overshot flaking quotation

As to the whole "overshot" thing. I agree it is an unfortunate distraction. I have all kinds of issues and opinions on "overshots" too, but that is entirely beside the point. I think all Ben is doing with "overshots" is using them as "proof of concept". The thought process is, if the tools and technique can generate the power and accuracy needed to accomplish this difficult task, it has merit. In the very least it establishes the point Ben started with many years ago that you don"t need an antler billet to make big flakes.

As to the application of Cushing"s model to Clovis knapping: I am of the opinion, and during all my time of experimental knapping have worked from the assumption that all North American knapping followed one, universal, overall model. I reason that by the time humans got here, knapping was already fully advanced. The human brain and human hand has not changed for at least 50,000 years, so however Clovis did it, future people did it, within the framework of a general, overall model. In that regard, I do believe Ben using a "Clovis" type of flaking is a good benchmark test.

"As to the whole "overshot" thing. I agree it is an unfortunate distraction. I have all kinds of issues and opinions on "overshots" too, but that is entirely beside the point. I think all Ben is doing with "overshots" is using them as "proof of concept".

Whether anyone likes it or not, overshot is considered a diagnostic trait of paleo culture, on two continents. That being said, I finally demonstrated that overshot could be one of over a dozen different types of flaking styles created from a single technology - A SINGLE TECHNOLOGY.

So, in this case, is overshot a technology? No, it is the fruit of a technology, just as other types of flaking are also fruits of the same technology. I suspected this for years, once I realized that it appeared that Native Americans had been using SOPHISTICATED forms of indirect percussion. Now, I can demonstrate it.

Also, in the three years that I showed the overshot flaking results, no one did better with authentic tools and practices on raw stone. And, even a few of my worse detractors ended up begging for an explanation. If they did not see signs of authenticity, I doubt they would have reacted in this manner, once I showed the overshots.

Apart from overshot being at the end of the spectrum with this technology, it also requires the removal of alot of other more normal flakes, in order to reach the point where well controlled planing overshots can be achieved. But, I know that most knappers would be more interested in overshot flaking than in regular flaking.

So, to get people intrigued, I emphasized the overshot flaking. This hooked people, whereas if I had shown regular flaking, they would not have been interested. But, by trying to make overshot, the people will need to work through regular flaking to reach the late stages where overshot is more feasible.

Actually, my original view was that the people of the Americas were using forms of indirect percussion that have never been recognized. My goal was to connect a bonafide classic hallmark signature of flaking with a known flaker, and maybe even flaking practice. I was not planning on it being diagnostic Clovis flaking with simple deer tines, according to knowledge that was recorded during the 19th century. By the way, for those who are not impressed with overshot, the Cumberland style fluting is even better - same technology, too. Same technology.

The 1895 date is when he gave his speech on flintknapping to the Vice President of the United States. That was a full fifteen years after he gave a similar lecture on the flaking arts, where he explained that the flaker has two roles - pressure flaking, and indirect percussion. The previous lecture was published in 1879.

It is going to be a long, long time before the technology I have shown will be well understood, because it is a technology that can be used to create multifaceted results. And, even after three years, I cannot say that I know everything about all of those different flaking results.

Is it reasonable to conclude that a population of Iberian demigods fashioning sophisticated overshot flaked bifacial blades gave rise to a population of ankle-biting big-game hunters who fashioned sophisticated bifacial blades using tricky overshot flaking?

As these groups spread, their cultural adaptations diverged much more quickly than their genes. Whereas some of the groups in Asia (perhaps carrying the X2, but not X2a haplogroup) eventually developed a sophisticated microblade technology, one group, perhaps in North Africa (ibid. 144) developed not only (non-perishable) sophisticated bifacial flaking technology, but also (perishable) watercraft.

It summarizes like this: The Solutrean Culture of the area that is now France and Spain, (22,000-17,000 BP) used overshot flaking to shape their flint tools, and as of the proposal date, were the first culture to do so. Clovis points (13,200 BP) of the Americas also used overshot flaking. Lots of Clovis points are found in the Eastern U.S., therefore, the Solutreans must have travelled across the Atlantic, and settled there 3800 years later with the same technology. In support, it is argued that the oldest settlement sites in the Americas are in the Eastern U.S.

Cactus Hill dates positively to at least 15,000 BP, possibly 16,000-20,000, but that is not confirmed. It contains two overshot-flaked partial (broken) points that may be proto-Clovis. This is the primary basis for the claims of the Solutrean Hypothesis. Two broken pieces of points that are admitted to not be Solutrean, not Clovis, but possibly similar in some ways to both. Best case. Worst case, they"re flaked points that bear no similarity to Solutrean Points at all.

So, accepted as fact: There were peoples in the Americas for at least 5,000 years before Clovis, probably 11,000, and Clovis were not the first ones we know of to overshot flake.

And now, an archaeological discovery in 2010 in Blombos Cave, South Africa, "places the use of pressure flaking by early humans to make stone tools back to 73,000 BCE, 55,000 years earlier than previously accepted." Now, pressure flaking is a root to overshot flaking, but it arose independently in Africa before it did in Europe and the Americas.

The Solutrean technique also seems to have gone out of fashion in Europe, and was replaced by careful pressure flaking, then by polishing, before bronze appears. In the Americas, various flaking technologies continued to evolve to a fine art due to isolation. There are similarities of technique weaving in and out, but all evidence is that the technologies were shared with nearby groups and dispersed, also depending on the type of material being worked.

Finally, the ability to measure the actual force required to Crabtree, D., 1970. Flaking stone with wooden implements. Science 169, 146–153.

Technology 17, 26–36. Ohnuma, K., Bergman, C. 1988 Experimental Studies in the Determination of Flaking

The above picture shows a magnified view of one of the over shot percussion flake removal scars on a biface from the McKinnis cache. This is a good illustration of a classic break pattern that is often found on Clovis camp and manufacturing sites. Over shot flakes represent a fracturing pattern that is generated from an edge-to-edge or "outre passe" style of percussion flaking. This flintknapping technique represents an important diagnostic element of Clovis stone tool manufacturing technology.