|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
| Researcher
to Probe Island Tools Secret |
| An Idaho "rocker," as he modestly
calls himself, is going to try to unravel some of the ancient secrets
of Hawaiian tool-makers. “It’s a very tough challenge,” said Don Crabtree, research associate in lithic (stone) technology at Idaho State University and a world authority on the reproduction of primitive stone tools. He said the only comparable work to some types of early Hawaiian stone adzes is in Denmark. It isn’t shown how certain forms of Mauna Kea adzes (ancient Hawaiian cutting tools), were made, and Crabtree is planning research on the problem. He said some of the adzes had ground and polished edges to use for hard work. "Some were immense things," he said, observing: "They must have been powerful men who made these tools at such high altitudes. Obviously, high skills were involved." Crabtree returned home this week after a series of demonstrations, showing students and archaeologists the process he uses in reproducing stone tools. He also spent four days on the Big Island looking at Mauna Kea adz quarries — largest primitive quarries in the world — where prehistoric Hawaiians manufactured the stone adz. He planned to make arrangements to obtain material from the quarries to use in duplicating the Hawaiian tools. His visit here was sponsored by the University of Hawaii and the Bishop Museum. “Nearly every people in the world had stone tools,” Crabtree said. “Antarctica is the only area so far where none has been found. "We know men have been making and using stone tools for over 2 1/2 million years. Less than 1/2 of 1 per cent of man's time is represented by metals," he pointed out. He said he began prying into the techniques of the aboriginal tool-manufacturers out of curiosity. “How could they work materials harder than steel and shape them as they did with such control?" he said. He identifies the material used in the original tools through laboratory analysis and then seeks out and excavates sites for the same raw material to make the models. "There is lots of evidence for a wide trade network for raw material over thousands of miles," he said. Among his many accomplishments, he has uncovered Danish blade techniques, Arctic tool traditions and processes used for American Indian artifacts and Australian spear points. For example, he mentioned tools made from the ribs of the jaguar by the primitive people of Southern Mexico. These were the hardest and toughest bones in the animal’s body, but the workmanship compares with fine oriental carvings, he said. He said the North American Indians 10,000 to 12,000 years ago had such carefully developed spear points that they are not easy to reproduce even today. “It’s about the sharpest instrument ever made by man,” he said. “One of my greatest thrills, after some 15 years of pondering, was reproducing the first blade successfully. “Sometimes I wish I had a time clock so I could get a glimpse of how they did these things,” he commented. “Some of the (primitive) lapidary work is just unbelievable…How did they achieve these skills?” Crabtree has worked with materials and tools from nearly all over the world, except for the Pacific. “This is a new conquest,” he said. “And it shows great promise.” |