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To: livius; Sam Gamgee; BenLurkin; SunkenCiv
"It’s very interesting and it would be interesting to see the artifacts."

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Me, too -- and handle and examine them under magnification.

The most significant observation was that the flakes appear to have been detached by a blow from a soft hammer, like bone or wood.

Soft hammer (aka"billet") knapping is a sophisticated, finely controllable knapping technique. Early cultures relied on hard (stone) hammers exclusively -- until some genius discovered that a soft hammer enabled the controllable removal of long, sharp, thin flakes by causing the (prepared) striking platform to fail in tension (not compression or shock, as with a hard hammer).

Even before I visited the site, I'd love to have samples of that "green limestone" to experiment on -- with a range of hammer materials and knapping techniques. Then, I'd have some known results to compare with the found "artifacts" -- so I could judge them myself.

My big question is, "How did those prehistoric folks manage to see well enough for tool-knapping -- back in the dark depths of that cave?"

TXnMA    [physical chemist -- with a "retirement avocation" in archæology]
  

P.S. Congratulations, Sam Gamgee, you just exposed the "shiny heinie" of your ignorance for all of FR to see...

23 posted on 07/22/2020 11:17:54 AM PDT by TXnMA (Anagram: "PANDEMIC --> DEM PANIC")
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To: All

This wall inscription hints at something: Yaba Daba Du


24 posted on 07/22/2020 11:28:48 AM PDT by Peter ODonnell (Pray for health, economic recovery, and justice.)
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To: TXnMA
Thanks TXnMA, great post. Nice to have a knapper weigh in. And no one takes a knap like a knapper...

26 posted on 07/22/2020 11:57:44 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: TXnMA

Very interesting. I didn’t know that flint knapping had these variations.


30 posted on 07/22/2020 1:42:51 PM PDT by livius
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