please help with tool vs weapon edge pics and men's womens knives

josh stout · 17th April 2012, 06:16 PM

Thanks, I have tried the paleoplanet site, and they have not been very useful. Some of it may be because I am a newbie asking the wrong questions, but some of it is because they focus on North American things done in the last 10,000 years or so. My things are old world, in the 300,000-1,000,000 years old range.

The real problem is that stone tool people do not think the way the metal blade people seem to. I have seen published papers stating that an object should be symmetrical to maximize force at the point of impact and this is why stone tools are symmetrical, but when I look at the tools, they are not symmetrical, and what they are talking about (the COP) seems to be confused with the point.

This is a well examined issue within the field of metal pointy things. We differentiate between the COP and the point, and then discuss the advantages of edge versus tip geometry in particular contexts. This is a more sophisticated discussion than what is seen in discussions of stone objects. If I could find people able to discuss the tools at that level I would.

I was hoping that I could make some arguments about form and utility based on analogies to existing metal blade technologies. What I think I will do at this juncture is to research photos on this forum and then seek permissions one by one.
Thanks again,
Josh

17th April 2012, 06:16 PM	#3
josh stout Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 407	Thanks, I have tried the paleoplanet site, and they have not been very useful. Some of it may be because I am a newbie asking the wrong questions, but some of it is because they focus on North American things done in the last 10,000 years or so. My things are old world, in the 300,000-1,000,000 years old range. The real problem is that stone tool people do not think the way the metal blade people seem to. I have seen published papers stating that an object should be symmetrical to maximize force at the point of impact and this is why stone tools are symmetrical, but when I look at the tools, they are not symmetrical, and what they are talking about (the COP) seems to be confused with the point. This is a well examined issue within the field of metal pointy things. We differentiate between the COP and the point, and then discuss the advantages of edge versus tip geometry in particular contexts. This is a more sophisticated discussion than what is seen in discussions of stone objects. If I could find people able to discuss the tools at that level I would. I was hoping that I could make some arguments about form and utility based on analogies to existing metal blade technologies. What I think I will do at this juncture is to research photos on this forum and then seek permissions one by one. Thanks again, Josh