Maney Publishing

American Flintknappers: Stone Age Art in the Age of Computers by John C. WhittakerReview by: Leland W. PattersonLithic Technology, Vol. 30, No. 1 (Spring 2005), pp. 60-61Published by: Maney PublishingStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/23273585 .

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6o LITHIC TECHNOLOGY, vol. 30 -T

American Flintknappers: Stone Age Art in the

Age of Computers, by John C. Whittaker, Uni

versity of Texas Press, Austin, 2004. 353 pages.

Reviewed by Leland W Patterson

John Whittaker has published a book that de

scribes the world of modern American flint

knappers. He is well qualified to produce such a

book, because he has previously published an excel lent book on flintknapping (Whittaker 1994), is a

flintknapper himself, and attends knap-ins. This is a hands-on book, because Whittaker has personally interviewed many modern flintknappers and has observed many public knap-ins. There are good photographs of the products of modern flint

knappers, and a good reference list is provided. The

major themes of this book are the development and activities of the knap-in, and the interests and mo tivations of individual nonacademic flintknappers. Comments are also made on the scientific aspects of experimental flintknapping, the artistic nature of

flintknapping, the importance of suitable raw ma

terials, and the ethics of flintknapping.

In a brief history, the development of scientific

flintknapping is noted as starting on the 1960s by Francois Bordes and Don Crabtree. Crabtree's (1972) seminal publication on flintworking provided a good basis for interest in scientific flintknapping. Sev eral nonacademic flintknappers are also noted for contributions in the late 1960s through the 1980s to archaeological thinking about stone tools (p. 61).

Experimental flintknapping is now fully recognized as part of archaeological research.

The origins of the knap-in started in 1975 with a

suggestion from Errett Callahan to J. B. Sollberger (p. 64). The first knap-ins were then held in 1979 in

Wyoming (Callahan and Nichols 1979) and Texas (Patterson 1979). The early knap-ins were charac terized by modest attendance of professional and serious avocational archaeologists. Flintknapping was done and ideas were exchanged on lithic manu

facturing and analysis. A nonacademic knapping world with several knap-ins was then established in the 1980s (p. 69). At the same time, academic

knappers began to increasingly distance themselves from knap-ins, which were becoming mainly non scientific. It is noted that the knap-in is now differ

ent rrom the early knap-ins (p. 70).

Knap-ins can now attract several hundred

knappers. Related craftsmen, and a large attendance

by the general public. Some knap-ins have been

expanded to cover other aspects of primitive crafts, such as an atlatl throwing contest. The commercial

possibilities of knapping are also well represented, with some individuals selling fakes. Knap-ins are now held from coast-to-coast (Table 4.3), and non academic knappers exist in every state (Figure 4.5). Events featuring flintknapping and other primitive

technologies probably create substantial public in

terest in archaeology

Interests and motivations of nonacademic

knappers are explored. There are many reasons why individuals do flintknapping (Table 5.2). Some of the main reasons are that flintknapping is an enjoy able hobby, the social interaction is enjoyable, there is a challenge to make beautiful objects, and there is the possibility of profit. The ways that flintknapping is learned by nonacademic individuals has been tabu lated (Table 5.1), and varies from self-teaching to

receiving lessons. In some cases there is a learning network, with an example given in Figure 5.x

In Chapter 7, the concept of flintknapping as an art form is discussed. In Chapter 8, the importance of suitable lithic raw materials is considered. In chap ter 9, it is noted that, for most knappers, there is little commercial incentive. Chapter 10, gives an

interesting discussion on ethics in flintknapping. There is a significant commerce in selling fake arti

facts, which cheats the buyer and can contaminate

archaeological collections. There is no substitute for

determining the provenance of a specimen. Selling of fake artifacts is fueled by a strong American mar ket for antiquities.

I was surprised to learn in this book that a high proportion of nonacademic knappers use copper billets for percussion flaking instead of the tradi tional antler billet (p. 29). For me, use of a copper billet would take away the feeling of replicating pre historic artifacts.

