This is our covered excavation of an Archaic bison kill over a Folsom-age kill. It is part of a much larger series of kills in an outflow channel of the ancient lake-bed.
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Monthly Archives: July 2008
Splitting the Osage Orange stave.
This is a tough process. As can be seen in the photo above, I use an axe, froe, and hammer.
Not visible here are short hickory limbs that are jammed into the growing crack to keep the stave from snapping shut.
Some species of white woods debark quite easily and the bow can be made from the outer growth rings.
Not so with Osage Orange. The white new wood is visible in the stave above.
This process is easiest with a sharp draw knife working downward. Your weight can be used to pull through the bark.
Working down to a single growth ring. With Osage, there is a vesicular layer between hard wood rings. This is just visible here as the white wood.
Sighting down the clean stave. Not perfectly straight, but then it wouldn’t be Osage otherwise.
The growth rings are visible in the low raking light. The smooth area nearest the viewer is down to the desired ring.
Working the bow to its final shape. This is a different stave from the one shown above.
I don’t generally stop long enough to take photos. Note the fine Ozark barn decor.
More at my web pages here: http://web.mac.com/paleotool/Paleotool/Home.htm
October 18-19th, 2008
If you are on the southern high plains this October, be sure to check out the Blackwater Draw atlatl throw. There will be flintknappers, archery demonstrations, fire-building, and tours of the Clovis site throughout the weekend. More details later.
Amazing county. Prehistoric people probably used every acre of this landscape in some way.
More here: http://web.mac.com/paleotool/Paleotool/Comb_Ridge.html
Looking south along the 1000′ cliffs of Comb Ridge, southeast Utah. More here: http://web.mac.com/paleotool/Paleotool/Comb_Ridge.html
The header photo above is a Clovis spear point that is part of the type-collection that resides at Eastern New Mexico University in Portales, New Mexico.
Here it is in all of its glory:
Here is a photo of Pueblo Bonito at Chaco Culture National Park. These people were really into moving rocks.
The masonry was beautiful, showing great care and artisanship.
Sunflower in the yard
Finished a new atlatl this morning. Created from a scrap of Osage Orange wood. The style is a generalized Basketmaker but a bit heavier than some. It has no weight attached yet but I will probably make one just for the “tradition”. It throws well; even with my heavy Clovis-style darts.
