Archaeology 101: Lithic Analysis

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  • เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ต.ค. 2024

ความคิดเห็น • 130

  • @unknownuser2737
    @unknownuser2737 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    I did a lot of research on this guy he's never did a archaeological dig all he does is read everybody else'archaeological comments and he acts like they're his

    • @NathanaelFosaaen
      @NathanaelFosaaen  2 ปีที่แล้ว +11

      There's footage of me working in a lot of these videos. 🤣 I worked on the El Segundo excavations in New Mexico, the Williams Spring excavation in Alabama, the Spring Creek site and Rupple Road Site in Arkansas, the Bois D'Arc Reservoir excavations in Texas, and more phase 1 and phase 2 projects than I can possibly count. Field work has basically been my only job since 2012.

    • @unknownuser2737
      @unknownuser2737 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@NathanaelFosaaen All you did was carried dirt then you did a fake video acting like you were real archaeologist

    • @NathanaelFosaaen
      @NathanaelFosaaen  2 ปีที่แล้ว +11

      @Unknown User
      I'm a contributing author on the 5 volume report for Williams Spring too. There's a paper trail on this stuff.
      www.academia.edu/37720732/PHASE_III_DATA_RECOVERY_AT_THE_WILLIAMS_SPRING_SITE_1MA1167_A_LATE_MIDDLE_WOODLAND_VILLAGE_ON_REDSTONE_ARSENAL_MADISON_COUNTY_ALABAMA_VOLUME_V_Appendices

    • @unknownuser2737
      @unknownuser2737 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@NathanaelFosaaen it's pretty bad when you got blow your own horn I've met you and you've met me I didn't like you when I met you and I heard what other people said about you you're a fake

    • @NathanaelFosaaen
      @NathanaelFosaaen  2 ปีที่แล้ว +10

      Nice try troll.

  • @AncientAmericas
    @AncientAmericas 2 ปีที่แล้ว +17

    I thought I had a better understanding of lithics but you clarified a lot for me and showed me that I have much to learn, for which I am deeply grateful. A lot of archaeological literature assumes you know this stuff up front and so its very nice to have an introductory video that explains it clearly. Great work and I'm looking forward to 102!

    • @lezardvaleth2304
      @lezardvaleth2304 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      AA, when are you coming out with the next video? Addicts need their fix my man =P

    • @AncientAmericas
      @AncientAmericas 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      @@lezardvaleth2304 Worry not. Next episode is in the works.

  • @marybrown7310
    @marybrown7310 2 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    I got an Anthropology degree from IU in 1977. I really appreciate the opportunity to update my knowledge of the developments in the field. It is hard to find a good source for this sort of information, with so much misleading misinformation being proliferated on the internet. Thank you Nathan.

    • @NathanaelFosaaen
      @NathanaelFosaaen  2 ปีที่แล้ว

      You're welcome! My name is Nathanael by the way.

  • @jordie00bogart
    @jordie00bogart 2 ปีที่แล้ว +7

    Lithic analysts and and professional archaeologist based in Ontario, Canada here. I just want to say I loved this video! Thanks for posting. You've certainly got yourself a new subscriber!
    Cheers!

  • @torchape
    @torchape 2 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    Very informative! I finally got my Anthropology (archaeology focus) degree in 2012 when I was 55. I created an experiment using large glass domes (a byproduct from a glassblowing shop in downtown Denver). Since I am a glassblower by trade, I had access to these pieces. The shop I work in has a machine shop, so I had them make me a rounded metal striker which I attached to a swing arm. The glass dome, flat side up, was positioned so the swingarm would knock flakes off around the circumference. The swingarm remained consistent while the glass was rotated. In addition, I changed the angle of the flat glass platform relative to the vertical motion of the swingarm to get sets of flakes at 0, 5, 10, 15, and 20 degrees, in both lateral directions, to approximate the preferred position by individual knappers. Then I measured each flake from the point of percussion to a conchoidal line, both ends of the same line on the ventral side. I wanted to see if flakes could be analyzed in that manner to determine if individuals could be identified by their debitage. My results were inconclusive. I still have all the flakes to knap in the future. LOL.

  • @withoutdestination7840
    @withoutdestination7840 2 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    Thanks, I'm looking forward to the continued series.

  • @lezardvaleth2304
    @lezardvaleth2304 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Happy holidays, new years, and welcome back!

  • @softstyles13
    @softstyles13 2 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    Woderful as always. Looking forward to more of the series!

  • @parlundgren7099
    @parlundgren7099 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Thank you so much for making North American archeology accessible to people in other parts of the world!

  • @samuelmingo5090
    @samuelmingo5090 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Super cool! Looking forward to the rest of the series. It's nice to see a basic overview of practical information, without getting bogged down in theory. Truly a good 101. Keep up the awesome work!

