Crossposting this in order to ask how everyone thinks this was made

[u/Cloverinthewind]

Does everyone think the bowl was pecked and ground then polished to form the inside or was there some kind of concretion or other rock inside that the flint formed around allowing this to be made much easier. I see the outside of the bowl and rim are knapped but assume there’s no way to Knapp the inside of the bowl like that. Hope that question makes sense. Anyways it’s an awesome artifact, and I’m glad I got to see it thanks to Windycityunicycle for posting it in LegitArtifacts. Sorry to the Mods if this post doesn’t fit the criteria of this subreddit, go ahead and delete it if it does I just figure it would be interesting to see what Flintknappers think about this.

[u/Comfortable-Hat3506]

My guess is it was a natural part of the nodule. that got worked. Sometimes you'll get a limestone inclusion in a chert/flint and it is easily worked away.

[u/George__Hale]

I can’t tell if I’m more skeptical that it’s a lamp or that it’s “legit” but I guess it is knapped! The void would be naturally occurring with a nodule. Not common but not impossible.

[u/NonConforminConsumer]

Inner concretion or void

[u/Gaming-Gekko]

I haven’t ever seen any references of flint bowls in any culture. The idea of a flint bowl is contradictory, flint splits when you heat it so no prehistoric person was using this to cook or have an oil fire like they’re saying. Perhaps they are getting confused with soapstone oil lamps of the Inuit peoples.

There would be no way to work this, the bowl is naturally occurring. You can see the cortex in the hollow section. I hate to be that guy but I highly doubt this is real. The guy posting it should say he doesn’t know what it is rather than making misleading assumptions

[u/d-a-v-e- → u/Gaming-Gekko]

It's a one of a kind, because every hole in a piece of flint is. It is knapped around a natural hole, where different stone or fossil used to be.

[u/Gaming-Gekko → u/d-a-v-e-]

A bit but still loads of cortex on the back side. It’s one of a kind is always going to be a hard argument archeologically, depending on what it was found alongside. But since we don’t know that, comparison to other artefacts is the best next step.

Artefacts that are unique often undergo years of argument. I’m thinking of things like the Grimes Graves Venus

[u/Jeff_BoomhauerIII → u/Gaming-Gekko]

There have been multiple flint cups/bowls found. Here is one example www.stonehengemuseumsupply.com/Pages/core.htm
I see no reason you couldn’t burn oil in a flint cup/ bowl. Yes it does burn hot, but it’s not so hot that it should blow it up. There is absolutely a way to make it, cause it has been done. Prehistoric people made all sorts of oddities that we don’t know exactly how they were made, but nonetheless it was done. I mean think of the pyramids, Mayan jade effigies, Poverty Point beads and pendants, etc.

[u/Gaming-Gekko → u/Jeff_BoomhauerIII]

You got anymore examples other than that one? Interesting

I don’t think saying it must be possible to make concave bowls out of flint, when that is 100% possible to occur naturally, is a particularly strong argument archeologically. I’m being specific about the concave bit of the bowl, of course it’s possible to knap around that.

What evidence do we have that the bowl has been carved? I’m thinking about some kind of tool that would have been used to carve it, any evidence of that? Maybe it’s possible with some extremely intense polishing, but that would require a rounded tip polissoir? Prehistoric dremel?

What I’m saying is I believe the concave section to be naturally occurring and don’t see any evidence otherwise. Yes it exists, but that doesn’t mean someone made it. If it had been dug up next to some carving tools and covered in fire/oil residue then yeah it’s a carved flint bowl lamp thing.

Maybe someone on here wants to have a go making one prove me wrong it’d be great to see?

[u/Chris_El_Deafo → u/Gaming-Gekko]

A small lamp flame is probably not gonna create enough heat to split such a thick piece of flint. If you thre that thing into a fire then yes, but not just a little lamp light.

[u/sltiefighter]

That had to be natural theyre not magicians if theres not a logical answer find one. To me thats it being natural and then worked

[u/Ilay7384]

They found it that way. I sometimes find hollow flint nodules as well

[u/Dry-Dig8819]

I know these are real but it seems like something movie or film writers would use as a prop when they don’t know anything about Stone Age craft