FLINTKNAPPING HALL OF FAME
- honora per lapidem -
displays flintknapping-related artifacts and exhibits, and honors those who have excelled in the craft, research/ writing, promoting events, and serving the knapping community.
Thursday, May 9, 2013
Arti facts
Volume 27, No. 2 Idaho Archaeological Society, Inc. September 2010
ARCHAEOLOGISTS IN REVIEW
Arrivals and Departures
This month we take time to honor an internationally- known flintknapper Gene Titmus that was also a gentleman and a friend to many in Idaho. The editor would like to thank James Woods, Dan Meatte, Suzann Henrikson, and Lisa Cresswell for their contributions about Gene.
Gene L. Titmus, A Legendary Figure in Idaho Archaeology
By James C. Woods
College of Southern Idaho
Gene Titmus, of Jerome, Idaho, passed away in May 2010. For those of us who knew him, this was a shocking and unanticipated loss. Aside from his long struggle with his hearing, Gene remained very active, even being one of few who made a grueling 40-mile walk through the rainforest of northern Guatemala when he was over retirement age. Gene was a long-time member of the Idaho Archaeological Society, having served as state President as well as President of the Snake River Chapter of the IAS in Magic Valley. Gene was also a long-time Research Associate at the Herrett Center for Arts and Science, and contributed many hours and replicas to helping with research, presentations, and exhibits. Attendees to the IAS conferences each year looked forward to being able to bid on Gene’s replicas or a chance to win one of the Titmus door prizes with all proceeds going to the society.
Gene’s professional career was with Idaho Power where he first worked at Shoshone Falls and Swan Falls power plants, then eventually as the Metering Supervisor for south-central Idaho. In his private time, he was passionately involved with the study of ancient stone tools and weapons. His first experiences with archaeology came from growing up in the Snake River canyon around many prehistoric sites.
He ultimately began to experiment with flintknapping and he developed his own unique pressure-flaking technique now generally known as "Titmus flaking". He met Don Crabtree around 1958 and Page 2 Artifacts Vol. 27, No. 2
asked Don to teach him some new skills. Crabtree astutely observed that Gene had abilities that he could not match, so Don encouraged Gene to just keep working as he had done. Eventually, the two
became best of friends, and it was a common site to see Gene’s Idaho Power truck parked at the Crabtree home during the noon hour. Crabtree passed away in 1980, and Gene inherited the reputation as one of the nation’s premiere stone tool knappers.
In 1999, Gene was awarded the Don E. Crabtree Award by the Society for American Archaeology. This was especially fitting because Gene helped Don with much of the experimental work in Crabtree’s famous paper "A Stoneworker's Approach to Analyzing and Replicating the Lindenmeier Folsom" in 1966. In his later years, Gene expanded upon his earlier experiments in Folsom technology, presented papers at the Texas Folsom workshops, co-authored technical papers on fluting technology, and conducted numerous experiments to study the variables involved with this complex technology. Recently, a substantial collection of Titmus fluted point replicas was donated to the Herrett Center, by his wife, Wilma. Surely, there is not a single contemporary person who has made and/or attempted more Folsom points than Gene.
Gene’s scholarly work went well beyond Folsom technology. He volunteered many hours working as a site steward for the BLM, and could be found in his small pickup bouncing across south-central Idaho desert roads. He did volunteer work at several excavations including Kwahadu Rockshelter, Kelvin’s Cave, the Kueney Site, the Buhl Burial, and many more. Gene also donated several years to the RAINPEG Project in northern Guatemala. He made numerous treks along what has become known as the "Nakbe Death March", a grueling two-day hike through the Peten rainforest to this famous Preclassic Maya site. While there, Gene assisted in the study of ancient Maya limestone quarries and contributed new information regarding the energetics of pyramid construction.
Gene also spent many hours at home experimenting with Maya eccentrics, publishing a paper that described the requisite manufacturing sequence and labor investment to shape the larger anthropocentric forms seen in many museums. A careful scrutiny of Gene’s contributions shows that he was not content with basic description. He had an ability to analyze stone tool reduction sequences and could reconstruct the oftentimes complex steps needed to produce ancient tools and weapons.
