I took a trip to the desert a couple of months back and during a lunch break discovered a Late Stone Age tool manufacture spot.
The spot had an awesome view.
From this vantage point you could manufacture your stone implements and at the same time keep an eye on game movements along the river bank below.
The pile of chips would have been made by Southern Africa's Hunter gatherers the Khoisan.
When you find a manufacture spot there will be a lot of irregular chips.
These are the initial flakes that are made to shape the stone into a usable core.
Once the core is shaped then blades can be struck from it. One typically only finds the broken ones since these are the first ones made in finalizing the shaping of the core. The good ones are flaked off as and when needed likely somewhere else.
Blades are characterized by having a triangular or trapezoidal cross-section and a flat underside, as shown here, in the ones pictured above, that have been flipped over.
Blades are made from a prepared core as shown below.
By making blades you can get far more sharp, usable, cutting surface that from just making a single handaxe. Blades and blade cores are a very distinctive characteristic of the later periods of the stone age; and demonstrate a far more efficient use of good quality stone material.
Below is a picture of a reconstructed core, reconstructed by someone with far more patient than me. It shows just how many blades can be struck from a single rock and how the undersides or the previous blade forms the top side of the next blades.
Once the core has been shaped, it can be carried around and blades struck off it at will, as and when they are required.
That way you simply carry a shaped and lighter rock around with you instead of a pocketful of brittle razor blades just waiting to slice your fingers and pocket.
This way they are also as sharp as a scalpel when you need them and they would only take a couple of seconds to produce when required to butcher a kill.
Interesting!
This is the difference between a traveler and a tourist right here, You are a true traveler.
We have many tourist steemers taking photos of their cheeseburgers and snacks of the day but very few like you, Nice post.
I like your definition...
Really interesting, people may not have had the same technology back then, but they were very smart and resourceful!
That's a pretty awesome find dude. Very interesting, your content is fascinating! Thanks for sharing
@gavvet - It is amazing to be able to actually spot this sort of stone age tool manufacturing spot. I think I have been blind to all such clues in the past when I wandered on the mountains! I wish I had your blog then. I am going to keep my eyes open now for irregularly shaped chips like that and also for trapizoidal shapes. Also - I am blown over to see what an ingenious way our ancestors carried the cone shaped rock and struck so many blades from it!
Thank you for this informative blog. Upvoted.
Update at my end is that I am doing a 'Photospeak' series with my memories from Africa - with just a photo with minimal words - Letting the picture speak for itself mostly. I would be honored if you can take a look at latest one when you have time and provide your valuable comments. Thanks
It amazes me how skilled those people were. We could never compete with them, yet we are considered to be smarter.
@Gavvet I voted up and resteem your post.
Here's mine.
https://steemit.com/machinelearning/@yehey/terminating-costly-fraud-the-rise-of-machine-learning-by-que-com
@Yehey
@gavvet very great full and informativ post here and also His Upvote is very higher than last my dear @vm2904 your comment is very short... ha ha ha
Thanks
Nice post
Follow @dannolly
wow.. cannot imagine the life back then... how they live their life .. must bea very difficult but very simple life.. your post is great..
have a nice day
What an amazing place which probably had loads of history behind it.
Nature holds so many purposes that sometimes we don't even realise.
I don't have the greatest eye but I think I know what would make a good blade.
Great Photographs @gavvet
hey @ gavvet, it's really interesting how blades got produced back then. Actually the fact that they carried around a specially prepared stone is completely new to me :) I always thought they shaped them out of one stone and whenever it broke had to make a new one spending hours every time... Now I know better :)
Good one but that looks like a coal....is it?
No it's a very dark piece of fine grained quartz
An amazing place, we could just see how it is to live in Ancient Africa but with such primitive tools they can be able to hunt fast running game and making them survive that challenges of daily life.
Great post @gavvet, is it the Orange river in the top picture?
Yup, that's the Orange, this was on the Namibian side
That's fascinating. I've seen plenty of arrowheads in the U.S. that were flaked from obsidian or other hard rocks, but I have never read about how these Khoisan stone blades were made.
This fine grained quartz used here is very like obsidian, just is a bit more difficult to work and does not produce blades that are as long as with obsidian. Obsidian is pretty rare in most parts of Southern Africa so you have to make do with what's available.
Really interesting post thank you
@gavvet What you have identified is a stone age version of this.
I wonder how long of a gap there was between the stone age and the modern age snap-off utility knives?
The box-cutter is a great analogy! However, I would rather have a core and the flint knapping skills over a box-cutter any day because the edges are not comparable -- one is glass and the other is metal.
yup, sharp as a scalpel.
Those hunter back in the day were really smart and artistic to be able to do this.
Anyone want to join my hunter gatherer group? We could probably make blogs about our kills and crafts and make some quick Steem.
lol, where do I sign up? I'ed vote for that....
Still writing great info. Thanks. Following. 🐓🐓
These tools back in those days are no less than modern weapons
Very good and interesting post.
You do a great job.
I resteemed you!
Have a nice day!
@dianamihaela
Love your post. Thanks for sharing.
This is very informative. Great post I will go through it in details after my day is done.I did Resteemed your post please Upvote me ! Thank you
Nice pics
Awesome @gavvet! You never failed to amaze us with your posts. You are really deserving of what you have right now. More blessings for you!
why we are not thinking like @gavvet! so we can also grow up Upvote................ :)
thanks
archaeology great
fine grained quartz used here is very like obsidian
Nice pictures and findings. The stone age led us to where we are now. Resteemed
I wish I accompanied you on your trips @gavvet
Archaeology is fun.. One gets tremendous knowledge in the fields of archaeology... Pretty thought provoking article once again from your side. Always a pleasure reading your articles :) Secondly, I extend a hand of friendship to you so that we may share our experiences with each other... That's going to be amazing... Looking forward to other such posts from you
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@nanowins77 this is a wonderfully written comment! I gave you a little boost in hopes you get more recognition. :)
Nice pic and post
Nice pic and post
Awesome Photos and findings
Have a nice day!
Incredible friend very good post those stones are something strange goes on showing more quality content greetings
Hahaha classic
Awesome Photos of the stonage life and a beautiful description! Upvoted and Resteemed!
Check out my new post too.
Isn't That Beautiful???
great and informative post
life was difficult back than
it is blessing that we are born in this era
thanks for sharing
Lovely!!
Very fantastic tour @gavvet ...... The Desert and the river look amazing.....
This post is very interesting friend. I really like it. I know you guys. Make me your best friend
@gavvet, what other thing can these stones be used for? Are you going on these tours alone? Cos I would be scared doing this alone.
Beautiful updates.
my trip into the mountain was alone... but the group was just down by the river
Okay. You're not alone then. Thanks for finding time to reply.
Really interesting
No wayyy. You've found the spot and moved back in time where people were manufacturing all these tools.
nice post .. silahkan melihat posting saya
https://steemit.com/food/@altafalazzam/dodol-aceh-2017719t223630218z
nice post
Execellent post
Cool discovery. You've got a wealth of knowledge to spot and point those out. To most thet may have just been rocks
Thanks for the information .. I will always follow you .. follow me @riansteem ..may be a good friend
Wow
Awesome photos my friend!
Upvoted.
very informative