These first photos show the Worked Edge of a 'Boandik Flint Tool'...clearest down the right side there in the second photo are the multiple intricate 'chips' creating a sharp and slightly serrated blade...and straight-up I'm gunna' say that that nomenclature, 'Boandik Flint Tool' is taken from what I understand about the original people who lived here, the area we now refer to as the South East of South Australia...I showed this to several Boandik people at last years NAIDOC Week, and they reckoned it was a genuine 'Flint Tool'...(well it's clearly 'Flint' and it's clearly a 'Tool'-Ed)...indeed, and I'm just 1) explaining the confirmation by people who know far better than I, and 2) therefore quantifying the overall veracity of what I'm saying, availees only have the photos, but that right there is a genuine Boandik Flint Tool...(and you dug that up in your backyard?-Ed)...yep...there's very little top soil, then it's into a very orangey compacted sand layer, you can see how it's stained the flint...
(And how old is it? I mean, if it's been in the ground so long as to be stained the same colour-Ed)...well this is where it gets tricky, 'cos I didn't notice exactly when I dug it up whilst 'mining' some orangey soil for my garden paths...(nice-Ed)...cheers...(I mean the whole garden, very nice-Ed)...indeed, I'm very lucky that the Housing Trust (Housing SA) have allowed me to do what I have, but anyhoos, we digress...I only noticed this the next day when sweep-smoothing the path, but it's out of a metre-square hole just over a foot deep, so I can quite accurately identify where exactly it was, and accurately guesstimate that it came from the bottom of the hole because it was on/in the surface of the path...(yes, fair enough, but I asked 'when' not 'where'-Ed)...sure, and I am partly answering you, but that is the tricky bit because the Geology Chronology is all a bit vague, and only recently a 'volcano expert' stated his belief that Mt Gambier blew itself into existence some 25,000-30,000 years ago, not the more main-stream current info of 4,500-5,000 years old...(not with you-Ed)...allow me...
Availees are familiar I'm sure with the general Geology of the South East, a Limestone substrate from an ancient shallow ocean, and evidence of reefs and/or sandhills is regularly unveiled along the low ridgelines when any excavation is done around Mt Gambier, eg, a new housing subdivision...I believe the orange under my garden indicates sand rather than decomposed Limestone, which has a very distinctive red colour, eg, the Coonawarra's world famous Terra Rossa soils, and I understand the sandhill ridges up Naracoorte way are a series of ancient Coorongs (long, narrow lagoons) created by receding ocean levels, etc...(fascinating-Ed)...anyhoos, from all that, I'm guessing this area was a sandy ridge if not an actual sandhill...(I love guessing science-Ed)...yeah, ok, it's just what I understand about this stuff, and it hopefully explains in-part the age of the BFT...(ah! I get it! if you can establish the age of the layer where you found it, that's the best guesstimation as to it's age-Ed)...exactly, and this Boandik Flint Tool was just over 1 foot/12 inches/30-35cms down into the sand layer, suggesting that it's been there for a long time already, perhaps thousands of years, before a thin top layer of volcanic ash was deposited on top of that when MG went ping!...(and that is likely/possibly 25,000 years ago?-Ed)...apparently, the dude sounded quite sure about it, stating that that would still allow for Boandik Dreaming stories about the giant Craitbul and his family and the creation of Mt Gambier, etc, because there were people already living here at that time who would have witnessed the eruption(s?)...
Therefore, unfortunately, I cannot say with any certainty how old this tool is, and nor could the Boandik people I spoke to...I believe that it would be 1,000's of years prior to the Mt Gambier explosion, but that itself could be 5,000-30,000 years ago, even more...regardless, it is a beautiful piece of genuine Stone-Age technology, that sits so comfortably in the left hand as to suggest that it was made for and used by a lefty...to me, it feels clumsy in my right hand, but when I switched it to my left, it sat so naturally in my hand that I had a gentle chill run up my spine...I think I understand now why people get addicted to dickin'-about in the mud lookin' for bitsa' bone 'n' stone 'n' shizzle, it was quite surreal to be standing there holding this amazing artifact, and to be only metres from where it was dropped/lost/discarded many 1,000's of years ago...in the top photo, you can see how the bottom part is still shiny, even after eons in the dirt, 'cos it's so smooth, so well used that it's almost oily...you can almost feel another persons hand upon it, the evidence of their sweat and endeavour seeping back into your own hand...