Visitors to their Jerome home would be met by Gene and his wife, Wilma, and a cold glass of tea or soda. Looming nearby were massive piles of obsidian collected over a lifetime. Just behind the obsidian piles was a huge flaking debris pile consisting of material from Gene’s many years of experimenting. Friends and colleagues would often send him samples of fine lithic materials from other world sources and his pile reflected the full range of his network of colleagues. Gene and Wilma were also avid gardeners, and the large piles of stone were generally hidden by a thick cover of exotic flowering plants.
In his later years, Gene’s hearing was such that he was not comfortable around groups of people. He preferred a nice afternoon on his raised deck, watching the hummingbirds and talking about his favorite stone tool subjects. He avoided conferences and meetings due to his hearing loss. He often lamented the fact that he could not attend meetings and visit with his many friends. Older colleagues as well as young students who did visit his home found him to be exceedingly kind with his time, quick to laugh, and a keen listener and observer.
Many indigenous peoples feel it is not polite to talk of departed friends. However, to the many students of anthropology and others who will only know Gene through his work, a few stories about him from friends and colleagues can reveal more about the character of this man. So, it is with great Page 3 Artifacts Vol. 27, No. 2
respect I share two personal accounts. Upon takeoff from an unimproved runway in northern Guatemala, we hit a large bump and the side door of the Cessna flew open right next to me. Gene, who was sitting next to me, casually reached over and grabbed the back of my shirt and held on like an iron vise for the next 30-minutes until we landed at the next airport. I appreciated the strength in his hands from a lifetime of pressure-flaking!
Once at Glass Buttes, Gene became very ill and could not stand up or help quarry stone. He became temporarily confined to his camp chair. Dan Meatte and I happened to quarry a very large cobble of obsidian, too large to load into Gene’s pickup. Gene, refusing to abandon the stone, used a laser pointer to indicate the exact spot where we were to hit it with his special hammerstone. It was a marvelous experience for Dan and I, knapping by laser light guided by the trained eye of one of the world’s best stone knappers. The irony of that moment was not lost to Gene who would later ask me upon occasion if he needed to get his laser when I was struggling with some knapping problem.
If, as many foraging peoples believe, the essence of a man lives on in the things he makes with his hands, then Gene’s spirit will endure for a very long time to come.
Remembering Gene
by
Lisa Cresswell, BLM Shoshone District
I first met Gene Titmus around 2001 when he came to the Shoshone BLM office to volunteer as an archaeological site monitor. Gene and I had a standing date on Wednesdays to monitor sites for several years. Each spring, he would be chomping at the bit to hit the field and when winter finally came, you could tell he was sorry to see summer go. He loved to explore and find new sites whenever we went out. He truly was a desert rat. He grew up at Shoshone Falls, scrambling around the rocks of the Snake River Canyon, looking for archaeological sites. I think that experience instilled in him a real, lasting love for the desert and for archaeology.
There are several sites in the Shoshone Field office named by Gene and at least two named after him – Gene’s Gigantic Site and the Drifting Gene. One day while we were out monitoring sites in the Bennett Hills, Gene spied a green patch in the distance and said "I bet there’s a site there." Sure enough, Gene’s green spot turned out to be a gigantic lithic scatter spanning several thousand meters of drainage with rock shelters and rock art. At the Drifting Gene site, we lost him in a series of dunes in Craters of the Moon National Monument. We spent several frantic minutes trying to relocate him. As usual, he was off on his own adventure, looking for sites and having a good time.
Whenever we saw a dust devil in the open desert, Gene would smile and say it was a Shoshoni ghost. He always brought pretty much the same lunch – a ham sandwich and Fritos – which he would happily share. He said Fritos were "required field-food". If we were lucky, he would have some of Wilma’s cookies too. We talked about a lot of things in the desert, about family and friendships, about places we’d been or people we’d met, and about things life taught us both funny and sad. But mostly we talked about archaeology because that was what Gene was all about. Now, whenever I see a Shoshoni ghost in the desert, I will remember Gene and his generous spirit, wandering the desert he loved.
