At 05:44 PM 11/12/98 -0600, you wrote:
>At 10:05 AM 11/12/98 -0500, Gordon Simons wrote:
>>2. What constitute "stone tools" are in the eyes of
>>the beholder -- at least in part.
>One of the distinguishing features of stone tools from natural breakage is
>the number of acute angles formed by various blows to the stone. To
>create an acute angle (required to make a cutting surface) one must
>carefully place the blow to achieve that end. Nature is unlikely to create
>a hand-axe because the blows delivered to a rolling stone in a creek is
>unlikely to be so precisely placed.
>Adam, Apes and Anthropology
>Foundation, Fall and Flood
>& lots of creation/evolution information
I would agree with you that hand axes and more advanced tools will usually
display the features you described, yes I have made and used stone tools and
studied lithics, but not all do and in many cases it is the context the
artifact is found in that determines whether it is a tool. Pebble tools,
rough scrapers, and used flakes are common exceptions even in more
"advanced" tool kits.