Experimental Archaeology: A
Science for Studying
Native
American Prehistory
by Wm Jack Hranicky
By using the experimental
approach in American archaeology, students, flintknappers, outdoor enthusiasts,
and archaeologists can discover the Indian ways to living in prehistoric
America. This book covers every area of social living – making tools, hunting,
making pottery, constructing shelters, boatmaking, creative art and decorations,
and numerous other Indian living topics. It is a how-to book with
numerous practical projects that anyone can experiment with, test their ideas
and, most importantly, test experimental results against material culture that
has been found in archaeological contexts. $25.00 plus $7.50 postage (382 pages, 8 ¼ x 11 inch
format).
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Table of Contents:
Basic Experimental Approaches
Stone Materials
Toolmaking as a Technology
Tool Operations
Tool Functions
Tool Maintenance
Modeling Tool and Human Behavior
Function
Tool Analysis
Testing in Experimental Archaeology
Blowgun, Atlatl, Bow/Arrow, and Bola
Knives (Cherokee ahyelsdi)
Pre-Contact Stone/Clay Containers
Organic Materials Experimentation
Dwellings and Living Furniture
Plants and Foods
Gaming – Tradition and Training
Art as Technology
Flintknappers, many of whom are
archaeologists, have been experimenting with and replicating Native American
stone tools for several decades in the U.S. Work has yielded insights into
Native American waysf or making and using stone tools. While
ethnographic data do occur for tools, most of the functions for basic tools have
been learned by replication (living archaeology) and laboratory analyses (wear
pattern analyses). Also, analysis of Native tools in archaeological contexts has
provided a tremendous amount of information on tool useability. Actual field
testing of newly-made tools has also added to our knowledge database.
Experimentation provides the basis for classification, class (work domains),
industry/toolkit analyses, and typology. Experimental examples of tool chassis
and stone implements are shown throughout this publication. All of which
encompasses and amplifies the scope of American archaeology.
For the author, experimental archaeology
began with the Middle Atlantic Knapp-In which was started in the 1970s in
Arlington, Virginia. The organizers were Errett Callahan, Jack Cresson, Michael
Johnson, and Scott Silsby. Early attendees were Jack /Hranicky, Bob Patton, and
Are Tsirk. One year, the knapp-in met at the Thunderbird Paleoindian site in
Warren County, Virginia. Their flintknapping investigations and findings are
used throughout this publication. In 1986, the knapp-in was moved to Oregon
Ridge Nature Center in Cockeysville, Maryland and is now organized by Kirk Drier
of the Baltimore County Department of Recreation and Parks. The event is called
Primitive Technology Weekend, and flintknappers come in from states as far away
as Connecticut and Kentucky to practice, compare, study, and discuss
experimental and Native toolmaking.
Experimental archaeology goes beyond stone
toolmakingit involves living the way the Native Americans did by testing various
technological and cultural techniques used in daily life. All of which provide a
tremendous insight into ancient ways.
While academic training provides the
philosophical understanding of toolmaking and its usage, archaeologists who make
and use stone tools have a better comprehension of the reality of tools in
Nature’s wild environment in which the Native Americans lived. Quite simply, if
an archaeologist cannot make and use a tool, like the Clovis point, why listen
to him/her tell you how the Native Americans made and used the point. Of course,
there is always an intellectual understanding of all archaeological topics.