Gene
By
Suzann Henrikson, BLM Burley District
Gene Titmus, more than anyone I've ever known, had the keenest "nose" for buried features. Between 2000 and 2005, he volunteered hundreds of hours to the University of Oregon Archaeological Field School, mentoring students (and me) during our adventures on the eastern Snake River Plain. He was frank, honest, and shared his tremendous knowledge in a gracious and humble manner. The students adored him. While excavating at Bison Heights in 2001, Gene grabbed me and pointed to a sandy spot against a nondescript basalt outcrop (amid a dozen other nondescript outcrops) and said, "Dig here...you’ll find a hearth." He was right. In fact, it was a beautiful rock-lined feature swimming in sagebrush charcoal with a schist grinding slab on the bottom. It was the only hearth we found that summer. If it hadn’t been Gene who pointed to the feature, I might have passed it off as a lucky guess. He did it again at Calf Creek a few years later. The basalt cliff along the south side of the creek is hundreds of meters long, with lots of overhangs, nooks and crannies. Despite having eye surgery just a few months prior, Gene was not going to miss the opportunity to excavate a site in the Bennett Hills. Within minutes of arriving, he pointed to a specific spot, flush against the cliff, and said, "There’s a hearth here." Needless to say, there was. A big one—rocked-lined and totally sexy. Although Gene’s "nose" for features will forever fascinate me, it was just icing on the cake. I will cherish all my memories of Gene, his kind heart, generous nature, and unrelenting passion for Idaho prehistory.
Flintknapping Hall of Fame, Flintknapper Jeannie Binning
Jeannie Binning FLINTKNAPPER
Jeannie Binning. California State University Riverside PhD in Archaeology . Flintknapping since the 1970s.
Archaeologist, Flintknapper, Primitive Technologist.
while lecturing at the University of Arizona at Tuson.
The story of modern California knapping. I met Jeannie Binning at the
1984 NARC knap in. Jeannie one of the better knappers, and is most
likely the best female flintknapper in the world , She is now an
instructor at U.C. Riverside. This is where she got her Ph.D..
Jeannie was born and raised in southern California and got her BA
degree and Cal. State Northrige while working at NARC. Jeannie
Binning is a master at knapping obsidian and true to her instructors,
Don Crabtree and later Jeffery Flenniken, she is excellent at
knapping large wide obsidian bifaced blades. Jeannie was told me the
story of when she first went to the Crabtree Flintknapping Field
School in Idaho. She and some other students arrived at the little
airport and some old guy came and picked the up in some old jalopy,
the guy was nice enough and rather unassuming. It wasn't until they
were at their destination that she learned the old guy was" the dean
of American flintknapping", Don Crabtree. She told me that when Don
was teaching her some technique and he cut his hand. he was on blood
thinners for his heart condition and blood was squirting everywhere ,
but he kept on knapping, he was intent on teaching me. Jeannie has
been to many of the Field Schools, first as a student then as an
assistant.
Here is Jeannie's School:
LITHIC TECHNOLOGY FIELD SCHOOLField School Dates: Saturday, June 11 to Friday, June 24, 2011
Field School Location: California Desert Studies Center, ZZYZX, California
Desert Studies Center Information: http://biology.fullerton.edu/dsc/school/about.html
Registration Instructions: Complete this Registration Form and return it to the address below with a refundable deposit ($450) or payment in full. Upon receipt of your completed Registration Form, you will be sent a confirmation letter and additional information. Please note that the remaining payment is due two weeks before the Field School begins (May 27th). Checks or money orders only
Stever Carter flintknapping. Steve Carter came up from Ramona in his old flatbed truck, Steve was into pattern flaking and amazingly thin percussion bifacing .
Peter Ainsworth gets some advice from Jeannie Binning.
Barney DeSimone with one of his knives, note the detailed pattern flakes, his son came withhim this year and holds up a nice biface made by his pop.
