Whopper of a Chopper

The 1970's Port Tobacco material and its missing site information have given us here in the lab a few headaches. Today's artifact could cause a serious one, if you got hit in the head with it. One of our largest lithic tools recovered so far, this core- chopper is one and half pounds of solid quartzite. It is 4.5" long, 4.3'' wide, and 2.2" high. This may not sound very large but consider that most of our lithics have dimensions under 2" and weigh under 2 ounces.

This piece of quartzite was knocked off a larger stone, giving it a large, smooth facet on the bottom. As a core, many flakes were removed around the top to make smaller tools. By removing flakes, the edges became sharper and it could be used as a chopper to process vegetation for food or fibers, and generally break down various objects.

Anne