Stone Age New York

          This curved stone artifact is one of the few examples of unfluted stone tools we present on SANY. Although unfluted, the artifact still has a hafting channel for attachment to a wooden shaft. This stone tool has a flat striking platform at one end and is beveled to a point on the other. The striking platform has a depression built into it that allows a striking stone to be tightly fitted to the artifact for precision strikes. Such advanced stone tool technology allowed Clovis and related stone tool makers to produce sophisticated tools for precision fluting and flaking. Finally, the curved side of the artifact has been fitted with a flattened base which accomplishes at least two purposes. The large area of the base allows the artifact to be fitted securely to a wooden shaft that would have been carved to fit it. Secondly, the artifact is now able to stand in a horizontal position and thus is easy to find when stored with other tools that lie flat.

          Photo 1: One of hundreds of beautiful waterfalls nestled deep in the hills of western New York State.

          Photo 2: Curved stone hammer/perforator, shown in standing position.