Jimm Winn with one of his flint knives. Jim Winn used the traditional methods of percussion and pressure flaking to knapp his points. Never use flake over grinding. His tool kit includes both aboriginal or traditional tools such as antler and stone percussors as well as more modern tools such as copper. Most of his knives and points are knapped from spalls or cobbles of chert, jasper, or obsidian.
The late George Hough has some flint he had dug up in Idaho, Jim Winn, Barney Desomone and his son and others were getting there trades ready. Jim got mad at me because I took some hammer stone swings a really big beautiful piece that he had his sights on, luckily I didn't damage it to bad and he was able to use it.
!
I remember the 1988 Wrightwood knapin. This was one of the knap-ins held at Jackson lake. Jackson lake is an alpine type lake in the high country. Location and Directions: Jackson Lake is located in the Angeles National Forest near the city of Wrightwood. From Los Angeles take I-10 East to I-15 North. Travel N. on I-15 to Cajon Pass - Hwy. 138. Turn left (north) on Hwy 138 and travel 8 miles to Hwy. 2. Turn Left on Hwy 2 and travel 10 miles to Big Pines, then turn Right on County Road N4 and travel 3 miles to the lake. This is a small lake of 7 surface acres at an elevation of 6,000 feet. It is open all year but sometimes freezes over during the winter. Tent and RV camping is available near the lake. There are no concessions. Nearest supplies are 7 miles to the East in the own of Wrightwood. It was cold at night and warm and sunny in the day. It was the most beautiful place for a knap-in of all. The camp was a flat plateau just above the lake itself and it had a hard sandy floor, it had a good open area for archery, atlatl and knapping.
Jim Winn came up to Wrightwood in 1988, he had skipped a year or two. Jim’s interest in flintknapping began shortly after he moved to Oregon in 1979. His neighbor was an avid collector and took him on his first arrowhead hunt. He was hooked! Jim spent the next few years actively hunting points. Some of the points he found were incredibly well knapped, and I became determined to learn how it was done. He discovered DC Waldorf’s book, “The Art of Flintknapping” and he been knapping ever since!
Jim Winn used the traditional methods of percussion and pressure flaking to knapp his points. Never use flake over grinding. His tool kit includes both aboriginal or traditional tools such as antler and stone percussors as well as more modern tools such as copper. Most of his knives and points are knapped from spalls or cobbles of chert, jasper, or obsidian. I had done some rabbit hunting, atlatl shooting and Barney DeSimone and I had been to Jim’s house, then in the Valley to flute Clovis with a jig.
Barney DeSimone came up "the A-wop-a-hoe", was his joke- he is Italian and everyone thought he was an Indian, so he said I am a "wop" and a hoe -so people thought he was a "A-wop-a-hoe", which is not a real tribe! Steve Carter came up from Ramona in his old flatbed truck, Steve was into pattern flaking and amazingly thin percussion bifacing before anyone else I have known about. Alton Safford was there and he demonstrated using sinew, bow shooting- did knapping and ate a lot of apples, he also brought some longbows he had made, his nickname is "Longbow Safford" . Peter Ainsworth and Jeannie Binning showed up from the acedemic knapping community and were doing very nice "Crabtree" large biface work. I can't remember much more about that knap-in except it was really fun and wonderful 4 days in heaven.
