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"I found chips and
tried heating them by dropping water on them---failure. I then beat
on bottle bottoms with a hammer---failure. I then went to the library
and checked out an archaeology book------antler chipping tools, a success!!!"---------2006,
Jim Hopper.
There is no doubt that Jim Hopper is gifted with a high level of flintknapping skill. Since 1982 he has made thousands of some of the most beautiful points that have ever been produced in modern times. What sets them apart from the crowd are the very uniformly flaked surfaces. The technology he uses relates, in ancient times, to the dagger industry in northern Europe and the Gerzean knife production in Predynastic times in North Africa. The technique is as old as the pyramids of Giza. It's called flake-over-grinding. |
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Stone points and knives can be produced by several different flintknapping techniques. But the technique that produces the most uniform flaking pattern can only be done with flake-over-grinding. This technique is accomplished by removing flakes from a surface that has been ground smooth. In ancient times, the preforms were produced by first percussion and pressure flaking them into shape, then they were were ground until most of the flake scars were removed. It was a lengthy process. Today, most of the preforms begin as cut slabs then they are ground into shape with the use of electric motors and diamond cutters. The smooth surfaced preform is then finished with pressure flaking. |
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Jim Hopper was born on June 3, 1946. His fascination with stone artifacts, in particularly arrowheads, began at the age of 12. That's when he began hunting them with his brother and cousins and he began to wonder how they were made. He says he began experimenting first with the most illogical ways of doing it. Such as heating the stone then dropping water on it in an attempt to remove flakes and beating the bottom of bottles with a hammer. The results of which he says----"failure." |
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Jim says that he discovered controlled pressure flaking only after he went to the library and "checked out an archaeology book. That's when he saw antler flintknapping tools for the first time and in his words the results were-----"a success!" By this time, he was 15 years old and he began to work with Obsidian and glass. He sold his first arrowheads to a gift shop for .75 cents each. But a couple of years later, in 1963, he says he "pretty much quit chipping arrowheads except for Christmas presents for friends." |
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CONTINUE ON TO PAGE TWO | |||
"REFERENCES"
2006,
Personal communications with Jim Hopper. |
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