  • @johnrobinson4445
    @johnrobinson4445 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I sent this channel to my sisters, one of whom lived on the Hopi and the Navajo for most of her life until retirement. She finds it fascinating. So do I.

  • @jasonsavage2865
    @jasonsavage2865 4 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    Very glad have found your channel. Great video

  • @janices6370
    @janices6370 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Thank you for this information. I live in south central Tennessee and have found many tools and a few points. Knowing foundational information adds to the wonder and joy of collecting 10,000 year old pieces of history.

  • @FacesintheStone
    @FacesintheStone 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I love that we all at some point in our past used the stone tools. We made beautiful multifaceted art of animals and human portraits as well. I think this is what has carried us along through the evolutionary path. I bet we used these art pieces to teach each other about history, bravery, beauty, gods and the animals.

    • @FacesintheStone
      @FacesintheStone 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      Oh wow I found a bunch of those prismatic blades, I did not know that’s what they were called. I learn so much on this channel.

  • @seekcamera2638
    @seekcamera2638 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    All this knowledge for the the price of a 👍 and 🔔! I love it! Thank you for you time and effort good Sir

  • @drphosferrous
    @drphosferrous ปีที่แล้ว +1

    My anthro professor was a knapper and was always saying how hands on experience helps interpretation. We tend to project our consumer culture onto the finds,assuming stone tools were carried,protected,and used for a long time but some stone tools were just used once and tossed. The lack of tight skilled work in these disposable tools was once interpreted as a lack of technological or even cognitive development.

  • @EastKYancients
    @EastKYancients 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Great info man. Appreciate your channel. Learn lots from your knowledge. Cliff overhangs hold the ancient stuff on my place here in eastern KY. So much to learn

  • @brendanokeefemusic-
    @brendanokeefemusic- ปีที่แล้ว

    Thanks for sharing Nathanael! Lots of great information!

  • @Ontario_Rockhound
    @Ontario_Rockhound 2 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    Awesome video, very informative!

  • @asahelsmith9490
    @asahelsmith9490 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I am in southeast Iowa and there are several locations along the rivers where it is relatively easy to find flakes of stone.

  • @dyad9592
    @dyad9592 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Thanks again. Fascinated looking at a particular stone found on my property in central Tx where flakes are not uncommon. Six distinct strike marks, all in a row along one edge. Flipped over reveals a perfect arrow head sized cavity. I can tell by the the slight curvature of the strike marks that he was likely right handed. Also looked like he was working progressively towards the edge with successive strikes until the desired piece popped off.

  • @Wildernut
    @Wildernut 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    As a caveman wannabe, I really appreciate your detail on tool design and use.

  • @lizzymoore54
    @lizzymoore54 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    I love the smoothness and clarity of Chalcedony, which is a type of Quartz and a bit harder than Quartz. I wonder if it was used for making tools. 🤔 Also, is Chalcedony considered anything other than Chalcedony in your vocabulary. River stones are my favorite because they are usually already polished. I don’t cut nor alter my stones other than cleaning them.

    • @NathanaelFosaaen
      @NathanaelFosaaen  2 ปีที่แล้ว

      I just found some chalcedony artifacts today! It's basically a fibrous quartz.

  • @arasethw
    @arasethw 10 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Our pre-Clovis Ancients, very little chert was used compared to- sandstone, quartz, quartzite, shale, river cobble , in their Levallois style lithic Technology, found in Northeastern Ohio.

  • @orionbukantis6470
    @orionbukantis6470 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Cool to hear you talk about cortex. I had noticed it on flakes and tools I had found, and always assumed it was some sort of weathering and could be used for some sort of estimate of age. Relative age of flakes on the same site makes sense as a great easy way to do that.

    • @NathanaelFosaaen
      @NathanaelFosaaen  2 ปีที่แล้ว

      It's not really too useful for age estimation. I've worked on sites that were over 9000 years old and I've never seen an artifact re-growing cortex. Patination happens though, but that's slightly different in texture. You really need tight spatial control to say anything about age.

  • @rocksandoil2241
    @rocksandoil2241 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    It is interesting how many such lithics exist. Farmers find an arrowhead randomly and then of course, often in creeks near chert walls, you often find a bunch of flake chips and arrowheads etc. It really makes me wonder how many points an average man made in his lifetime. It must be in the thousands.

    • @NathanaelFosaaen
      @NathanaelFosaaen  2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      It's not a small number, but remember all that debitage isn't just from dudes making points. there are a lot of other kinds of chipped stone tools, and the idea that women and two-spirits didn't knapp too is more than a touch absurd.

