hell Gap projectile point/knife form surface found
on private land in Morgan County, Colorado, and made from a pretty
caramel-colored jasper. John Bradford Branney Collection. 

Duguid and a friend returned to the site the next day and Duguid found a complete Agate Basin point along with a lot of flintkapping debris. He returned to the site with his father and another friend the very next day on May 24th. Duguid's father Otto discovered what appeared to be a Paleoindian projectile point eroding from a cutbank. That point was later determined to be a Hell Gap projectile point. Between his father's Hell Gap point and his Agate Basin point, Duguid recognized that they stumbled upon a very special place. However, he was hesitant to report the site to professional archaeologists because he knew that there were archaeologists who failed to report and document other excavated Paleoindian sites in the area. Duguid was worried that the same fate might befall his newly discovered secret.   

Figure Three - The Hell Gap Paleoindian site
in the late 1960s.

In the fall of 1958, James Duguid began working on his geology degree at the University of Wyoming. In the fall of 1959, Duguid reported the site to University of Wyoming anthropology professor George A. Agogino. The professor convinced Duguid to take him to the site to investigate it. Duguid and his father escorted Agogino to Hell Gap Valley and the rest was history, or in that case, prehistory. 

Sixty-plus years later, archaeologists are still investigating the Hell Gap Site. Hell Gap remains one of the most important archaeological discoveries in the Western United States during the past one hundred years, and that came about because of an avocational archaeologist named James Duguid. 

Figure Four - A mixed hand of Agate Basin and Hell Gap projectile points collected from the
High Plains. Which points are Agate Basin and which are Hell Gap?
My answer is found in the last paragraph of the article. 

George Agogino (1961) defined the Hell Gap projectile point type from examples found in Hell Gap Valley and the archaeological site. Hell Gap projectile points were medium to large lanceolate-shaped points that were similar to Agate Basin points, except that the Hell Gap projectile points bore shoulders. Hell Gap stems were long and contracting. The blade edges from tip to base were either straight-to-concave or convex-to-straight-to-concave. The basal edges of the points were often ground and polished which gave investigators an indication as to how far up the projectile point was hafted. The basal corners ranged from sharp to ground and polished smooth. 

 

Figure Five - Two examples of Hell Gap projectile points (o and p) found
in situ with Agate Basin projectile points at the Agate Basin site in 
eastern Wyoming.  Frison and Stanford (1982:101)

Based on excavated bison kill sites, it appears that Hell Gap Paleoindians participated in large, well-organized communal hunts for meat acquisition, much like their Paleoindian predecessors. Figure five is a photograph of a few projectile points excavated in a bison bonebed at the Agate Basin site in eastern Wyoming (Frison and Stanford 1982:101). In that photograph, two of the projectile points (o and p) were classic Hell Gap projectile points with shouldering. Those Hell Gap points were excavated from the same bonebed and stratigraphic level as Agate Basin projectile points. In addition to those two Hell Gap points, there were other examples of Hell Gap points excavated from the Agate Basin bonebed which provided evidence of a relationship between the two point types. Based on the evidence, it seems likely that Paleoindians used Hell Gap points contemporaneously with Agate Basin points at the Agate Basin site. 

Figure Six - Select Hell Gap sites from Stanford (1999:318)

Stanford (1999:318) published the map in figure six of important Hell Gap sites along the High Plains. He noted that the number of Hell Gap sites was less than Cody and Folsom sites for the same area. Stanford made no assumptions or conclusions as to why there were fewer Hell Gap sites. 

The Casper Site was originally discovered by avocational archaeologists. George Frison (1974) investigated the Casper Site in central Wyoming and determined it was a late-autumn bison kill site where Hell Gap Paleoindians harvested around one hundred animals by immobilizing them in the deep and shifting sands of a parabolic dune.  

Using several Hell Gap point specimens from the Casper Site, Bradley (2010:487) proposed a special bifacial reduction process. He noted that Hell Gap flintknappers achieved the general shape and regularity of the biface by serial percussion thinning on one side with a hammerstone. In the world of flintknapping, serial percussion thinning usually results in the arrises, i.e. the high ridges at the flake margins, trending in the same direction. The Hell Gap flintknappers skillfully controlled the spacing and the thinning flakes that crossed the surface of the biface. Many of the thinning flakes reached or almost reached the other edge of the biface. 

Figure Seven - Clovis point and three 
Hell Gap projectile points from the
Casper site (Frison 1974:74). 

