Nadia found this 3cm bird in a context of many other portable rock art finds
"Lithic cultural debris" from a one foot square area in Nadia Clark's yard in Prescott, Arizona
From the one foot square
This kind of material is not a part of the natural stone background found in Nadia's locale. It is found by Nadia in concentrations which indicate they are human deposits. Upon close examination these stones have been shaped or shaped by use wear and may represent the kind of "pre-Clovis" stone tool material archaeologists should be looking for in the search for the earliest Americans. Early peoples in America may not have used bifacial flint knapping technology but may have used bone tools and bone spear tips which have not survived time. Their other implements may have been expedient natural forms like these and the presence of iconographic material like these small bird sculptures supports the idea of a human source for the deposits.
Hello Ken,
ReplyDeleteThis 'lithic cultural debris' is an interesting thing, I'm glad this is published here as such material is, like you say- often overlooked or neglected * as it is often of unknown origin). But, as at first look, such bird figures could appear as a part of the debris, and so be (mis-) interpret as possible portable rock art, the context of the debris itself also is very important. Maybe, apart from only placing the rock art objects in the highlight, some attention could be given to the (possible) context where it has been found, as this might spread some more light on discoveries... in this case, the 'cultural lithic debris' also could be geofacts, so it could be very important to look at the (geological) context of this debris as well.
With my regards,
Jimmy