Or rather in the United States of America.
I been trying to read the book by Zoltan Torey at reference 1, most recently noticed at reference 2. One of the things that Torey writes about is what might have been going on in the minds of prehistoric stone knappers. What sort of conscious activity, if any, would be needed to support this kind of activity?
Eventually, this led to the book at reference 3 which I am now part way through. A spot of armchair knapping, having decided that the real thing is a bit too dangerous for someone on blood thinners - not to mention seriously time consuming.
On page 48 we are offered the image above right, probably the work of Amy Henderson, to be found in the acknowledgements - but not to be turned up by Google, at least not by me. Too many of them. But it did lead to references 4, 5 and 6 and the image above left, which I take to be a view of the other side of the artefact: Mayan from the Altun Ha site, in what is now Belize, and perhaps 1,500 years old. Made of a sort of chert which was not to be found at this site, so known as a Mayan eccentric. Later on in the book we are offered even more elaborate examples from the same culture and search on the Internet turns up some which are fantastically elaborate.
Altun Ha is introduced at reference 7, but all I have been able to find out about Floyd Ritter, from whose collection this artefact came, is reference 8. An enthusiastic but private collector whose collections look to have been sold off and scattered.
The first point of present interest being that to make something of this sort requires a great deal of time, skill and ability. In particular, the ability to plan out the flaking work, to work out the right way to approach the bit of raw chert in the hand. Every bit as skillful say, as a modern cabinet maker. And, one supposes, conscious in much the same way.
This will not necessarily have been true back in the Old Stone Age, say 100,000 years ago, when the artefacts that have been turned up are considerably simpler - but what was there? Or maybe 200,000 years ago?
The second point of interest being the amount of lithic activity in the United States. There appears to be a regular army of enthusiasts, academics, collectors and knappers, that is to say people who make things out of flint and other flint-like materials. An army which runs to all sorts of collections, societies, markets, fairs and workshops. And websites. I imagine that what we have here in the UK is something of a pale imitation by way of comparison.
The third and last is the very different appearance of the two images above. With the right hand image bringing out very clearly the point of a drawing, as opposed to the photograph left. It might not look very much like the real thing, but it tells you a good deal more about it; about how it was made.
References
Reference 1: The crucible of consciousness: A personal exploration of the conscious mind – Zoltan Torey – 1999.
Reference 2: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/12/the-outsider.html.
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