The Hell Gap flintknappers then turned the bifaces over and percussion thinned from the opposite edge, creating bifaces with cross sections resembling a parallelogram. After serial percussion thinning, the Hell Gap flintknapper shaped and straightened the margins of the biface using direct percussion with an antler or hammerstone or by selective pressure flaking. Hell Gap flintknappers used platform isolation and moderate to heavy grinding to prepare the striking platforms for percussion flaking. Unlike Clovis striking platforms, Hell Gap flintknappers used smaller and more convex-shaped striking platforms. Bradley found in his study of the Hell Gap projectile points from the Casper site that a few flintknappers used percussion flaking exclusively while others chose to retouch the margin edges with pressure flakes, particularly near the tips and bases of the bifaces. Ultimately, the finished bifaces ended up with lens-shaped cross-sections. Figure seven represents the forms and flaking patterns of one Clovis and three Hell Gap projectile points found at the Casper Site.    

Cassells (1997:79) reported that in the summer of 1972, rancher Robert Jones Jr. uncovered bones and artifacts while leveling a ridge near his home near Wray, Colorado. Jones contacted a local anthropologist named Jack Miller who conducted a few test excavations in the bonebed. Miller recognized the significance of the site and contacted archaeologist Dennis Stanford at the Smithsonian Institute. Full-scale excavations at the Jones-Miller site occurred between 1973 and 1978. 

Figure Eight - CLICK for SHADOWS on the TRAIL

The Jones-Miller investigations uncovered the bones of approximately three hundred bison in a shallow arroyo above the Arikeree River floodplain. Based on bison tooth eruption patterns, the investigators determined that the animals were most likely killed during three episodes over one or more winters. The projectile points that the investigators found were mostly of the Hell Gap variety. Taylor (2006:207) reported and photographed what appeared to be Agate Basin points found with the Hell Gap points from a single kill episode at Jones-Miller. That either meant that Agate Basin and Hell Gap hunters were cooperating at that bison kill, or the mixture of point types represented the same complex using two different styles of points. In my opinion, the situation at Jones-Miller was most likely the latter. 

Stanford (1999:316-318) observed that during the refurbishment or resharpening of Hell Gap points, the flintknappers could narrow the blade edge enough to make the points indistinguishable from Agate Basin points. Peck (2011:55) lumped Agate Basin and Hell Gap into the same archaeological complex based on the overlapping projectile point technology and the association between the two-point types at several archaeological sites such as Agate Basin, Carter-Kerr McGee, and Jones-Miller. Peck reported an age of ca. 10,500 to 10,000 BP for Agate Basin materials and an age of ca. 10,000 to 9,500 BP for Hell Gap materials at the Hell Gap Site in Wyoming (Irwin-Williams et al. 1973:52). To obtain the age of the materials in calendar years, the radiocarbon ages must be corrected.         

Based on the archaeological evidence at Jones-Miller, the investigators proposed that Paleoindians trapped the bison in a topographical trough. The investigators found evidence that the Paleoindians might have used an enclosure or corral around the trough. Since the bison harvest took place in the wintertime, the investigators hypothesized that the entrance leading into the trough might have been slick with snow and ice, making it difficult for the beasts to escape. The hunters then trapped and dispatched the beasts with spears and possibly spearthrowers. Jones-Miller remains the only excavated Hell Gap site in Colorado. 

Figure Nine - From left to right: Two Hell Gap projectile points and two Alberta 
projectile points from my collection. Note the shouldering on the Hell Gap
projectile points and the stemming on the Alberta projectile points.  

What happened to the Hell Gap projectile point technology?     

Figure nine is a photograph of four projectile points from my collection. These projectile points represent a plausible technological transition from the shouldering on the first two Hell Gap points on the left to the stemming on the two Alberta points from the Cody Complex on the right. The notion that Hell Gap projectile point technology evolved into Alberta projectile point technology is also supported from a temporal perspective. Kornfeld et. al. (2010:237) reported that the Alberta component at the Hudson Meng bison kill site in Nebraska was the approximate age as the Hell Gap component at the Casper bison kill site in central Wyoming. Both sites were dated to around 10,000 years BP (uncorrected radiocarbon date). While Hell Gap hunters were trapping bison in a parabolic sand dune in Wyoming, Alberta hunters were trapping bison in an ancient arroyo in Nebraska.    

I hope you enjoyed the article. I am currently writing the sixth book in my SHADOWS on the TRAIL Hexalogy. Check out the series if you enjoy adventures about Paleoindians living on the High Plains.

Oh, I almost forgot about the projectile point types in figure four above. From left to right, the point types are Agate Basin, Hell Gap, Agate Basin, Hell Gap, and Agate Basin.     

Until next time, HAPPY TRAILS!  

References Cited.  

Agogino, George A. 1961. A New Point Type from Hell Gap Valley, Eastern Wyoming. American Antiquity 26: 558-560, Salt Lake City.  

Bradley, Bruce A. 1974. The Lithic Technology of the Casper Site Materials in The Casper Site: A Hell Gap Bison Kill on the High Plains, edited by George A. Frison. Academic Press. New York.   

