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Corner Tang; A Texas Original

Posted on 01. Jan, 2009 by Shannon Graham in Flint Artifacts, Texas

One of the many great archeological mysteries of Texas is ‘how where corner tang knives hafted?’

Luckily with the help of some very dedicated individuals, replication studies, and high power microscopy, we have a some plausible theories.

First, a couple of basics….a corner tang is a cutting implement crafted from flint or chert and occurs in the Late Archaic. Usually bifacially flaked, it has an off-set stem from the tip with at least one notch along the lateral edge. Central Texas is widely believed to be the birthplace of this rare and unusual artifact given the greatest density. Finds have been documented across the plains and into the forests of the Midwest.

Secondly, a meaningful discussion on the subject can not be had without mentioning Dwain Rogers. Rogers, most known for his authentication work and flint knapping is regarded by collectors as the foremost authority on the corner tang biface. Having studied corner tangs for the past 40 years, Rogers authored ‘Corner Tang Knives Across Texas’ in 2000 where he documented 864 Texas specimens that had never before been published.

Roger’s publication built largely on J. T. Patterson’s ‘The Corner-Tang Flint Artifacts of Texas’ which was published in 1936 with a follow-on, ‘Supplementary Notes on the Corner Tang Artifact” published a year later. Patterson’s two works, documents 608 Texas examples and 104 examples from 13 other states; Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Wyoming.

 The unique placement of the notches gives rise to many question around the function of corner tangs and how they were secured via the tang stem.

Patterson suggests potential hafting methods as illustrated in the 1936 publication. See image. While several of these methods appear reasonable, consider the scale. The handles are basically the same width of the tang neck which in most cases is not much larger than a pencil. A handle of this small diameter seems extremely delicate and difficult to use. Excessive force would easily snap most tangs. Larger stem corner tangs, referred to as ‘dog leg tangs’ by collectors have a wider neck and might be able to withstand greater force and could potentially facilitate this style of hafting.

Only 30 examples of the 864 in Rogers’ study contained stem damage which may suggest that the stress tangs were subjected to was minimal. To this point, it’s been suggested that tang stems were not hafted to a handle but rather affixed via a thong crafted from leather or cordage from plant fibers.

Rogers notes that replication studies where corner tang knives where used to butcher animals in the field, have demonstrated that dropping and locating the tools was a distraction.

“While using the replicated tang knives, dropping them became a nuisance. Looking for a small blade among piles of flesh and fat and in tall grass and hoping it did not break against a rock helped me to understand how a thong tied around my waist or wrist could be a definite help. In my experiments, the replicated knife kept slipping from my hand once slick from fat and blood, but a thong tied to the tang and subsequently to my wrist kept it handy.”

High power microscopy has revealed on some specimens a distinct polish around the stem neck indicative of use wear from a thong affixed around the tang. Johnny Maduzia, an accomplished Texas flint knapper, demonstrates on one of his self-made modern replicas how easily accessible a thong-attached corner tang could be.

It’s worth noting that of the 50 large stem, or dog-leg, tang s suitable for hafting, not one was found to exhibit the ring polish associated with thong polish. Is it possible that these larger stem tangs were hafted with to an affixed handle and the smaller tangs utilized with a thong tied around the stem?

We may never know for certain how these rare artifacts were truly utilized but one thing is certain; they’ll always be held in high regard for anyone fortunate enough to find or curate one.

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Tags: Corner Tang, Flint, Texas