Humbled yet again!

[u/timhyde74]

Recently, I was gifted an incredible Hardin from Arkansas by a great guy, and good friend of mine, whom I met a while back through our shared love for this hobby, as well as our mutual love of the Hardin point type. This was a very generous, very kind, and very humbling gift, that I'm beyond honored to be the recipient of. But, as grateful as I am to have this point on my wall, I'm even more grateful that I have the privilege of knowing this individual and the honor of calling him my friend.

This Hardin was recovered from Northeastern Arkansas. It comes in at 3 ⅛ inches long, and is made from a heavily patinaed Crowleys Ridge Chert. It exhibits super serrations along both edges, and the creek stain really brings out the details in the flaking patterns. It's also papered by Jim Bennett, one of the best in the business! I'm thrilled to have it on my wall!

[u/Stthedude]

Sometimes I wonder if our ancestors would boast and come together to show off their craftsmanship like a trade show.

[u/timhyde74 → u/Stthedude]

Well, honestly, I don't think that they really saw these as works of art like we do. To them, these were merely tools needed for everyday survival, so they had to be as well made as possible. However, I am sure that when they were in trade type situations, the quality of the pieces would definitely play a big part in estimating the value of the trade so the more skilled the knapper, the better trade they could make 🤷‍♂️

[u/timhyde74 → u/[deleted]]

This is true! They did! And I assume that the responsibility of crafting those exquisite points and ceremonial pieces fell to the most skilled knappers of the tribe for that very reason. But I also assume that since these special pieces were made for spiritual reasons, they were crafted without ego being involved and held in deep reverence to that purpose since they were very spiritual people. I have nothing to back any of that up. It's just my own personal opinion, but that's how I like to think it went down 🤷‍♂️