Design, Prototyping, and Testing of a Controllable Striker Arm for Flintknapping Experiments

This honors thesis project entailed the design, construction, and validation of a mechanism capable of creating a consistent and controllable impact between a stone-tipped dropper and a stone core or other arbitrary workpiece, to assist the experimental archeologist in conducting flintknapping research which retains the essential features of hand knapping while largely removing the large element of variation between human knappers. After the initial design of a linear gravity-powered mechanism—or dropper device—a simplified prototype was assembled as a proof of concept. After a modified version of the full-sized design was assembled using insights from the prototype, impact force testing was conducted to verify the device’s theoretical principles of operation. The validation experiment verified that the device may be accurately controlled by varying the drop height with the square of the desired impact force relative to an arbitrary reference drop, though it was unable to predict the absolute magnitude of impact forces experienced by real hammerstones and cores during knapping. The project was successful in creating a tool that may be useful for researchers to conduct better-controlled archeology experiments, though the design may be improved with added functionality that would allow users to more effectively control the orientation of the striker and core.