Modern Ross Blade

At Modern Flintknapping we often like to "modernize" the replication of artifacts. By this we mean we may make them thinner than the normal original artifacts were made. We may take a piece and reshape it in various ways. We may take two designs of artifacts and mix them, using components of both, to get a hybrid design. Or we may come up with a totally new design of our own.

This is where our name "modern" flintknapping derives from. We believe this helps keep the art of flintknapping interesting as well as allowing an artist's mind to constantly expand and come up with new designs.

Above is a picture of a Ross blade that Bill made few months back. It is 9 inches long, 3 inches wide with a diameter of .30 giving it a W/T ratio of 10/1. This is a higher W/T ratio than you would normally see on an actual Ross artifact. This blade was made using a pressure lever device which causes the large distinct flakes. This is a totally different technique compared to percussion which is what is normally used to make Ross blades