THE CINMAR BLADE

Liston & Betty Anne Shackleford owned the S & S Marine seafood business and 14 large ocean-going scallop boats including the “Cinmar.” The Cinmar was named after their children, Cindy & Mark. In 1970, Thurston Shawn, a Mathews County waterman, was operating the Cinmar and working 40 miles east of Cape Charles in 240 feet-deep waters. In one dredge haul, his crew brought up scallops, partial remains of a Mastodon and the oldest man-made stone tool ever found in the Americas.

Smithsonian Institution Scientists have dated this double-edged butcher knife around 23,000 years old and believed used by Paleo-Indians living in Virginia. The scientists have written a book, “Across Atlantic Ice,” which features the blade on the cover. (Available for Purchase on Barnes & Noble.com) The scientists believe that early day man likely crossed over from Europe during the glacial periods when the sea level was much lower. It is believed that these early Solutrean people traveled along the edge of the Atlantic Ice Shelf from France & Spain.