Courtesy Photo | The above graphic shows the features of a stone flake, a common find in archaeology.... read more read more
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Every archaeologist who has ever worked at Fort McCoy has encountered a specific type of artifact: the flake.
Flakes, referred to as debitage in archaeological jargon, are pieces of stone waste left over after an individual shapes a stone tool by a process known as flintknapping. Because they are made of stone, flakes are one of the most durable types of artifacts and therefore one of the most common artifacts found at Fort McCoy. Almost all of the flakes found at Fort McCoy were produced by ancient Native Americans.
Flintknapping is a reduction process, much like wood carving. Pieces are removed a little at a time while the maker slowly progresses toward the finished product. Pieces are removed by striking a piece of natural rock in a precise way to intentionally remove specific pieces of that stone. Not all types of stone can be turned into tools, but Fort McCoy has a couple of locally available types of stone that can be used for tools.
One of the best materials for producing stone tools is not even an actual rock: man-made glass is perfect for flintknapping. A reasonable alternative that matches the structure of tool-quality stone quite well is available in most bathrooms; the water tank portion of a toilet can be used for flintknapping and turned into an excellent spear point or arrowhead.
Archaeologists can tell a great deal about prehistoric sites based on the tools recovered from a site. But similar to the way a wood carver will end up with one piece of carved wood and a floor full of wood shavings, the number of tools at any given prehistoric site with respect to the number of flakes often exceeds a ratio of one tool to 100 flakes. It can sometimes be greater than one tool to 1,000 flakes. Fortunately, there are ways to interpret what people were doing at an archaeological site based just on the flakes.
At this point, you might be asking how archaeologists are able to tell flakes apart from small rocks and gravel. The answer is that the flintknapping process leaves telltale signs on flakes that do not typically occur naturally. When a skilled flintknapper hits the right kind of stone the right way, it creates a crack that breaks away that part of the stone they want to remove. If you were to pick up the part that has just broken off, you would probably be able to see some of the features that archaeologists use to differentiate natural stone from flakes.
A flake has a top (proximal end) and a bottom (distal end). A flake has an interior (ventral face) and an exterior (dorsal face). At the top, the interior face will often have a convex curve, and slightly below the top, there will often be a small bump that archaeologists call the “bulb of percussion.” This bulb is caused by the striking force compressing the stone, and this force will sometimes leave small ripples, which are caused by the striking force energy traveling through the stone all the way to the bottom of the flake.
With a closer look and a bit of practice, almost anyone can recognize the difference between a small rock and the debris from a stone tool made hundreds or even thousands of years ago.
All archaeological work conducted at Fort McCoy is coordinated by the Directorate of Public Works Environmental Division Natural Resources Branch.
Visitors and employees are reminded they should not collect artifacts on Fort McCoy or other government lands and leave the digging to the professionals.
Any person who excavates, removes, damages, or otherwise alters or defaces any historic or prehistoric site, artifact, or object of antiquity on Fort McCoy is in violation of federal law.
The discovery of any archaeological artifact should be reported to the Directorate of Public Works Environmental Division Natural Resources Branch at 608-388-8214.
(Article prepared by the Directorate of Public Works Environmental Division Natural Resources Branch.)
| Date Taken: | 02.23.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 02.23.2022 12:26 |
| Story ID: | 415120 |
| Location: | FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, US |
| Web Views: | 122 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Fort McCoy ArtiFACT: Stone flake, by Aimee Malone, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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