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What a tool is used for

At the outset of this blog, I made a promise to myself and to my few readers that I would not use this as a venue to discuss what I already know, but instead to act as a catalyst for further learning about different object types than I was familiar with. For those who do know me, that may have sounded like a promise to not discuss stone tools. For those who were excited by this thought, I do apologise.

Visiting the Manx Museum in Douglas, Isle of Man this summer I noticed an unusual lithic tool described as a ‘missile shaft shaper’, object ‘F’ in the above image. Interestingly displayed amongst other stone tools, in a display on hunter-gather society on the island, this grey-brown flint tool, approximately 1.5 x 2 inches in height and width (depth uncertain as object was behind glass), has a crescent like shape, with a clear intentional rounded edge. Displayed alongside a replica wooden shaft, it gives a rather clear impression as to how the object was used, but I wondered if it was being suggestive.

As I analysed the tool, I thought as to whether I had seen any shaft straighteners quite like it before, and realised I had not. I decided to look at other arrow-shaft shapers from the archaeological record to determine whether this object was unique. Arrow shaft straighteners and shapers are very common in the North American archaeological record, and are often made of a stone of relative hardness that has parallel grooves running its total length. These tools are not only found in the Americas, however, as seen in the South African example illustrated below from the British Museum’s collection.

With the availability of hard stones, and the knowledge of how to make similar tools for straightening arrow shafts, I was forced to question what this tool might do differently from the grooved examples. Its rounded, but sharp, edge can run the side of an arrow shaft during preparation, and it is easy to imagine it removing excess material, helping to reduce the size of the shaft.

An analogous example was found in an experimental archaeology context, where such a tool is being used to scrape dried bark off of shoots being transformed into arrows. As seen in the image below, this tool as well has a sharp, narrow curved edge, similar to the shape of a shaft. It is a less perfect fit than the archaeological example above, but it is seen to be effective in the transformation witnessed.

Looking at this original tool next to an arrow shaft, it appears clear what it was used for, but to what effect? Comparing it with typical arrow shaft straighteners, it would seem quite ineffective in size, but rather would benefit more precise shaping, utilising its sharper edge effectively. I am willing to trust the terminology utilised by the Manx Museum, and agree that it could be a shaft shaper, but it would be interesting to know how these tools were first identified, how sound this identification is, what microscopic wear patterns the tool bears, and how those patterns compare to experimentally created tools. While answering no questions nor using this research to push forward the understanding of this tool, I hope that it is at least clear that little research has been conducted on such tools, are, while part of many museum collections, they are rarely on display. Perhaps in the future, I will have the opportunity to analyse one myself and compare the microscopic striations; for now, however, I am pleased to have found a stone tool type I can continue to research.