And I mean, how is it that such a perfect and clearly well-utilised implement came to be just in the sand?...it's still sharp enough to cut live skin if you had to, and easily sharp enough to skin an animal, which is almost certainly it's application, a small hand-tool with a fine and sharp cutting edge...was it dropped by someone in passing? or into the sand around a campfire and forgotten? why would anyone deliberately discard such a great implement? questions beyond answering...(except for what's in those photos below-Ed)...what, this one here? that's just another photo taken in a different light, included 'cos it shows really well an Impact Point and resultant Percussion Wave, illustrating the way these tool/weapons are produced, by chipping away at specific angles and with specific force, etc, to suit the nature of the specific larger piece of flint, thusly producing shards of slimmer flint, themselves further reduced and refined by smaller and smaller impacts...so there, below, is a large Percussion Point, and in that second photo above, a series of very small ones along the cutting edge ...(well actually, I was referring to the photos of small out-of-focus chunks of charcoal and the small tub-full of said campfire detritus, down the bottom there-Ed)...ah yes, I see, let us go there then...
Those photos are blurry, sorry, but even then, the wood grain is clearly evident in a coupla' those pieces...I have found this charcoal in a very defined band at approx the same level as the BFT, and I have considered getting it Carbon-dated because, as Ed suggested, it would be reasonable to assume that the two are related and of a similar age...(and therefore a charcoal date could/should be the age of the BFT-Ed)...I agree Ed, that is fairly reasonable and standard practice, using organic materials to date other artifacts...I apologise that I ain't done that yet...(well it's taken you nearly 18 months to blog about it already-Ed)...yeah, again sorry, just kept gettin' pushed onto the back-burner...(and then shoved in a draw and forgotten about all together for 6-8 months-Ed)...well indeed, but we're here now, and what does it really matter, it's been settin' here for gourd knows how long already that a few more years ain't gunna' matter much, and it's just some artifact that proves what we know already, that we live on land occupied for millenia...I will immediately act to try and get some of this charcoal dated officially, and get back to y'all dear availees with the results...
Indeed mate, and no Aboriginal person I know needs for me to show-up once a year and blow sycophantic smoke up their collective experience, we know who we are and what we're about, etc, and senior Mt Gambier City Councillor's and staffers have proven themselves to be easily arseholes enough to stack-on-an-act at/about me, and to do so in the most inappropriate circumstances...(but surely, that's because you're just so, well, special-Ed)...I feel special, really I do...(oh nah you should-Ed)...I do...(good-Ed)...excellent.........(the Artifact?-Ed)...ah yeah, this is the Boandik Flint Tool I found in/under my garden, and as if I needed any justification to say it, I live a life of luxury and privilege for the good fortune of being born a White Man in a Stolen Land...
The title of this post refers to the disgraceful conduct of our extraordinary Prime Minister and his equally deplorable Liberal government, and the equally deceitful Labor Opposition, et al, that they would do yet another round of deeply cynical 'discussions' with Aboriginal people about what Aboriginal people need/want/whatevs, and then completely dismiss the resultant litany of issues and/or requests...PM Malcom Turnbull et al, held these discussions with absolutely no intention of doing anything other than grandstanding about how much listening they were doing...and now he's done it again, going to Tennant Creek for a deeply cynical tour of the town with their Night Patrol, on the one day/night of the week that grog (alcohol) isn't sold in town...only days ago in Melbourne he was Dog-Screeching* about African Gang Violence...
(*actual saying is 'Dog Whistling', to deliberately infer some sub-context, usually with a 'Rascist Appeal', by targetting an easily identifiable group, eg, using 'Terrorism/Gang Threat' to justify new 'Security Laws' that are actually broadly Fascist restrictions on every citizen, eg, me)
Tomorrow: Another Post
Dear availees, I'm gunna' have a go at returning to daily posts, say 5 per week, and I've got several part-done drafts waiting for my further tender machinations...there's a bunch of stuff goin' down as we career toward the November 2018 Local Government Elections, eg, Mt Gambier City Council's latest farcical shenanigans about a supposed $40million Indoor Pool/Sport/Convention Centre...absolute lies from absolute liars, and yet again, there's decent, genuinely motivated people who will be manipulated...(well they already are being manipulated if you consider that this whole thing is a stunt because the entire Indoor Pool issue was officially buried by MGCC, by this iteration of MGCC, less than 2 years ago-Ed)...absolutely Ed, nothing about any pool in any of their farcical 5-Year/10-Year/20-Year Plans, or Strategic Innovation Activation Paradigm...(whaaa?-Ed)...made-up that one...(right-Ed)...no pool nowhere to be seen, and MGCC officially shoved the whole Indoor Pool issue into the metaphoric shredder at a Full Council meeting approx 2 years ago...(it's probably in there next to Skate Park-Ed)...well indeed Ed, another MGCC triumph of cynical deceit and self-interest over public services...
I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...cheers and laters...
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