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CAREY WEBER'S
ANDICE/BELL POINTS
A LIFELONG JOURNEY OF EXPERIMENT & LEARNING
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COPYRIGHT FEBRUARY 28, 2003 PETER A. BOSTROM
Andice-Bell point made by Carey Weber.
CLICK ON PICTURE FOR LARGE TRIPLE IMAGE
ANDICE POINT MADE BY CAREY WEBER

   This is Carey Weber's favorite point. He made it out of a blush/gray variety of Texas chert. It's a classic form of an Andice knife that has not yet been resharpened. Andice points are very wide and thin knives that have deep narrow basal notches. This one measures 3 1/2 inches (8.9 cm) long and 2 1/4 inches 5.7 cm) wide. The notches measure 1 1/8 inches (2.8 cm) deep.

   By the sixth grade Carey was making his first arrowheads using church keys, files, and screw drivers on prehistoric flakes that he picked up on ranches in the area. By the eighth grade he had a fairly sizable collection with 18 really outstanding artifacts. Well, he took them to school on Earth Science Day----and never saw them again! By this time he was experimenting with pressure flaking and percussion flaking but had gone about as far as he could with it.

Carey Weber notching an Andice point.
CAREY WEBER NOTCHING AN ANDICE POINT
PHOTO COPYRIGHT--CAREY WEBER

   This picture shows the "set-up" position Carey uses when notching an Andice point. The "lap board" and leather steady the point while the "flat punch" is held in position just before a flake is driven off with the board he used as a hammer.

  Carey attended Texas A&M and majored in Recreation, Park and Tourism. He also took nine hours of Anthropology. After he graduated he began his career with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. In 1977 archeologist Larry Banks suggested that he go see J.B. Sollberger who's famous for fluting with a lever pressure technique. Mr. Sollberger (Solly) became his tutor, mentor and very good friend until his death only a few years ago. Carey says that Solly "taught me how to approach flintknapping knowledgeably, with emphasis on documentation, structured experiments, replication and publication."

Andice-Bell point made by Carey Weber.
CLICK ON PICTURE FOR LARGE TRIPLE IMAGE

ANDICE POINT MADE BY CAREY WEBER

   This Andice point is one of the best examples Carey Weber has made so far. It even exhibits edge resharpening. Repeated resharpening of the edges weakened the barbs so much that they would eventually brake off. Most ancient Andice points are found with broken barbs or basal stems. This point measures 3 5/8 inches (9.2 cm) long and 2 1/8 inches (5.3 cm) wide and is made of Texas chert. The notches measure 1 inch (2.5 cm) deep.

  Carey says that "by the time he died, Solly had imparted in me much of his knowledge and understanding of fracture in silica materials, including how to interpret flake scars and his definition of a true replica-replication technique-----(1.) the number of replications is statistically significant,( 2.) the distribution of quantitative (measurable) attributes (characteristics) matches, and (4.) a tool kit available to the prehistoric craftsmen was used (during the replication experiment)."

Andice Bell point made by Carey Weber.
ANDICE POINT MADE BY CAREY WEBER

   This is another of Carey Weber's very well made Andice points. This one has very straight blade edges and is the longest example illustrated in this article. It measures 4 5/8 inches (11.7 cm) long and 2 3/16 inches (5.5 cm) wide. The notches measure 1 inch (2.5 cm) deep. This one is also made out of Texas chert.

  By attending the Texas Knap-Ins that J.B. Sollberger helped to organize Carey met two knappers, William B. Carroll and Leland W. Patterson. He says "Bill had a very detailed knowledge of artifact variation and raw material distribution in Texas, as well as different flaking techniques. Lee was a disciplined observer and writer of numerous works." Through these three friends Carey says that "I found my future in flintknapping and replication of prehistoric Texas artifacts. All of them encouraged me to believe in what I could do and to publish my observations."

CONTINUE ON TO PAGE Three

"REFERENCES"

1985, "Selected Preforms, Points, and Knives of the North American Indians, Vol. I," Calf Creek, by Greg Perino, p.62.
1987, "Stone Age Spear and Arrow Points of the Midcontinental and Eastern United States," Calf Creek, by Noel D. Justice, pp. 59 & 60.
1991, "Selected Preforms, Points, and Knives of the North American Indians," Andice, by Greg Perino, p. 4.
1991, "Selected Preforms, Points, and Knives of the North American Indians, Bell, by Greg Perino, p. 21.
2003, "Carey Weber - A Flintknapping Biograqphy," (unpublished report), by Carey Weber.
Personal communications with Carey Weber.

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