|
FLUTED KNIFE
(CAST)
VAIL SITE
OXFORD COUNTY, MAINE
(ORIGINAL) IN MAINE STATE
MUSEUM COLLECTION
COPYRIGHT
MAY 31, 2003 PETER A. BOSTROM
CAST
#P-37
FLUTED KNIFE (CAST)
VAIL SITE
OXFORD COUNTY, MAINE
MAINE STATE MUSEUM COLLECTION
By
Richard Michael Gramly, Ph.D.
This much-resharpened fluted knife has been pieced together from fragments
found 13 years apart (1980 and 1993) at an ancient tent-site along a
fossil channel of the Magalloway River. It is one of two finished fluted
knives on record for the Vail site.
Similar knives were discovered at the Lamb site,
western New York State. They have also been reported from western Kentucky
Clovis sites, Tennessee, Illinois and Missouri.
Fluted knives usually lack the pronounced basal grinding that
is characteristic of Clovis projectile points. Some specimens show
conspicuous silica phytolith sheen along their cutting edges, suggesting
that they were used to cut plants in addition to other materials.
The raw material of this knife is high quality jasper,
which may have originated in Pennsylvanian-age rock formations of Rhode
Island, eastern Pennsylvania, or places even more distant from
northwestern highland Maine.
CLICK ON
PICTURE FOR LARGE DOUBLE IMAGE
FLUTED KNIFE (ORIGINAL)
VAIL SITE
OXFORD COUNTY, MAINE
MAINE STATE MUSEUM COLLECTION
This picture shows both sides of the original fluted knife that was found
several years ago on the Vail site. It measures 3 11/16 inches (9.3 cm)
long.
|