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Why did Clovis toolmakers choose difficult quartz crystal?

phys.org

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Re: Why did Clovis toolmakers choose difficult quartz crystal?

#11

Post by jaapz »

lexicality wrote: post #7

Given I've spent the last few weeks teaching myself CAD and completely designing a custom 3d printed racking system for my consumer networking gear from scratch, I would like to think that "I decided to do this ostensibly stupid and pointlessly difficult thing for a minor aesthetic improvement even when a blatantly easier (and possibly better) option is available" is a valid reason for humans to do things. Besides, t…

When future humans find your cad files they are going to wonder why you would do it like this, and then probably settle on religious reasons

Re: Why did Clovis toolmakers choose difficult quartz crystal?

#12

Post by jstanley »

ungreased0675 wrote: post #10

Why do the Swiss people continue to make timepieces in the difficult mechanical form, when making quartz movements would be easier and cheaper? Must be religious reasons. Maybe they serve a purpose in rituals by Swiss shaman. Anthropologists have no creativity.

> may have had symbolic or ritual significance.

I think is a fair description of Swiss mechanical watches.

They are certainly not of practical significance.

Re: Why did Clovis toolmakers choose difficult quartz crystal?

#13

Post by sandworm101 »

ungreased0675 wrote: post #10

Why do the Swiss people continue to make timepieces in the difficult mechanical form, when making quartz movements would be easier and cheaper? Must be religious reasons. Maybe they serve a purpose in rituals by Swiss shaman. Anthropologists have no creativity.

Arrow/spear points are different than watches. You dont throw your watch at squirrles when you are hungry. You dont risk your watch smashing into bits when you miss the squirrel and hit a rock. The fact these points were dimensionally similar to other materials means they were less objects of reverance and more likely actual weapon points and thus somewhat disposable.

Re: Why did Clovis toolmakers choose difficult quartz crystal?

#15

Post by kakacik »

ungreased0675 wrote: post #10

Why do the Swiss people continue to make timepieces in the difficult mechanical form, when making quartz movements would be easier and cheaper? Must be religious reasons. Maybe they serve a purpose in rituals by Swiss shaman. Anthropologists have no creativity.

Yeah, those arrowheads look unusual and nice, very nice. It may be just that, a lot of people prefer form rather than function, there is no reason to believe our past ancestors had precisely 0 aesthetics. Or something else, who knows.

Re: Why did Clovis toolmakers choose difficult quartz crystal?

#16

Post by sandworm101 »

defrost wrote: post #4
vintermann wrote: post #3

I'm always suspicious of "it was religious" claims in archeology.

Neither the article nor the backing paper discussed made any such definite claim. Many casual readers confuse statements such as "which *may* have had symbolic or ritual significance." with meaning "this absolutely had to do with (a) religion" when no such thing is intended. Attribution of potential cause of inferred behaviour to "ritual" is a long standing practice in archaeology; it's code for "we don't know" and c…

Ritual may also have practical/non-supernatural motivations that were simply incorrect. We do lots of things that we think are good practical things that, years later, we learn were mistakes. Uranium and radiation as a cure-all was a mistake. Dig up a 1950s house and one might think the uranium devices were kept for "ritual" when in fact they were kept for thier mistaken health benefits.

Re: Why did Clovis toolmakers choose difficult quartz crystal?

#17

Post by redsocksfan45 »

ungreased0675 wrote: post #10

Why do the Swiss people continue to make timepieces in the difficult mechanical form, when making quartz movements would be easier and cheaper? Must be religious reasons. Maybe they serve a purpose in rituals by Swiss shaman. Anthropologists have no creativity.

You're being sarcastic, but aren't you accidentally right? Swiss watchmaking started because local bible-thumpers banned jewelry but made an exception for watches, thus creating demand for watches that fill the role of jewelry. Once established, the industry maintains itself.

Re: Why did Clovis toolmakers choose difficult quartz crystal?

#18

Post by goda90 »

vintermann wrote: post #3

I'm always suspicious of "it was religious" claims in archeology.

Perhaps "symbolic significance" could simply by about signifying "I'm good at knapping cool looking material" or "I had enough resources to trade for this hard to knap tool". The symbol of status/skill, essentially. People like to show off.

Re: Why did Clovis toolmakers choose difficult quartz crystal?

#19

Post by wqaatwt »

redsocksfan45 wrote: post #17
ungreased0675 wrote: post #10

Why do the Swiss people continue to make timepieces in the difficult mechanical form, when making quartz movements would be easier and cheaper? Must be religious reasons. Maybe they serve a purpose in rituals by Swiss shaman. Anthropologists have no creativity.

You're being sarcastic, but aren't you accidentally right? Swiss watchmaking started because local bible-thumpers banned jewelry but made an exception for watches, thus creating demand for watches that fill the role of jewelry. Once established, the industry maintains itself.

Except mechanical watches were very high-tech at the time and were very practical devices.

By the time they became mainly an accessory/status symbol sumptuary laws weren’t a thing.

Re: Why did Clovis toolmakers choose difficult quartz crystal?

#20

Post by maratc »

ungreased0675 wrote: post #10

Why do the Swiss people continue to make timepieces in the difficult mechanical form, when making quartz movements would be easier and cheaper? Must be religious reasons. Maybe they serve a purpose in rituals by Swiss shaman. Anthropologists have no creativity.

Swiss make both kinds. It's (mostly) non-Swiss who decide what kind to buy.
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