Knapping — the controlled removal of flakes from a piece of stone to shape it into a desired form — requires extensive practice, detailed knowledge of how different stones respond to percussion and pressure, and fine motor control developed over years of work.

A well-made projectile point represents hours of skilled work and embodies a tradition of technical knowledge transmitted from experienced makers to beginners.

The quality of the stone tools found in burial contexts at sites like Bering Sinkhole suggests that some of these objects were considered special — that the finest examples of the tool-maker’s art were sometimes selected for placement with the dead, rather than the worn or broken tools that represented everyday use.

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