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Casts

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Over the years I have amassed a substantial number of casts, mostly of North American Paleoindian points.  The majority were given to me, I bought a few and traded for others.  The main donors were Marie Wormington (Denver Museum of Natural History casts), Geroge Frison and mainly Dennis Stanford (Smithsonian).  I have now made an inventory and find that I have 505 unique (individual) casts and about 40 duplicates.  I have put together an inventory on a spreadsheet with photos.  These casts have been used a lot in teaching, during presentations, as exhibits in a local cultural center, in knapping workshops from South America to China, and as examples I consult during knapping.  Here is an example of a spreadsheet entry:

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Example Table entry.jpg
Agate Basin points.JPG

Reproduction of Stone Artifacts by Casting

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I am designing a project to get casting done in South America and have some enthusiastic colleagues who will assist in the process by getting access to items to cast, arranging logistics and possibly funding.  There are several reasons to want to have this done.  Here is a draft outline of the reasoning.  Along with many other motivations, the preservation of selected pieces is critical for the future.  This is not only the case for private collections but the tragic loss of collections in the National Museum of Brazil shows that even where objects are kept in ‘secure’ locations, there is no guarantee of their long-term preservation.

 

Introduction

            History

                        Museums and art world

                        1890s-1950s

                        1950s-present

            Advantages

                        Authentic      

                        Long term     

                        Durable

                        Flexible- Various casting options (eg. Color)

                       Availability    

                       Multiple identical duplicates

                       Relatively easy to produce to conventional standards- portable production

                       Reasonable costs (self-sustaining options-commercial)

                       Replaceable

                       Multiple senses (sight AND touch)          

            Preservation

                       Collections held in institutions and privately

                       Molds/casts

                       Multiple copies/multiple locations

             

            Research

                       Sharing

                             Domestic

                             International

            Analyses

                        Standard methods replication

                        Specialized methods

                        Traceology

           Teaching     

                        Classroom

                        Workshops

           Outreach

                        Museum displays/travelling exhibits

                        Public presentations

                        Collector collaborations

 

References:

Rohner, John R.

1970   Techniques of Making Plastic Casts of Artifacts from Permanent Molds Author(s),

American Antiquity, Vol. 35, No. 2: pp. 223-226. Society for American Archaeology.

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Frazier, Frank

1973   Production of Artifact casts Using Epoxy Resin, Newsletter of Lithic Technology, Vol. 2, No. 1/2: pp. 15-21. Taylor & Francis, Ltd.

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Banks, William E, and Marvin Kay

High-Resolution Casts for Lithic Use-Wear Analysis, Lithic Technology, 28(1):27-34. 

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Web pages:

www.lithiccastinglab.com Pete Bostrom

www.occpaleo.com/ Mike Frank

nau.edu/anthropology/francissmiley/ Francis Smiley

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