Gravers

Name: The graver or engraving tip is a common name given to a small protrusion on a small flake or blade.

Description: Gravers are made from almost any flake or chip of chert including broken projectile points. The tell-tale indication that a piece of material or point has been used as a graver is the small, sharp tip that protrudes from the body of the material. Pressure flaking is most often present around the protrusion to make it stand out. Heavy use ware is typically evident at the point of the tip. At times, graver points were an added feature on another tool type. Bennie Keel (1976) found graver points on prismatic blades at the Garden Creek site. Deep cut marks in bone artifacts or scraps indicate that gravers were predominantly used for cutting bone.        

Age: Bone pins have been used since the Paleoindian period and the graver or a similar tool type may have been an important part of that tool kit. While gravers have not found in large numbers in any single site in central Georgia, most have been recovered from sites with predominantly Middle to Late Archaic components. Keel’s recovery of a graver from mound 2 at Garden Creek suggested a Woodland context. Both William S. Webb (1951) in his survey of sites in the Guntersville Basin and David L. DeJarnette (1975) in his survey of trhe Walter F. George Basin reported no graver recoveries among Historic period sites, suggesting that the use of or the need for this tool type had disappeared.  Gravers are not a diagnostic tool with a form that suggests a date range.