  • @angelsinthearchitecture7106
    @angelsinthearchitecture7106 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Our acidic soil eats up stone. Specifically a type of quartz that is local. Some artifacts literally crumble when you pick them up. The ones found in water hold up well. Soil and time destroys them.

  • @chucklearnslithics3751
    @chucklearnslithics3751 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Awesome presentation! I like to go collect my own materials and I've found that I have to be very selective in some locations as I'm hardly the first human to find any given source. However I find that rockhounds have usually been far less selective in the area. I wish they understood more of this, as well as how to make conchoidal fractures, before they pick up a core or shatter one by banging their pointy hammers straight into them.
    TY

  • @csluau5913
    @csluau5913 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Good video for people who don’t know anything about stone toolmaking but there is one type of stone that pretty much goes against most of the things you laid out in this video… Crystalline quartz

  • @barrydysert2974
    @barrydysert2974 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    i love how in describing the formation of obsidian we always hear all about how it melts. Then at the end we get a very short, "And then it quickly cools down." Very, very quickly. It needs to be almost instantaneous. And nobody has the slightest clue how it happens. !:-)

  • @Bowie_E
    @Bowie_E 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I did not know that jasper and chert were the same. Cool!

  • @masatosway4558
    @masatosway4558 ปีที่แล้ว

    Thank you for this! I love learning but hate classrooms.

  • @cornkobmansanto17
    @cornkobmansanto17 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Wow! So glad I stumbled upon your channel. I come from a little hamlet in Stewart Co TN called Indian Mound. Me and dad were always artifact hunting at low times on the river banks (crazy how illegal that’s become.)
    But I always wish I’d have studied something like this in Uni instead of what I went for, so thanks a bunch for your channel.
    Quick question if you have time to answer. Do you think tool production was something everyone did? Or do you think there were sort of designated craftspeople? Also, do you think that they were constantly crafting them? I imagine they weren’t just throw away possessions but could easily break. But maybe they just banged em out as needed?
    Thanks again! My favorite new stumble upon!

    • @NathanaelFosaaen
      @NathanaelFosaaen  2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      I learned how to make basic tools in a week, and could make bifaces reliably after about a month of practice. Everyone I'm sure had some facility with toolstone, men women and children.

    • @cornkobmansanto17
      @cornkobmansanto17 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@NathanaelFosaaen thanks! Love your work! Do you have a band?

    • @NathanaelFosaaen
      @NathanaelFosaaen  2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      @@cornkobmansanto17 no. Music is bad and also dumb.

    • @thechronic555
      @thechronic555 ปีที่แล้ว

      Hey I’ve got an uneducated comment that might as well be hearsay id like to interject as an amateur rookie know it all. From my possibly uncommon short lived experience, I equivocated the large quantity and broad range of quality of what mayve been a full service site over long time or maybe they focused on different stages in the same general location for several millennia..like I found a spot with clearly all of the finest deb pieces at the bottom of a low sloped valley but the numerous and much more sizable as well as what seemed different contributors, I decided people probably had more free time before the dreaded work week was unleashed on the world combined with no regulatory agencies to stop faulty products from entering the market, there were probably a lot of billy bobs “pea-nuts and hair-doos” chop shops operating trying to pitch sub par points and axes or even knock-off duck purses 😂

  • @thaddsreal
    @thaddsreal 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    How do land owners who are not comfortable engaging with formal entities, connect with young archeologist willing to have conversations about the disconnect that exists currently in society. You referenced the idea of academics engaging with each other purely for the closed circle. I am specifically thinking about new young farmers and young archeological minds.

    • @NathanaelFosaaen
      @NathanaelFosaaen  2 ปีที่แล้ว

      Honestly, dumb luck? State archaeological societies aren't government agencies but if even those feel too "formal" then you're kinda SOL unless you happen to meet one of us in passing.

  • @rolenbishop3757
    @rolenbishop3757 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    My ancestors once used stone tools.Possibly following herds of herbivores. Collecting plants and specific stones along the way. I find this to be appealing. Lol

  • @kariannecrysler640
    @kariannecrysler640 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    The first hand axe drawing looks like one found in London area Neolithic site. With the narrow point. Is there a reason beyond shared info for similar shapes at similar times? Like material used or functionality.

  • @jeffengland9913
    @jeffengland9913 9 หลายเดือนก่อน

    I've been looking for and collecting native American stone tools for 48 years in the state of nc.ive thrown back down buckets full of waste chips over the years.

  • @troytreeguy
    @troytreeguy 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Very interesting 👍👍

  • @drewwest1856
    @drewwest1856 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    I live near the east coast so the story of the stone tool found with the mastodon skull in the Chesapeake Bay keeps comming up. Is there a way to figure out if the stone used to make that knife came from the east coast or somewhere in Europe ?

