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Originally Posted by Tim Simmons
Thanks for the most interesting replies. Fortunately the cost was bearable. My only riposte will be that I can provide pictures of examples from books of collections that differ. Also examples of artifacts with no missing beads or decorative elements. We all have perfect pieces in our collections? I do appreciate your input.
John, I would like opinions on this stone club?
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Tim,
This piece looks a lot better to me (again, I'd need to see close-ups of the stone head to truly give you my opinion on it). The haft looks correct, the sewing of and the age of the rawhide looks correct (old rawhide unless kept in the right environment continues to shrink and shrivel and take on a more aged appearance). The handle (again from what I can see in the photos) appears to have use wear and I think I can see the remnants of what appears to be abrasive marks from shaping the handle with stone tools.
Most times utilitarian tools lack the refinery seen in other formalized stone tools. All of the authentic, "war clubs", if you will that I have seen/handled have had very nice refined heads normally of some type of quartzite normally naturally occurring rock in the shaped desired...even these normally had a groove pecked in/around the center to facilitate hafting (in a manner demonstrated in the last piece you displayed). Remember, these weapons were designed for maximum impact and affect, normally are very hardy and made of a material that can withstand repetitive impacts. Flint/chert can meet those requirements (referring to your original post) but must be constructed correctly (engineered as pertaining to the overall design of the head) with the right angle on the bit, and made out of a tougher flint or chert.
As far as perfect pieces, I get more afraid/leery of a perfect example of any stone tool or hafted tool. First off, perfect specimens are out there, but in extremely limited numbers, especially for plains peices. Finding preserved hafted artifacts (North American) of true antiquity is very rare as the conditions ideal for the preservation of perishables only exist in a few regions of N. America (normally arid, desert areas) or if they were collected and curated somewhere in their life. I have a few acquaintances that have extensive perishable collections with outstanding examples of netting, sandals, pieces of arrow/dart shafts, atlatls ect. The stuff is out there, but rare.
I hope this helps...again, the last piece you posted from what I see looks like a nice older utilitarian piece...North America, I am not sure without closer examination of the head...but again, I like it and it looks right! Have a great and safe weekend!
All my best,
John