WRIGHTWOOD KNAP IN STARTED IN 1984, SET UP BY RAY HARWOOD AND ALTON SAFFORD AT JACKSON LAKE., BUT OUR FIRST CALIFORNIA FLINTKNAPPING RENDEZVOUS WAS IN 1983 AT CSUN. SET UP BY RAY HARWOOD. AT THE FIRST KNAP IN 1983 : RAY HARWOOD, ALTON SAFFORD, JOHN ATWOOD, RICK WESSEL, CLAY SINGER, GEORGE HUFF, JENNIE BINNING, ROY VANDERHOOK, TERRY FREDERICK, JOE DABIL, FRED BUDINGER, TED HARWOOD, NANCY HARWOOD, BRIAN GUNTHER, AND A HOST OF OTHERS. FIRST LOCATION: C.S.U.N. . SECOND: JACKSON LAKE FLAT. THIRD; CAMP GUFFY (TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN) FOURTH: INDIAN HILLS RANCH. Ray had flintknapped in an artistic vacuum until he was in his early 20s. This is when Ray met fellow Ishi fans, Joe Dabil, Barney DeSimone, Steve Carter, Jim Win, Jennie Binning and Alton Safford. Barney had a small business called Yana Enterprises where he marketed his Ishi posters and items and had become an expert Ishi style knapper, to the point that he had killed a wild boar on Catalina Island armed with a sinew backed bow and Ishi tipped arrow of glass of his own making. Atlton was an avid traditional bow hunter and knapper, he had even hunted big game in Africa a few times with stone points. Years later Alton and Ray started the yearly California Flintknapping Rendezvous. Joe Dabil had become a California legend by the late 1970s and had the nick name of "Indian Joe", this name given to him by the prominent archaeologists of the day. Joe could make fire in of minutes with a natural yucca file board and mule fat stick. Joe was also a master of the Ishi style flintknapping methodology. Joe's Ishi points of both glass and obsidian were each an impressive work of art. Ray and Joe became friends and Ray began to study Joe's flintknapping methods. Joe Dabil had learned the arts of wilderness survival hands on. Joe was an Olympic class long distance runner in the 1960s, and when a Doctor informed him he had a life threatening decease he fled into the wilderness. There in the woods, alone, Joe eked out a survival on natural foods. Eventually Joe relearned the arts of Ishi, sinew back bow making, arrow-smithing, fire drill technology, cordage making, brain tanning and of coarse...flintknapping. As miracle have it, Joe lived out his death sentence and is still practicing wilderness skills today. Steve Carter was already an established master knapper when Ray met him in the early 1980s. Steve had been friends with J.B.Sollberger of Dallas, Texas and with J.B.s inspiration, at the 1978 Little Lake knap-in, Steve developed his own unique knapping style, one in which he detached the flakes of the top of the preform as opposed to the bottom that rests on the palm of the hand. Steve was versatile and also used the Ishi style knapping techniques. Steve's work even impressed the Grand Masters; Sollberger, Titmus, Callahan and Crabtree. Jimm Winn was there at the second or third Wrightwood knap-in with Barney Desimone and George hough and George Hough and Dick Baugh. Jim did a lot of heat treating of local materials there in the famous Wrightwood fire pit at Jackson Lake Flat. After the close of the Flintknappers' Exchange in 1981, there was a void for two years. Communication among flintknappers slowed to a stop. In 1984 at the knap-in at the Northridge Archaeological Research Center I was talking about the need for a newsletter to Clay Singer and Terry Frederick, they suggested I do it, well I had dyslexia, couldn't type and had no money, okay! Alton Safford, Jeannie Binning and Joe Dabill encouraged as well. I couldn't get anyone to help me with the project so I did it myself. I started work on the first issue, all the words were misspelled, the grammar was just as bad, I cut and past the cover. I wanted to call it the Flintknappers' Monthly but I couldn't find those words in the old NARC newsletters so I got close with "FLintknapping Digest" and cut and pasted it on the cover. I used the address list in the old Flintknappers' Exchange at the end of each article to find the knappers. It worked I began to get a flood of mail about it. It was really amateurish and I got a lot of flak, but everybody who got it loved it. Clay Singer said "it has a folksy, underground publication look" . In any case it got better with each issue. I remember asking J.B. Sollberger to write an article for me and he got really mad. He said that I was just trying to associate with his name to gain fame and make the newsletter sell better , I was unaffected and said yes, so do I get the article? We got along fine after that and I did get the article, I think he trusted me to tell the truth after that. He even made me some fluted points. The "J.B." in J.B. Sollberger