08/21/2026
Here in is an important lesson that I like to bring up in programs. "We can learn as much from something that doesn't work as we can from something that does." In this case, a broken preform.
I was in the process of thinning this piece out. I had already gotten a couple nice overshot flakes (breaking off a flake that passes across the center line of the piece). The last attempted overshot resulted in catastrophic failure. As I examined the pieces I realized I made two mistakes that combined to shatter my preform. The first was not properly refining the shape of the platform. It was too rounded, thereby not allowing the impact to focus the shock correctly. Secondly, I hit the platform too hard. The resulting flake took a large chunk of the opposite side, and left a fracture right at the thinnest section of where it separated.
I have spend more than fifteen years trying to learn to make and use stone tools. Early on I broke far more pieces than I finished. The trick is to recognize each bad break, each shattered biface, each hinge fracture has a lesson to teach. If we take the time to learn from the mistake we can start to learn how to overcome it. In this case, set up my platforms with less haste, and don't swing the billet like I am swatting a fly. 🪨🦣
