PAGE 1
MIKE DOTHAGER
ROCKER-PUNCH FLAKING
Mike Dothager doing rocker-punch flaking.
MIKE DOTHAGER PREPARING TO STRIKE OFF A FLAKE

   In this demonstration Mike is using a small rock as a hammer stone and a larger one as the punch.

ABSTRACT:
Abstract.
MIKE DOTHAGER
THE ROCKER-PUNCH TECHNIQUE
OF INDIRECT PERCUSSION FLAKING

   Mike Dothager lives in Vandalia, Illinois and he works as a foreman in a manufacturing plant in the area. One of his main interests is flintknapping and more precisely, Clovis stone tool making technology. For the last two or three years he's been experimenting with an interesting flintknapping method of flake reduction. He calls this process the rocker-punch technique after Bob Patten's rocker-punch fluting technique. This procedure is impressive to watch and in fact it might have even been used by Clovis people to make some of the very large biface cores like those found on the Anzick site. Mike says that rocker-punching offers a lot more force with far less expended energy by the knapper.
   Further experimentation with this technique by others and looking for evidence on archaeological sites for similar tools may give scientists more information to help interpret the past archaeological record.

Large flake struck off a core.
ROCKER-PUNCH FLAKING
MIKE DOTHAGER

   This picture was taken in the summer of 2001. The large piece of Burlington chert shows a large flake that was easily detached with the rocker-punch technique. The tools Mike was using at that time has changed slightly since then but the basic procedure has not.

   You don't have to be an archaeologist to help further scientific knowledge. Amateur astronomers have made great discoveries in their back yards. Experimental archaeology is one of the ways both professional and amateur archaeologists are learning about the past. One of the most obvious areas of increased knowledge in primitive technology is stone tool making. Since the early eighties, flintknapping as a hobby has been growing at an expediential rate. With so many people involved with stone tool making, archaeologists have been able to study and record everything from manufacturing techniques to new discoveries of lithic sources.

Set up to drive off a flake by rocker-punch method.
ROCKER-PUNCH FLAKING
MIKE DOTHAGER

   This picture and the following pictures were taken in the summer of 2002. This one shows a Burlington core (the large white stone) and the rocker-punch tools set up to drive off a flake by indirect percussion flaking. The hammerstone is a small stone and the punch is a piece of antler. The assembly is cushioned on pieces of leather.

   John Coles writes in his book "Archaeology by Experiment" that "The problem can be anything, from forest clearance to the manufacture of ornaments. The idea for a solution can be clear or at least partly vague". He goes on to say that "the main source of criticism leveled at experimental archaeology, is that it is generally inconclusive. It cannot demonstrate that ancient people did something in a particular way and only in that way".

Large detatched flake.
ROCKER-PUNCH FLAKING
MIKE DOTHAGER

   In this picture, a large percussion flake has just been driven off the full width of this early stage biface by indirect percussion flaking.

   Mike Dothager calls his stone tool manufacturing technique rocker-punch flaking. This type of flaking may or may not have been used by Clovis people but it is definitely a candidate for further research.

CONTINUE ON TO PAGE 2

"REFERENCES"

1973, "Archaeology by Experiment, by John Coles, p.15.
Personal communications with Mike Dothager.

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