is rumored to stand for "John the Baptist" . So you see with a reputation like that truth means a lot. I was amazed that the little newsletter was doing so well, my mom was too, she never thought such a weird newsletter would work. I was 24 years old when I started the newsletter and didn't have a whole lot else going, it was great, I met all my flintknapping heroes. One day I got a letter from D.C. Waldorf and he was asking about something, I can't remember, but he referred to the Flintknapping Digest as "The Digest", I put the letter in the next issue and from then on that's what everyone called it. Even now I see it referenced to time and again and it is almost always given its affectionate name "The Digest" it gave knappers a worm and fuzzy feel, like an old dog that you had when you were a kid. Even old dogs pass on, and in the late 1980s, even with Val Waldorf's help, I couldn't do it anymore. After some coaxing the waldorf's took pity on me and took the newsletter over. They gave it a face lift and a new name "Chips" . .Paul Hellweg, a fellow Army Tanker. Paul, likes to specialise inground stone axe manufacture, and he is quite good at it. He was actually a Crabtree and Flenniken Student, but went over to the servival camp when he got a job teaching it at C.S.U.N. where I first met him in the early 1980s. Paul wrote some nice articles for the Flintknapping Digest in 1984 and published a book on knapping the same year, Flintknapping, The Art of Making Stone Tools that has sold over 50,000 copies. Hellweg has also written many other books and is doing quite well financially. I attended a week long Callahan school with him in the summer and and he appears to be thinking of redoing his book and becoming more active in the knapping world. San Diego, California was a hot bed of really good knappers in the early 1970s, it sprung from a visit from Sollberger sometime in that era. Only Steve Carter remains of that group. Navodne (Rod) Reiner, another California sad story , Rod was one of the San Diego flintknappers that Steve Carter hung around with in the 1970s. Like Steve, Rod was a really good flintknapper, all traditional, and good person. Rod did a lot of knapping and made nice pieces of lithic art but was also interested in the experimental aspect as well. Rod came up with the two man fluting technique; Reiner gripped the biface in his left hand, held it down tightly against his thigh, while his right hand used the full weight of his body from the shoulder to bear down on the flaking tool. Then, to this he added a little more force by using a second person to deliver a light tapping blow to the end of the pressure flaker with a mallet. Reiner stated that the mallet strikes just at the instant that the pressure flake is pressed off. With Rod's method both constant pressure and a releasing percussion impact a nice flute is detached. Rod, whom was also at the Little Lake knap-in was a very good knapper and a big influence on Steve Carter, but Rod was killed early on in a hunting accident. Chris Hardacker was another, he just faded into the woodwork, I saw him working as a digger for Jeannie Binning at one of her digs in the middle 1980s. Robert Blue of Studio City, California was inspired by a collection of Reinhardt's points , Reinhardt had been long dead but Blue did find fellow Gray Ghost collector, Charlie Shewey in Missouri. Robert offered to buy all of Shewey's Gray Ghosts and Richard Warren points and that money was no object. Charlie refused Blue's offer, but directed Robert to Richard Warren. After Robert bought a fair number of points, Warren shared some of his secrets with Robert Blue and introduced him to Jim Hopper, whom Warren had taught. Jim Hopper andRobert Blue became good friends and Robert became very good at art knapping. Barney DeSimone, couched Robert through his early years of knapping. Later Robert inspired Barney to return somewhat to lapidary knapping. It was Robert Blue that taught Ray Harwood to knap in the lever style of Reinhardt, Ray produced dozens of "Raynish Daggers" with the lever flaker. The Raynish Daggers were simply slab points in the form of 10 inch Danish Daggers ("2-D daggers" -not 3 dimensional). These were what Callahan called the ugliest Danish Daggers he had ever seen. After Robert's death and some prompting from DeSimone and Callahan, Harwood returned to traditional flintknapping. One interesting bit of knapping lore I overheard at a knap in goes like this:" Steve Behenes had invented this steel fluting jig that could flute supper this preforms. Steve was close to Robert Blue at the time and he sent Robert a thin Folsom and the detached flutes, Robert returned the detached