Last Updated: Jul 19, 2016     Views: 188

There has been little written about this topic.  An Australian researcher was interested in "transformed material culture" and found that some aborigines have used knapped bottle glass to make other items, and another Australian  found flaked bottle glass razors being used by people in New Guinea. There were two brief mentions of bottle glass being used as tools - one in Pennsylvania, and one in South Africa. IYou may wish to contact the Society for Historical Archaeology, to see if they have any members who might provide additional information. Their website is www.sha.org. 

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  1. With reference to the question on the flaking of glass to make shapes similar to those of knapped flints.

    In the Queensland Museum there is a beautiful flaked and retouched blade shape made from a white glass insulator believed to have come from the Adelaide – Darwin overland telegraph line. The object, if I remember correctly, was collected in central Australia. I saw it when it was being accessioned from the field collection into the QM’s holdings in the late 1960s - early 1970s. It was an object of great beauty despite its small size, showing a high level of bilateral symmetry, evidencing complete mastery over the technique and material.
    by Ronald Monroe on Apr 21, 2016

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