In summary, this book gives a good picture of the background and current status of nonacademic

flintknappers and the knap-in. This book should be of interest to a wide range of flintknappers. Pro

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BOOK REVIEWS - Whittaker - American Flintknappers 6l

fessional archaeologist would do well to understand

the world of nonacademic flintknapping and its po tential impact on archaeology

REFERENCES

Callahan, E., and J. Nichols.

[979 T"e Wyoming Knap-in. Fltntknapper s

Exchange 2 :1.

Crabtree, D.

An Introduction to Flintworking. Oc

casional Papers, no. 28, Idaho State Uni

versity, Pocatello.

Patterson, L. w.

1979 A Texas Knap-in. Flintknapper

change 3:2.

La Harpers Post: A Tale of French-Wichita Con

tact on the Eastern Plains by George Odell, Uni

versity of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa, 2002.

369 pages, ISBN 0-8173-1162-9, paper, $ 29.95.

Reviewed by John C. Whittaker, Dept. of Anthro

pology, Grinnell College, Grinnell, IA .

LaHarpe'sPost is a useful and well-written report on a protohistoric Wichita site in Oklahoma. The

first three chapters explain the historic context in

which Jean-Baptiste Benard, Sieur de la Harpe, a

French explorer/entrepreneur, mounted a small ex

pedition in 1719, traveling from the trading post he

had established on the Red River to a village on the

Arkansas River not far from modern Tulsa. Here

he spent 10 days with the Tawakoni, a Caddo-speak

ing group, probably ancestral to the Wichita. Hop

ing to establish trade relations, he exchanged gifts, but circumstances prevented his return. The

Tawakoni and their neighbors were among the

groups being displaced by disturbances ultimately traceable to European incursions and native poli tics in the east. Odell reminds us that native tribes

were already becoming entangled in global affairs

that involved wars and policies or European nations, is well as the motivations and maneuvers of the

tribes themselves, which left less paper documenta

tion.

rocus then shifts to the Lasley Vore site. Odeil

fairly admits that is probably impossible to demon

strate that the Vore site is the particular village de

scribed in La Harpe's journal, but it fits the circum

stances well. In any case, it is a good example of its

period, providing evidence of contact period life, and

with an assemblage including European goods of the

right type and date to have originated with la Harpe.

Odell describes the circumstances of the discov

ery and excavation of the site. Given limited exca

vating time, on a plowed but obviously important

site, Odell combined surface examination and ex

ploratory test pits with metal detecting, mechani

cal trenching, and removal of plow soil to concen

trate on complete excavation of the best contexts, several clusters of features. Different types are dis

cerned and described among the 81 features and

Odell then pulls together the strings of a group of

specialist reports covering faunal remains, ceram

ics, stone tools and debitage, and artifacts of Euro

pean origin, especially gun parts and beads. A se

ries of appendices gives details of the data and analy ses: Geomorphology (John Dixon), Feature Data

(Odell and Eric Menzel), Faunal Remains (Bonnie

Yates, Marie Brown, and Lee Anna Schniebs), Ce

ramic techniques (Joe Thompson), Lithic Analysis

(Odell), Glass Beads (Mary-Elizabeth Good and

Frieda Vereecken-Odell), Metal Artifacts (Mary Elizabeth Good, Lee Good and Odell), Radiocar

bon Dates (Odell), Statistical Analyses (Odell), Pot

tery Clays (Kenneth Shingleton and Odell) and

Small-sized Debitage (Isabella Muntz).

In two interpretive chapters, the site is seen as a

village, occupied in a single relatively short period. The features cluster into groups that Odell inter

prets in functional terms, suggesting some localiza

tion of different activities. Variations in the distri

bution of ceramic types among the feature clusters

also can be interpreted to suggest that different

groups, perhaps from different ethnic areas, occu

pied some of them. Assuming that this is the vil

lage visited by La Harpe, Odell then draws an imagi native picture of the explorer's sojourn among the

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