flute -and he had fluted them ! . Joe Dabil, Joe had become a California legend by the late 1960s and had the nick name of "Indian Joe", this name given to him by the prominent archaeologists of the day. Joe says he learned his style by trail and error using books with Ishi points as a pattern,same for the knapping tools. His notching style comes a great deal from Errett. Joe could make fire in of minutes with a natural yucca file board and mule fat stick. Joe was also a master of the Ishi style flintknapping methodology. I first came to here about him in about 1969 and then in the 70s, he gave demos on Catalina Island for Archaeologists and movie people. His points were often seen for sale for $3.50 up and down the central to northern California coastal towns, these populated by thousands of hippies. I remember buying one in a hippie shop in Pismo Beech in 1976. The hippie lady at the counter said I could meet the knapper, but like as ass I sais "naw it's OK. I did end up meeting him 8 years later, in 1984, at CSUN. Joe's Ishi points of both glass and obsidian were each an impressive work of art. Ray and Joe became friends and Ray began to study Joe's flintknapping methods. Joe Dabil had learned the arts of wilderness survival hands on. Joe was an Olympic class long distance runner in the 1960s, and when a Doctor informed him he had a life threatening decease disease he fled into the wilderness. There in the woods, alone, Joe eked out a survival on natural foods. Eventually Joe relearned the arts of Ishi, sinew back bow making, arrow-smithing, fire drill technology, cordage making, brain tanning and of coarse...flintknapping. As miracle have it, Joe lived out his death sentence and is still practicing wilderness skills today. The information set forth in this text relied heavly on the fallowing publications: Fintknapper's Exchange: Atchiston, Inc. 4426 Constution N.E. Albuquerque, NM 87110 Etidors: Errett Callahan, Jacqueline Nichols and Penelope Katson. Flintknapping Digest. Harwood Archaeology 4911 Shadow Stone Bakersfield, CA 93313 Editor: Ray Harwood Bulletin of Primitive Technology. Journal of the Society of Primative Technology P.O. Box 905 Rexburg, ID 83440 Dave Wescot, Editor Chips Mound Builder Books P.O. Box 702 Branson, MO. 65615 Editors: Val Waldorf, D.C. Waldorf and Dane Martin. New Flintknapper's Exchange. High Fire Flints 11212 Hooper Road, Baton Rouge, LA 70818 Editors: Jeff Behrnes, Steve Behernes and Chas Spear 20Th Century Lithics. Mound Builder Books P.O. Box 702 Branson, MO. 65615 Editors: Val Waldorf and D.C. Photos by: Ray Harwood
FROM GLACIER POINT
Half Dome is a granite dome in Yosemite National Park, located in northeastern Mariposa County, California, at the eastern end of Yosemite Valley — possibly Yosemite's most familiar rock formation. The granite crest rises more than 4,737 ft (1,444 m) above the valley floor.
The geology of the Yosemite area is characterized by granitic rocks and remnants of older rock. About 10 million years ago, the Sierra Nevada was uplifted and then tilted to form its relatively gentle western slopes and the more dramatic eastern slopes. The uplift increased the steepness of stream and river beds, resulting in formation of deep, narrow canyons. About 1 million years ago, snow and ice accumulated, forming glaciers at the higher alpine meadows that moved down the river valleys. Ice thickness in Yosemite Valley may have reached 4,000 feet (1,200 m) during the early glacial episode. The downslope movement of the ice masses cut and sculpted the U-shaped valley that attracts so many visitors to its scenic vistas today.[5]
The bears in Yosemite are all black bears, even if they are brown or blonde.
The bears feed on plants in the meadows in the moring and afternoon. The bears
do try and eat your camp food.
Ray Harwood knapped these obsidian items. These were viewed by thousands of
interested visitors during the Yosemite knap-in.
The Yosemite shuttle goes all through the park for free! starts at 7:30 A.M.
Half Dome is a granite dome in Yosemite National Park, located in northeastern Mariposa County, California, at the eastern end of Yosemite Valley — possibly Yosemite's most familiar rock formation. The granite crest rises more than 4,737 ft (1,444 m) above the valley floor.
You can see Yosemite Falls from numerous places around Yosemite Valley, especially around Yosemite Village and Yosemite Lodge. A one-mile loop trail leads to the base of Lower Yosemite Fall (the eastern side of the loop, from the shuttle stop to the base of the waterfall, is wheelchair accessible).
Ben_Cunningham was the host of the knapin. Ben works hard there at the museum and indian village.
