Archaeology 101: Lithic Analysis

The Archaeology 101 series is basically a youtube version of the labs that I've taught at Tennessee and Arkansas. They're oriented towards the hands-on elements of artifact analysis. This first one deals with lithics, and debitage in particular.
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Knapping demonstration: • Knapping and the Reduc...

[@unknownuser2737]

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]

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]

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

[@NathanaelFosaaen]

@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]

@@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]

Nice try troll.

[@AncientAmericas]

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]

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

[@AncientAmericas]

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

[@marybrown7310]

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]

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

[@jordie00bogart]

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]

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.

[@parlundgren7099]

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

[@NathanaelFosaaen]

Glad you're enjoying it!

[@johnrobinson4445]

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.

[@NathanaelFosaaen]

Thanks for sharing!

[@jasonsavage2865]

Very glad have found your channel. Great video

[@withoutdestination7840]

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

[@lezardvaleth2304]

Happy holidays, new years, and welcome back!

[@softstyles13]

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

[@FacesintheStone]

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]

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.

[@samuelmingo5090]

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!

[@drphosferrous]

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.

[@janices6370]

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.

[@NathanaelFosaaen]

Take good field notes!

[@seekcamera2638]

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

[@NathanaelFosaaen]

Thanks for your support!

[@Ontario_Rockhound]

Awesome video, very informative!

[@brendanokeefemusic-]

Thanks for sharing Nathanael! Lots of great information!

[@Wildernut]

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

[@angelsinthearchitecture7106]

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.

[@EastKYancients]

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

[@asahelsmith9490]

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

[@dyad9592]

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.

[@arasethw]

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]

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]

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.

[@chucklearnslithics3751]

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

[@rocksandoil2241]

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]

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.

[@lizzymoore54]

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]

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

[@ZenaMOBrien]

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

[@drewwest1856]

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]

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]

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

[@csluau5913]

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

[@troytreeguy]

Very interesting 👍👍

[@theperfectbanjo8610]

Brilliant

[@SLBLADE]

Good info thanks bud

[@jomes67]

Very interesting.

[@Bowie_E]

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

[@cornkobmansanto17]

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]

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]

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

[@NathanaelFosaaen]

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

[@thechronic555]

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 😂

[@masatosway4558]

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

[@kariannecrysler640]

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.

[@barrydysert2974]

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. !:-)

[@angelsinthearchitecture7106]

Its because obsidian is not what you think it is.

[@rolenbishop3757]

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

[@jeffengland9913]

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.

[@thaddsreal]

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]

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.

[@thaddsreal]

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]

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.

[@Patriot1777]

Your thoughts on Bird Stone.

[@NathanaelFosaaen]

What bird stone?

[@Eulemunin]

Feeding the algorithm

[@corruptduboiscountyindiana5058]

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

[@andyhawkins5463]

Can't hear you

[@NathanaelFosaaen]

Try harder?

[@jimmartinette9655]

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]

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]

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

[@NathanaelFosaaen]

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

[@ked5081]

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]

Lol nah.

[@IvorMektin1701]

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

[@woodspirit98]

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]

Did they use wormholes?

[@ericschmuecker348]

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

[@jimmartinette9655]

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. kzbin.info/www/bejne/qnKcYox-lrOHpsU

[@NathanaelFosaaen]

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

[@ferengiprofiteer9145]

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. 🤔