Dr. Jeff Rasic - one of the two lead archaeologist on our expedition - sent this picture of his boy Jack flint knapping. Knapping is the term for chipping away at obsidian or flint to make tools such as arrowheads or spear heads. Rasic flint knaps to see if he can figure out how the ancient tools he finds were made. I bought an old archaeology text book from Powell's in Portland last week so I could try to learn some of what is going on around me. The book describes this kind of thing as "experimental archaeology." Another example is using obsidian blades to skin large mammals in order to see how the tools worked for ancient people. I'm excited to try making obsidian tools with my students when I return from Alaska (but nervous about how sharp the edges get).
Young Jack is already well on his way to be an experimental archaeologist!
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