Enter the cleaver... a rare instrument
Definitely not as common as the handaxe but just as exquisite a stone instrument.
Handaxes are usually made from river cobbles or large flint nodules.
Cleavers on the other hand, at least in my area, are made from a single very large flake.
River cobbles are used because these have already been bashed and battered many times and from all different angles when traveling downriver. In that process only the strongest most competent rocks withstand the beating and are therefore most suitable for tool making.
I cleaver is so named for its single, broad, almost strait edge in contrast to the oval or egg shape of the handaxe.
Cleavers are shaped in such a way that they could have been hafted to a stick and used like an axe.
In this case however, these were likely used just like a handaxe for butchery etc. The shape is simply the result of the manufacture process.
These are not manufactured from a rounded cobble but from the jutting up edge of a slab of outcropping rock.
The edge of the outcrop is given a very hard blow to remove a very large flake of stone that is then trimmed to form the cleaver.
These ones had been lying face down for so long that the upper surface of both show a significant amount of weathering.
The recent chips and damage to these specimens is due to the fact that this was retrieved from a pile of rocks that were removed from a plowed agricultural field.
The deep maroon colour of the rock is due to the high iron content. This is iron that was precipitated and mingled with sand in a delta 2 billion years ago and that was later solidified into an iron rich quartzite.
Interesting you post..thank you for sharing..good luck.
At one time in my misspent youth I fancied becoming an archeologist. Sadly life had other plans for me, but I still love the subject and I'm glad to see articles like this here. Thank you for an interesting read. Following and Resteeming =)
What would you say this is?
That is an adze. The stone tool was hafted to a handle and used sort of like a plane . Other ones are hafted at different angles depending on whether they were using it to trench dirt or plane a flat surface on wood.
Agreed, the one in picture is not produced by knapping, flaking or chipping but is ground away. In that case it was produced much later than than the ones I have covered.
The ones I have put up so far are from the Early Stone Age(ESA) to Middle Stone Age(MSA) yours would likely fall into the Neolithic.
It may even stem from as late as historical times.
Interesting how only river rocks are used because of their proven strength. I never would have thought of that
Not only but mostly, it depends on the area.
Oh I gotcha, that makes sense too. I used to be very into this stuff when I was younger and would learn about it in class or on field trips. So hopefully you can teach me some more awesome stuff!
This might have been the first time I actually learned something on Steemit haha!
Do you tie a lever to the cleaver to use it or do you just use your hand?
Both
Really neat cleavers there. In my area I have found old indian tools and arrow heads. One of the tools I found was a really sharp small type of slicing instrument. I did a little research and found out it is actually a skinning tool. It's pretty cool to actually be the one finding this stuff after all those years. Thanks for sharing!
Great picture of it along with the history!
How many rocks do you have at your home? XD
You don't really want to know... ;0
a more accurate question would be how many tonnes of rocks I have ;)
I have been wondering if there are any relic collectors on Steemit. I grew up by a river and I actually have some from paleo to woodland. It's really neat to find something someone lost thousands of years ago. Big up vote and follow . Interesting finds , thanks for sharing.
Very interesting, good post, wouldn't want one of those hit into my head that's for sure