When heat is applied to an object, that object usually undergoes a structural change. This also applies to rock. Since Knife River Flint is a fine-grained stone the changes predictably would be minor, compared to a coarse-gained stone that would exhibit greater change when it came to thermal altering. Ahler purposed “that fine-grained cherts respond to heat alteration at lower temperatures than do coarse-grained cherts” (Ahler 1983: 2) which Knife River Flint is a fine-grained chert, so it should respond favorably to thermal alteration. Thermally altering Knife River Flint is conducive when it comes to making knapping easier for the knapper “The increased ease of flake fracture significantly enhances the knapper's control over the material.
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A hard hammer is usually the first method used in the shaping of nodule because when used it strikes off relatively large broad flakes. In the case of this experiment a medium size hard hammer made out of quartzite was used to strike flakes off of the Knife River Flint samples. Knife River Flint is a high quality knappable material, so its unsurprising that the ease of striking flakes off of it is quite easy, even it its raw form. Striking flakes off the nodules of Knife River Flint became easier, and more uniformed as the length of thermal alteration increased. Striking flakes off the batch two nodules, which were thermally altered for six hours was easier compared to the raw/unaltered nodules of Knife River Flint. As one might expect, batch three, which was thermally altered for twelve hours was almost effortless. Striking flakes off of the batch three nodules was easier compared to the other batches. The came off will ease, and were considerably uniform, for a novice …show more content…
It is utilized to remove small precise flakes from a lithic or tool, as it is used to do more detail oriented work. Pressure flaking is also used to retouch tool. A point of bone or antler, or copper can be used to pressure flake. For this experiment I used a copper tipped pressure flaker that I made. When it came to pressure flaking Knife River Flint, it seemed that less pressure was need to be applied the longer the stone was thermally altered. There wasn’t much difference between the six and twelve hour batch, but there was a noticeable difference between the raw/unaltered, and the thermally altered Knife River
A hard hammer is usually the first method used in the shaping of nodule because when used it strikes off relatively large broad flakes. In the case of this experiment a medium size hard hammer made out of quartzite was used to strike flakes off of the Knife River Flint samples. Knife River Flint is a high quality knappable material, so its unsurprising that the ease of striking flakes off of it is quite easy, even it its raw form. Striking flakes off the nodules of Knife River Flint became easier, and more uniformed as the length of thermal alteration increased. Striking flakes off the batch two nodules, which were thermally altered for six hours was easier compared to the raw/unaltered nodules of Knife River Flint. As one might expect, batch three, which was thermally altered for twelve hours was almost effortless. Striking flakes off of the batch three nodules was easier compared to the other batches. The came off will ease, and were considerably uniform, for a novice …show more content…
It is utilized to remove small precise flakes from a lithic or tool, as it is used to do more detail oriented work. Pressure flaking is also used to retouch tool. A point of bone or antler, or copper can be used to pressure flake. For this experiment I used a copper tipped pressure flaker that I made. When it came to pressure flaking Knife River Flint, it seemed that less pressure was need to be applied the longer the stone was thermally altered. There wasn’t much difference between the six and twelve hour batch, but there was a noticeable difference between the raw/unaltered, and the thermally altered Knife River