Beautiful Fla.Marion Point.3.5" Pre-historic Blade. Start Price USD 300.00 Current Price USD 300.00 Time Left - Bid Count 0 Buy It Now Price USD 450.00 Reserve Price - Start Time Wednesday, September 03, 2008 End Time Saturday, September 13, 2008 Location Fort Thomas, Kentucky See more about 'Beautiful Fla.Marion Point.3.5"' Description            This is a beautiful Fla. Marion Blade.  It is approximately  three and one half inches in length .          This prehistoric blade demonstrates the "Unifying Theory of Ancient Flint Blades".          Almost all  pre-historic knife- blades; Paleo, Archaic, through woodland, were  ( HAND HELD); as pictured here!.          Many professionals, as well as collectors just assume that flint blades were attached to shafts, but the large majority of these blades were          hand held.           Most of these blades are "right-handed" blades"  They were grasped with the hand, (Thumb and Fingers).          The length of the blade determined the number of fingers the reverse side could accomodate.         Whenever a flint blade was long enough to accomodate two or more fingers on the reverse side; the second, third, or fourth finger (on longer blades), pressed the base of the blade into the palm of the hand.         At this point, the blade would be locked into the hand.   This produced enough leverage on the blade to complete any arduous task performed with the blade; skinning the animal for its' hide, and preparing the fare of the day.         Naturally some ancient blades are left handed as well, and some seem to have had more than one user.         But they generally sharpened one side, because the dull side was locked into the hand.       . As  the symmetry would disappear from several  resharpenings, and the blade would become dull; It would be flipped over to produce another right-handed blade on the reverse side.           At that point, new "finger anchors" or grips would be flaked into the blade, to accomodate the new right-handed side.                 A blade that lasted through several incarnations of this process, would become a graveyard of old "finger anchor grips".         This Marion blade was definately used as a right-handed blade on both sides, and upon further study,  does demonstrate extensive resharpenings.         I believe it probably was somewhere between five or six inches in length, when first manufactured.           If you look at  (photo#10 ), I have illustrated where the palm lay on the obverse face of the blade.  The size and location of the palm gouge illustrated here, tells me that the blade was significantly longer when it was first used.        I believe that this particular gouge became obsolete after the blade was diminished from a series of re-sharpenings, on both sides.        On longer blades, there were usually several different grips in the right-handed side, so the ancient man could switch hand positions, to avoid hand fatigue, and for the purpose of performing different tasks.         Sometimes the user wanted his thumb close to the tip of the blade, for intricate cutting and skinning, but sometimes brought his hand down more around the base, with the thumb in a different position.            I have one five inch blade that has three distinct hand and finger positions, on one side.  ( Three different ways to grasp the same blade ), in the right-hand position.                   The base of these blades were developed through time, for reasons of suspension or lack of the need for suspension.  But no matter what the basal form of a flint  blade, all were used in similar fashion.         Most blades show many finger anchor flakes, present from previous incarnations of the blade.  These are more permanent, due to the fact that the base was not re-sharpened like the blade.         Notched blades;ie Dovetails and Corner Notch Blades, simply offered ancient man to lock the second, third, or fourth finger into the notch, as an anchor for locking the blade into the hand, during use.         The notches in the "Corner Notch, and Dovetail" also provide the opportunity for suspension and or tethering as well.         This particular blade had two, and or, three finger positions on the reverse side for stabilization and grasp.  I have done some circles and arrows for illustration.          After the blades were manufactured, they were gouged to accomodate the hand, with a groove accomodating the thumb, and gouging accomodating the palm under the thumb over the corner of the base of the knife. ( see Photo#8 )          Ancient tool manufacture is the most primitive form of ergonomics.         The large polished percussion flakes and gouges, serve to lock the fingers into the blade when grasped.  This stabilized the blade in the hand, and prevented the blade from shifting during use.         Without these gouges in the blade, it would be almost impossible to hold it tightly, especially considering the slippery liquid produced in the skinning and cutting process.  The blades had to be locked into the hand for proper use.        Many of these tools show extensive use.  They are actually more complex than I previously realized.        The large percussion flakes on the base of the blade, served to press the blade into the base of the hand.  Simple prehistoric technology of hand held tools.        I believe that most ancient blades were grasped in a similar manner as the one shown in the photos.       I will be listing several artifacts this week.  I will try to demonstrate the way that I think some of these blades were used.  Thanks for viewing .      Please check out my other auctions.  Thanks. 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