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26th January 2013, 01:42 PM
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#1 |
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Member
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: between work and sleep
Posts: 731
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Glad you posted this laEspadaAncha. Just throwing it out there, that while this does look like obsidian, there is a rock called dacite which can be almost as sharp but seems less brittle. It's grainier than obsidian, more like stone than glass, but still a very good blade-making material.
I wonder what kind of glue it is that holds it in... Pine pitch? Birch tar? I'm not familiar with the materials that the indigenous Southwestern Americans used. |
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26th January 2013, 02:25 PM
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#2 |
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Member
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: What is still UK
Posts: 5,890
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Very interesting and a lovely item to have in a collection. The stone looks as if it is a lime or sand stone?
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26th January 2013, 10:02 PM
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#3 |
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Member
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 608
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Thanks Colin - I've included another item below...
 KuKulz, regarding the pitch on the knife, I'm not sure what exactly was used - pinyon pitch, maybe? Tim, with regards to the stone, while I am certain it is netiher sandstone nor limestone, I am (again) at a loss as to the type...  Okay... staying with the artistic lithic theme, I'm attaching a photo of another item below - Tim, this one is carved from steatite. Does anybody know what it is? 
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27th January 2013, 08:57 AM
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#4 | |
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Member
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 1,429
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Quote:
I have one Native American piece, as per this image - I think its a Pueblo pot ? The design looks like Art Deco... (hope the moderators will permit a non-weapon item). Regards. |
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27th January 2013, 06:40 PM
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#5 |
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Member
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 608
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Hi Colin,
In overall appearance, the design on your olla seems to resemble Casas Grandes (Ramos Polychrome) pottery, but even though the shape and clay (color) are atypical, the design seems to speak to a Hopi, or possibly Santo Domingo origin IMO. However, I am no altogether sure... I'll look through some old Indian auction catalogs and let you if I can give you a more definitive answer. Regarding the item I posted above, I am attaching another photo below, which contains a rather revealing clue as to the object's purpose... Cheers, Chris |
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27th January 2013, 07:07 PM
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#6 | |
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Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 1,429
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Quote:
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27th January 2013, 07:31 PM
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#7 |
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Member
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: What is still UK
Posts: 5,890
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Also rather nice.
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27th January 2013, 09:35 PM
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#8 | |
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Member
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 608
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Quote:
And thank you as well, Tim...It is in fact a Chumash arrow straightener, unusual in being figural in form. The Chumash were the Native American people who inhabited the Channel Islands and the mainland area around present-day Santa Barbara. They were seafaring, semi-nomadic hunter-gatherers who routinely navigated the deep waters covering the 50+km distances in their tomols to the Channel Islands and to Catalina Island further south. They were known not just for their accomplished maritime travel but for their steatite/soapstone implements and carvings as well as their basketry. Chumash steatite was traded all over Southern and Central California.  Chumash man ca. 1878 I would presume the Chumash straightener depicts a seal or sea lion, as the general form as well as the renderings of the eyes and mouth resemble several other Chumash lithics I have that unmistakingly portray seal lions and/or seals. Most arrow straighteners used by the indigenous peoples of Southern California were simple utilitarian objects, or more stylized abstractions based on simple geometric forms. I've attached a photo below of two more arrow straighteners from Southern California; the left-most one was recovered near the home in which I grew up in inland San Diego. The circular one was recovered in Costa Mesa, in the very southern part of coastal Orange County. The arrow in the photo(s) is Yokut; Yokut territory bordered the Chumash to the NE. |
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