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Jeff
is a self taught flintknapper who has been knapping for about 20 years.
He started when he was
about 15 years old. He uses copper tools, in the form
of a copper billet and a copper pressure flaker. His skill level, as
evidenced, by the examples illustrated in this article is quite high.
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CLICK ON PICTURE FOR
LARGER IMAGE
FLUTED AND OTHER TYPE POINTS
BY JEFF GOWER
CHERT FROM THE EUPHRATES RIVER
This group of 15 points were made by Captain Jeff Gower during his
tour of duty in northern Iraq. They represent some of the
approximately 200 points that he made while stationed at Al Kasik
military base. Most are fluted points but a Dalton, Dovetail and
Graham Cave is also represented. The points show a wide range of
colors and patterns in the chert pebbles they were made from. The
material was collected from gravel brought onto the base for
construction purposes. The longest point in this group measures 4
11/16 inches (11.8 cm) long and the smallest measures 2 3/16 inches
(5.5 cm) long. |
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Jeff estimates that he has made several thousand points
during the 20 plus years that he has been flintknapping. |
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CLICK ON
PICTURE FOR LARGER IMAGE
FLUTED POINT
BY JEFF GOWER
CHERT FROM THE EUPHRATES RIVER
This fluted point was made from a particularly variegated piece of
chert from the Euphrates River in northern Iraq by Captain Jeff
Gower. It measures 3 1/4 inches (8.2 cm) long. |
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Captain Gower made
approximately 200 points of various types during his time in Iraq. They
were made from water worn pebbles from the
Euphrates River. He used the material raw and describes it as being "like a very course Jasper."
Heat treating it would have been out of the question. |
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FLUTED POINT
BY JEFF GOWER
CHERT FROM THE EUPHRATES RIVER
This gold colored fluted point was made by Captain Gower. It's made
from a water worn pebble from the Euphrates River in northern Iraq.
This point measures 2 1/2 inches (6.3 cm) long. |
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The material
illustrated in this article shows a wide range of colors and patterns.
Some are solid colors but many are banded or stripped with different colors. Yellow and red seems to be
fairly common. |
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DOVETAIL & GRAHAM CAVE
POINTS
BY JEFF GOWER
CHERT FROM THE EUPHRATES RIVER
Both of these points were made by Jeff Gower from water worn pebbles
from the Euphrates River in northern Iraq. The light green Dovetail
on the left measures 4 1/16 inches (10.3 cm) long. The Graham Cave
point on the right measures 4 11/16 inches (11.8 cm) long. |
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Flintknapping is an
art form that has been embraced by many people over the last 30 years
and the numbers continue to rise. Flintknappers have several reasons for
doing it. But, at least in this case, it proved to be a good way to
escape for a few minutes from a terrible war far from home. |
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"REFERENCES"
2006, Personal
communications with Jeff Gower.
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