AUSTRALIAN GLASS SPEAR POINT

[Brett Hendey]

Mervyn's recent posting of a Papua and New Guinea axe reminded me of an artefact in my Stone Age collection. It is from the same general region, this one is from the Kimberley Range in Western Australia. It is a "stone age" artefact made by Aboriginals from modern green bottle glass. Such items are fairly common in museums around the world, including Helen's one in Oxford. My example is not as fine as those in museums, notably the Australian Museum in Sydney, which are shown on the webside www.donsmaps.com/kimberleypoints, but it is perhaps my favourite Stone Age artefact. There are, of course, many websites and, no doubt, many printed publications describing and illustrating glass points.

I obtained my specimen from an American friend, 'Sarge' Smith of Norwalk, Ohio, in the early 1950's. He in turn had bought it from an auction house in Britain. The packet in which it resides is labelled as follows:

Arunda glass point Kimberley Range West Australia. Collected by Dr. Davidson 1927

Regards

Brett

[Mervyn Mitton]

Brett - what an unusual item. Stoneage, but of a modern material. The quality of the 'flaking' to obtain an edge is very finally done and I wouldn't think glass would 'nap' as well as flint - more likely to splinter ? I know many South American tribes use volcanic glass - obsidian - but I think that is a harder material then bottle glass.

[Brian Wolfe]

Brett - what an unusual item. Stoneage, but of a modern material. The quality of the 'flaking' to obtain an edge is very finally done and I wouldn't think glass would 'nap' as well as flint - more likely to splinter ? I know many South American tribes use volcanic glass - obsidian - but I think that is a harder material then bottle glass.

Hi Mervyn,

On the Moh's scale glass rates 6 to 7, quartz is around 7 while obsidian only rates 5 to 5.5. I would think glass would be more difficult to nap than obsidian. Perhaps one of the members who has had experience with making arrow heads will comment.

(Moh's scale rating of 1 to 10 is based on Talc = 1 and Diamond = 10)

Regards

Brian

[Les]

Mervyn, obsidian is the raw material par excellence among stone age tool makers who had access to obsidian and a choice over using it, versus other stone materials which could be shaped. Volcanic materials are relatively rare in Europe, and obsidian is not a material stone age tool makers there could use with any regularity. In Eastern and Southern Africa, there are obsidian outcrops, however, surface outcrops are not that common and far and few between.

Obsidian as naturally formed material, comes in various grades, with or without inclusions, and grades. The higher the silicate content and uniformity of the material, the easier it is to work. Bottle glass is a pure silicate, and as such, easier to work, and if someone is used to working the material, high quality results are not only possible but commonplace. Bottle glass is usually uniform in it's composition, and should be easier to work than naturally occurring obsidian which can have inclusions and irregularities. That doesn't mean obsidian can't be found in an almost pure silicate state; in the western US, it was a plentiful and preferred material and often very high grade not that different from bottle glass.

Aboriginals in the western United, the Mayans and Aztecs (and so on) used obsidian whenever they could get their hands on it, and preferred it over flint, chalcedony, chert and other metamorphosed rocks. Obsidian from California was traded throughout western America, and some has been found as far east as Ohio.

The normal process of knapping starts with shaping a cobble using a stone hammer to create a cleanly exposed flat striking surface for knocking off rectangular shaped blades or blanks which can then be shaped further. A stone hammer is relatively crude to use for refining the shape of blades into smaller tools. Once the cobble is formed into a "core", often the stone tool maker will stop using the stone hammer, and use bone tools for the intermediate shaping phase. A third phase, in which edge forming is done, is termed pressure flaking and is done by using smaller pencil shaped sized bone, antler tips, and even specially hardened wood tipped tools. The bone, antler or wooden tip is pressed at an angle against the edge of the item being shaped, and small spalls of obsidian can be neatly and precisely pressed off.

The Indians of Mexico developed making obsidian tools into a form of art. Obsidian was formed, and finally pressured flaked into two-sided objects resembling animals, human heads, deities, and other objects in addition to projectile points, and a embedded into a range of weapons.

Indigenous Australians not only used bottle glass to make projectile and spear points. Electrified fence insulators made from glass and the odd ceramic top, have found their way to a few museums and private collections.

Years ago, I experimented with making stone tools, but couldn't get enough quality stone to practice enough to get "good." A couple of my personal friends are professional archaeologists, and are that good. One was my upstairs neighbor for a while, and on warm spring days and summer mornings, he'd be setting in our shared driveway busting rocks, and I spent more than a few hours setting next to him trying to pick up pointers.

Edited February 2, 2011 by Les