About me - Michael Miller

Hello!

As the webmaster of FlintKnappers.com I would like to thank you for stopping in! I hope that you have found our site to be informative and enjoyable. 

I graduated from The College of Wooster in Wooster Ohio with a B.A. in archaeology in 2002. While at Wooster I finished a geology and anthropology minor too. I finished an MA in experimental archaeology at The University of Exeter in England (2006). I work in CRM archeology for R.C. Goodwin & Associates as a Lithic Analyst; basically, I identify materials, types, and attributes of stone tools while creating data used in site write-ups and reports.

You may wonder when I first got started in archaeology. I was about 6 years old. My grandfather and I went out rock collecting in a plowed farm filed near their house. It wasn't long till I found my first arrowhead. After that first discovery I became very interested in Ohio archaeology. 

As a youngster, I was a member of the Stark County Gem and Mineral Club. During a rock and gem show I met Carl Fry, a flintknapper and club member. Being 12 years old and seeing someone make arrowheads (which I had collected since I was 6) totally amazed me! I stood there and watched him for over an hour. He had me sit down with him then handed me his tools and a preform and told me to take a whack at it. I did. It broke. He showed me what I was doing wrong and taught me the basics. 

Almost everyday after school I would go outside and practice flintknapping (instead of watching cartoons!). After about two years I finally started making some progress. It was at this time I went to my first Knap-In at Flint Ridge. Here, I watched several knappers do their thing. This helped me greatly. 

I've worked on numerous digs in Ohio. I started learning archaeological field methods at the Nobles Pond Site during the summer of 1995. I excavated at the Gainey Site in Flint, Michigan and the Cullison Site in Warsaw, Ohio that year too.

In the summer of 1996, I attended the National Science Foundation Young Scholars Program at The Center for American Archeology in Kampsville Illinois. We excavated at the Evie Site and wrote an archeology paper on a topic we found interesting. While there, I met master flintknapper Tim Dillard. He took my rudimentary flintknapping skills and made me what I am today. 

I've always been a scientist. School science fair projects gave me the opportunity to mix archaeology and the scientific method. A study on polishing rocks, a project on the creation of stone tools, a archaeological lithic analysis of the artifacts I had collected and a study of microwear formation on the working edges of stone tools; all of these projects took me to State Science Day and helped to me polish my presentation skills. Attending the National Junior Science and Humanities Symposium for my work on microwear really helped me make connections and chose which college to attend.

I have done extensive work on replicating biface manufacture during the Archaic Period in the Midwestern USA. My Independent Study (Senior Thesis) at The College of Wooster was on the MacCorkle Bifurcate Tradition. I successfully replicated the type and used the replicas in an atlatl and dart system. Also, a microwear analysis of MacCorkle bifurcate artifacts from the Ohio region was performed. My MA research looked at perverse fracturing among lithic bifaces; data from the Solutrean and Paleo-Indian periods buttressed my conclusions on its occurrence, prevention, and possible use in a flintknappers repertoire.  If you ask I will share any of my research papers as a .pdf file.

My knapped replicas can be found in private and public collections in all 50 states and around the world (Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland).

I attend several knap-ins during the year and really enjoy the friendships, rocks, and food. Knap-ins give me the opportunity to sell some of my points and to teaching the public about archeology. Here's a link to the knap-in schedule. I'll be at both of the Flint Ridge Ohio knap-ins, Deerassic Park knap-in, and the Pigg Farm knap-in.

Feel free to e-mail me at: michael@flintknappers.com

Good chippin, 

Michael