My good friend professional flintknapper, Philip Churchill, passed away last May. We quietly collaborated on studying prehistoric flintknapping technologies, from the Americas, for several years. My friend was a world class replicator of Danish daggers, due to the high demand for daggers. But, his real interest was in something that had never been well studied. After four years of constant research the majority of breakthroughs were made, just a number of months after he passed away.
Philip would have been thrilled beyond measure to see the following results, which were developed from a theory, based upon known evidence. In memory of Philip, I am calling it "Holy Grail Outre Passe Flaking", made with a common deer tine, and raw hard chert.
Fourth Test - Re-facing fluted point via Outrepasse/overshot/coast to coast flaking technology "Tine Based Flaking Technology":
Third test - Plunging Distal Overshot - "Tine-based Technology"
As predicted, tine-based process is efficacious in removing outrepasse like flakes.
First Test - "Tine Based Outre Passe Thinning Removal:
Prior to the removal of the outré passé flake, the initial three flakes removed were made with a slight variation of the same process. They were all more or less "coast to coast". One in particular is like the diagonal coast to coast flaking seen in some of the Drake cache points:
After four years of research, my conclusion is that the common deer tine is a viable tool that can be used to create late stage outré passé flaking, and late stage coast to coast flaking, with only very minor variations in the flaking process.
Also, as predicted, the coast to coast flakes are flatter, whereas the outré passé flake shows more of an arc. And, as predicted, one particular quality of the support led to both the arcing of the flake scar, as well as the removal of the opposite edge, which constitutes true outré passé/overshot flaking.
Thus, the theory proved successful, which means that these effects can be created, and controlled at will, while using only a common deer tine.
I only regret that these developments had been achieved in the third year of study, before my good friend died.
Here are the results of the second test:
Raw Agatized Coral - Extremely hard, and crystal-like
Once again, the tine-based process proves efficacious in edge eating outré passé removals, as had been predicted via theory.