Ken Kehoe
Knappers Unite!
At the 2011, 18th Annual Coyote Hills Knap-In!
Aug. 27th and 28th (Sat. & Sun.) from 10:00 to 4:00
at
Coyote Hills Regional Park in Fremont, CA.
http://www.ebparks.org/parks/coyote_hills
Camping available for Sat. night.
For more details call Ken Peek at:
(510) 537-1215.
Hope to see you there
Ken Kehoe
Ken Peek
Jeannie Binning. California State University Riverside PhD in Archaeology . Flintknapping since the 1970s.
Archaeologist, Flintknapper, Primitive Technologist.
Here is Jeannie's School:
LITHIC TECHNOLOGY FIELD SCHOOLField School Dates: Saturday, June 11 to Friday, June 24, 2011
Field School Location: California Desert Studies Center, ZZYZX, California
Desert Studies Center Information: http://biology.fullerton.edu/dsc/school/about.html
Registration Instructions: Complete this Registration Form and return it to the address below with a refundable deposit ($450) or payment in full. Upon receipt of your completed Registration Form, you will be sent a confirmation letter and additional information. Please note that the remaining payment is due two weeks before the Field School begins (May 27th). Checks or money orders only.
Class of 2000 · PhD · Archaeology
Website http://www.obsidiandesigns.com
About Susan: Archaeologist, Flintknapper, Primitive Technologist, Science Fiction Fan
Susan Gleason.Owner at Phoenix Obsidian Designs. Studied Archaeology at University of California, Riverside. Lives in Grass Valley, California. It's complicated...From Grass Valley, California. Born on October 27, 1970. Susan said she sold a very large quantity of lithic art at the Yosemite knap-in.
Yosemite, Flintknapping. .Knap In, Ray Harwood. obsidian, Bakersfield Arrowheads, Hank Ray, Jeannie Binning, Ben_Cunningham, Susan Gleason,Bears, Deer, Half Dome.
Link to Merkle's 'Finegold knap in". Merkle and Patric Aims are long time flint knappers, Pat is a member of the "Bakersfield knappers".http://paleoplanet69529.yuku.com/topic/44156/Finegold-knap-in-photos-and-article
Above Ray Harwood shows how to spall obsidian. Below RAy sits in a native bark dwelling with his "Moby Dick" arrowhead.
Ray started flintknapping in 1969. He got his Archaeology degree in 1984, Studied with lithics expert Clay Singer. Ray often plays country blues guitar or banjo at
knap ins. Ray has a black belt in Karate and was a tanker (armor) in the Army.
Ray is an avid mountain biker, scuba diver and other stuff.
THE YOSEMITE KNAP IN AUGUST 6TH AND 7TH, 2011
The above is the T shirt Ray designed, and wore at the knap in.
"Chip" the flintknapping bear
Forwarded Message ----
From: "Ben_Cunningham-Summerfield@nps.gov" Sent: Wed, June 29, 2011 4:39:19 PM
Subject: Yosemite Valley Knap-In
Good Afternoon Fellow/ess Knappers -
I am dashing this note off to get an idea of how many of you might be
interested in attending a knap-in here in Yosemite National Park. In case
you are wondering Dave Sunderland sent me your e-mail addresses. If you
are interested please send me your mailing address and telephone number(s)
and the best to reach you at. This is simply exploratory and I am looking
at August 6 and 7 for the actual knap in with arrival possible on the 5th.
I have some details to wrap up with camping arrangements and such, but
please let me know one way or the other.
Thanks
Ben
209-372-0303 - office
209-352-4086 - cell
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Mariposa Grove
Some of the most remarkable natural resources to be found in Yosemite National Park are the giant sequoia trees. In the park these trees are found in three separate groves. The largest group of these trees is located in the Mariposa Grove.
Perhaps the most remarkable sequoia in the grove, and indeed the park, is the Grizzly Giant, originally known as the "Grizzled Giant." This enormous tree is believed to be 2700 years old, the oldest known sequoia tree. Sequoias are among the oldest know organisms on earth, surpassed only by the venerable bristlecone pines.
