I’d hate to be the poor bastard who had to count 17,000 flint items. I didn’t like doing that with just hundreds of chert, quart and rhyolite points and scrapers. A guy can cut his fingers off if he isn’t careful.
However, finding projectile (spear) points and arrow heads is a great way to describe a production site for a specific culture or tribe.
My work in Pennsylvania helped to show how different tribes travelled down the Susquehanna River (at Bainbridge, Pa. riverside site) and traded. In one instance, I found a black basalt point that was exactly the same dimensions as another basalt point of a totally different style.
Surmised that the same person made both points (pre-colonial, possibly Archaic). Others carried on the work at the site but I never saw their final reports (we should have gotten them in our class the next year but didn’t. I suspect that teacher/pets politics had something to do with what was published and what wasn’t).
Oh well. Found a great, multi-faceted ceremonial quartz(ite) dagger (about 9 inches long or more) just lying on a house mound in the outer area around Tikal. That is definitely in a museum.. Been lying there for about 900 years or more, calling my name. I heard the call.
Archaeology is a fascinating avocation and you can follow it in “Archaeology” magazine among others.
First hit - Tikal Bakery, near Seattle - with photos.
No sign of Neanderthals, but lots of Central Americans.
Who should I call first...
Immigration & Customs?
Or, the archeology department at the University of Washington?
It would make sense that if somebody was extraordinarily skillful at making something, that others would trade for his stuff. Over time, he would take on apprentices and have a workshop going. People would bring raw material to his shop, plus other trade goods, and come away with finished product.
Your whole experience sounds quite fascinating but that one, quoted above, has to beat the odds of any Lotto game ever. I'm sure the remains you were sifting through represented numerous generations of flint chipper's work product.
Years ago my father had a place on a small tributary of the Mullica River just north of Atlantic City. He had a large smooth stone shaped like a large Idaho potato, which he used as a door stop, and in the winter to heat in the oven and warm the foot of the bed. Now I wonder if it could have been an Indian grinding stone. It was about 8 inches long with an oval center about 2 inches by 3 inches. I know NJ had Indians living in that area.