Cutting Edge Paleolithic Tool Set

These eight white flint tools are all from my find site. The site produces every kind of flint tool, adze, awls, scrapers, axes, knifes, burin's and bill hooks, with the exception of arrow heads. I usually post the most figurative examples, but these show less iconography than my usual prehistoric lithic implement posts.

The two photos below are from the same flint scraper.

Above, an ape like face profile can be seen looking right, and also a horse head profile also faces right.

Above the reverse side has a subtle human like face profile facing left.

The next four pictures show an adze, but it also makes a good awl and blade tool

Above, a familiar looking face profile can be seen on the right, looking left, probably that of a hominid. 

Above, notice the re-touch along the bottom edge, making some nice serrations.

Above, three more prehistoric blade tools each one also carries likely figurative content.

The next three pictures are of a serrated knife, it shows signs of hafting.

The next two pictures also show a prehistoric serrated blade tool, this could also be used as an awl.

These two pictures show an axe like tool, although its a little small for chopping trees. flake removal scars suggest an attempt at creating iconography but as for the figurative depictions, I am unsure.

35 Million year old Unique Lithic's from Virginia.

Recently, amateur archaeologist Keith Fisher from Virginia contacted me asking for help concerning some very unusual finds of his. The artifacts, when found, are encased in volcanic ash (tephra) and recovered from stratified layers in situ from beneath a layer of high iron oxide content, iron oxide is often associated with prehistoric occupation, but in this case it is more likely more evidence of the associated volcanic eruption, see excerpts from a paper by Half Zantop.... here

So I set about investigating these liths, to see what I could find out, in a nutshell these artifacts are most probably 35 Million years old plus, and that preliminary dating can be scientifically confirmed.

As any budding geologist or volcanologist would know, tephra (volcanic ash), can be associated with a particular volcanic eruption due to its unique element content and there quantities. Argon dating techniques can be used on obsidian to determine the age of an eruption, in layman's terms, when a volcano erupts, potassium isotopes are created, these decay over time into argon, the amount of argon relative to the associated potassium can be measured and the age determined by the known half-life of potassium-40 (1.25 billion years).

It was thought that the last volcanic eruptions on the east coast of The USA were somewhere around 200 million years ago, until quite recently Professor Elisabeth Johnson discovered two extinct volcanoes, Mole hill and Trimble Knob, Virginia, these last erupted 47 and 35 million years ago, respectively.(news article here)

I did a little research and asked for help from Dr Chris Hayward of Edinburgh University, Dr Hayward runs the micro-analytical facility specialising in the analysis of tephras. After describing the depth of the tephra at the site, Dr Hayward said 'A 20 cm layer sounds very proximal', in other words the volcano is very likely close by.

Keith commented to me via email. 'And as you said, there are many different symbols. The most prevalent in all of them are elephants, dinosaurs, snakes and always have an "eye" present.' Over the coming months I will be showing more of Keith's amazing finds.

Above, one of the finds with the tephra removed. A hominid face profile likeness can be seen facing right, the face profile is similar to many I have found, (here and here).

Above, a head profile likeness can be seen facing left. 

Above, another one of Keiths finds, partially tephra coated.

This is a a copy of the Element composition Lab report taken from the outer coating of the finds, conducted by LTI under Kieth Fishers instruction.

Standing Cloaked Figure likeness in worked flint from my site.

Another one of my finds showing possible clothing, this time a complete figure can be seen from many angles, mostly from behind. An ocher etched face in the correct location/orientation can also bee seen, but leeching has caused the details to become fuzzy.

Above, more evidence of prehistoric clothing, in what appears to be an image of an out stretched arm wearing a similar type of garment. An eye like feature can also bee seen just above the bend in the 'arm'.

Above, A cloaked face and sleeve can be seen, with hand raised to a face. This image is from the stone shown in this post Bird Effigy Stone and more.

Above, A bearded and cloaked face can be seen, etched in ocher, also the complete profile image of a seated elephant.

Portable Rock Art Human and Ape Face Profile impressions

Another portable rock art find of mine from my site, this time with a human head profile likeness and an ape face profile likeness. The human head impression has no textural detail but has some possible iron oxide (red ocher) staining, so maybe the impression was painted, the paint being long gone and a chemical reaction has caused the image to persist?

A human face likeness, centered, faces right.

An ape face likeness, top right, faces right.

Stone age flint tool shows symbolic hominin face profiles

Yes, you guessed it, another prehistoric flint tool find from my site. This one has a few hominin face profiles, nothing unusual about that, but check out the shadow in the last picture. Another hominid like face profile can be seen, unintentionally captured in the photo. Whether the flint artist created this shadow image on purpose is unclear.

Stone age tool with elephant front leg symbology

Another prehistoric artifact from my site, again in the form of a cutting tool. An unknown fossil inclusion was used for some of the features and flake removal scaring can be seen to enhance the trunk feature. This prehistoric symbol is common in my flint tool finds, it can be seen in this chopping tool and also this flint blade tool.