    • @NathanaelFosaaen
      @NathanaelFosaaen  2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      sedimentary silicates are difficult to source chemically because they're extremely heterogeneous, but the Cinmar biface is rhyolite so it might be more easily sourced. The analysis that was conducted originally found it best matched sources from Pennsylvania.

    • @drewwest1856
      @drewwest1856 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@NathanaelFosaaen Now that I search Cinmar biface I see alot of info refuting the Solutrean

  • @libertyfp
    @libertyfp ปีที่แล้ว

    Thank you for making this video. This is really cool, haha.

  • @SLBLADE
    @SLBLADE 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Good info thanks bud

  • @theperfectbanjo8610
    @theperfectbanjo8610 ปีที่แล้ว

    Brilliant

  • @thaddsreal
    @thaddsreal 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Also, are their observable signatures with prehistory lithics that can be attributed to a specific group or even the style of an individual knapper?

    • @NathanaelFosaaen
      @NathanaelFosaaen  2 ปีที่แล้ว

      Groups? Kinda. Fluted lanceolates are a specific technological culture, but there's no reason to believe everyone practicing that culture was closely related or spoke the same language. There's no way to see individual knappers though. The material imposes too many constraints.

  • @jomes67
    @jomes67 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Very interesting.

  • @Patriot1777
    @Patriot1777 9 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Your thoughts on Bird Stone.

  • @corruptduboiscountyindiana5058
    @corruptduboiscountyindiana5058 ปีที่แล้ว

    i have a spear head that is very light, feels like fine sandstone

  • @jimmartinette9655
    @jimmartinette9655 9 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Well since not Solutreans have never been found that we know of, then we have no DNA to compare with North American DNA. So now, in terms of Dr. Stanford thesis of 2012 can we say that his theory regarding the Solutreans was just the evolution of archeology, or was it his zeal to find something new in archeology...or is he a crackpot with a PhD.?

    • @NathanaelFosaaen
      @NathanaelFosaaen  9 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      He wasn't a crackpot. There were reasons to think the idea might hold some merit at the time. We know a lot more now.

    • @jimmartinette9655
      @jimmartinette9655 9 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Is there an explanation for the French ( Solutre) points being found on Jefferson Island in the Chesapeake Bay water drainage?@@NathanaelFosaaen

    • @NathanaelFosaaen
      @NathanaelFosaaen  9 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      The only one that's actually solutrean came from a historic period house. Not hard to figure out how that got there.

  • @Eulemunin
    @Eulemunin 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Feeding the algorithm

  • @andyhawkins5463
    @andyhawkins5463 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Can't hear you

  • @ked5081
    @ked5081 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    hey, folks used the island to island land bridge, from europe, to the copper of northern michigan. ice age produced the coast , washed away, an the neander of the ohio lived well.

    • @NathanaelFosaaen
      @NathanaelFosaaen  2 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      Lol nah.

    • @IvorMektin1701
      @IvorMektin1701 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Is that the copper Beowulf stole from Grendel's mother to fund the Berlin Wall?

    • @woodspirit98
      @woodspirit98 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Was this before the wheel and domestic large mammals to haul it thousands of miles over rivers, swamps, lakes, oceans, mountains and valleys or after?

    • @herelieskittythomas3726
      @herelieskittythomas3726 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Did they use wormholes?

  • @ericschmuecker348
    @ericschmuecker348 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    So you tye flies. Have you ever heard of Wapsi Fly?

  • @jimmartinette9655
    @jimmartinette9655 9 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Do we find any examples of "cores" that had flakes were removed using, I think it's called the Levallois technique. It's were the blades were removed in a circular fashion going around the core in a fashion that provides elongated blades starting at the top of the core and going around the entire core. It's done using a punch and indirect percussion in the punch? I think it may be a European technique. At least that where I've seen it done. I hope you can see what I'm getting at. A correlation between an ancient European technique and a Native American technique. th-cam.com/video/tA91YHaNTpc/w-d-xo.html

    • @NathanaelFosaaen
      @NathanaelFosaaen  9 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      Nah the Levallois technique is a Neanderhal thing. Prismatic blade production happens everywhere. The Aztec were really into it for instance.

  • @ferengiprofiteer9145
    @ferengiprofiteer9145 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    I can't imagine a way to make a flake in these materials that doesn't create a strike platform. Human, deer, buffalo, gravity, whatever provided the energy, "flakes" by definition will have a "strike platform", otherwise a flake wouldn't have been produced.
    Multiple flakes means "human activity".
    Singular flakes means natural causes Or missing human made flakes.
    I suspect you'd be safe in assuming all flakes are man made.
    Describe a scenario that's "proof" of natural causes only.
    It "strikes" me as unknowable. 🤔