Bradley, Bruce A. 2009. Bifacial Technology and Paleoindian Projectile Points in Hell Gap: A Stratified Paleoindian Campsite at the Edge of the Rockies, edited by Mary Lou Larson, Marcel Kornfeld, and George C. Frison. 

Bradley, Bruce A. 2010. Paleoindian Flaked Stone Technology on the Plains and in the Rockies in Prehistoric Hunter-Gatherers of the High Plains and Rockies. Third Edition. Edited by Marcel Kornfeld, George C. Frison, and Mary Lou Larson. Left Coast Press. Walnut Creek.      

Cassell, E. Steve. 1997. The Archaeology of Colorado. Revised Edition. Johnson Books. Boulder.   

Duguid, James O. 2009. A Paleoindian Site Discovery in Hell Gap: A Stratified Paleoindian Campsite at the Edge of the Rockies, edited by Mary Lou Larson, Marcel Kornfeld, and George C. Frison.    

Frison, George A. 1974. The Casper Site: A Hell Gap Bison Kill on the High Plains. Academic Press. New York.   

Frison, George C., and Dennis J. Stanford. 1982. The Agate Basin Site. Academic Press. New York.

Irwin-Williams, Cynthia, Henry Williams, George Agogino, and C. Vance Haynes. 1973. Hell Gap: Paleo-Indian Occupation on the High Plains. Plains Anthropologist. 18(59):40-53.  

Peck, Trevor R. 2011. Light from Ancient Campfires. AU Press. Edmonton.  

Stanford, Dennis. 1999. Paleoindian Archaeology and Late Pleistocene Environments in the Plains and Southwestern United States in Ice Age People of North America, edited by Robson Bonnichsen and Karen L. Turnmire. Oregon State University Press. Corvallis.    

Taylor, Jeb. 2006. Projectile Points of the High Plains. Sheridan Books. Chelsea.   

About the Author. 

John Bradford Branney started collecting prehistoric artifacts in Wyoming with his family at the ripe old age of eight years old. He has amassed and documented a prehistoric artifact collection numbering in the thousands. He has written eleven historical fiction books and over ninety papers focused on Paleoindians, prehistoric artifacts, and geology. Branney holds a B.S. degree in geology from the University of Wyoming and an MBA in finance from the University of Colorado. He lives in the Colorado Mountains with his family.     

  



WINDS OF EDEN - Prehistoric American Book Review



Click to Order John Bradford Branney Books

Fans of the SHADOWS ON THE TRAIL series from bestselling author John Bradford Branney are already ordering copies of the final book in the trilogy in droves.

What happens when the hunters become the hunted? That is what readers have been eagerly waiting to find out in WINDS OF EDEN, the thrilling finale to John Bradford Branney’s series of books about a Paleo-Indian tribe in prehistoric America.

In the conclusion of this highly acclaimed historical series of novels, the Folsom People return to the plains and mountains of Texas and Colorado at the end of the last Ice Age, a time of dramatic climate change, rising temperatures and melting glaciers. This was a time when several large mammal species went extinct and when small bands of humans roamed the mountains and plains attempting to survive in an unforgiving and violent world. WINDS OF EDEN quickly propels readers into the story where the first two novels of the trilogy left off. Chayton and the Folsom People are continuing their fight of survival in a violent and unpredictable prehistoric world with little more than their spears and wits.

“We are thrilled to be bringing out this latest installment,” said Sarah Luddington, Mirador Publishing’s Commissioning Editor. “John has a knack for bringing this era to life and combines this with an incredible eye for detail in a thoroughly engaging story. John’s attention to historical accuracy is extraordinary and he even includes three genuine indigenous languages within the narrative.”

Hailed for its accurate depiction of life on the prairies and mountains of prehistoric Texas and Colorado, WINDS OF EDEN is a fast-paced read that accurately builds on clues from the archaeological record and traditions practiced by the first Americans.

“In the first two books of the SHADOWS ON THE TRAIL TRILOGY my emphasis has been on the dynamics of survival for these early explorers of prehistoric America,” the author stated. “In WINDS OF EDEN, I took a slightly different direction from the first two books of the trilogy. Yes, the book is still a high-intensity adventure, but I have added another twist. In WINDS OF EDEN, the main characters must face the reality of their own finite mortalities. I am hoping that readers take away much more than just reading a fun adventure story. This book is my most fulfilling work that I have written so far and I hope readers feel the same way.”

John Bradford Branney holds a geology degree and MBA from the University of Wyoming and the University of Colorado, respectively. John currently lives in Texas and Colorado with his wife, Theresa. WINDS OF EDEN is the fifth published book by Author Branney.

  

SHADOWS ON THE TRAIL, GHOSTS OF THE HEART and WINDS OF EDEN are available in all good bookshops and online retailers both in paperback and eBook formats. 

Below is the latest book review of WINDS OF EDEN by the Prehistoric American Journal. 



Click to Order Winds of Eden