SOLVED. A possibly South American Indian boy from an earlier time goes on a journey. He earns or is given a black obsidian knife by his uncle (?) He travels through a place with lots of parrots. [s]

[CR]

I read this book in school around 1970. It was a sort of coming of age book. The black obsidian knife figured highly in the book, and it might have been part of the title. The type of knife did not come from where he lived. His journey to where the knife came from took him through a jungle-type place with brightly colored parrots around. I also believe that atlatl use and possibly bow and arrows figured.
The paperback cover had a sort of jungle scene with the boy, and I remember a yellow border near the spine.
It is one of the few books from my childhood that I have never seen in used book stores.

[Mai]

Maybe The Black Stone Knife by Alice Marriott? It came up searching WorldCat. Abstract:
"Even though he knew it was forbidden, Wolf Boy was determined to go south with his older brother to "find the place where summer lived." This journey would prove to all the Kiowa tribe that Wolf Boy was a man. And he intended to bring back a sharp-edged, black stone knife, just like the one his grandfather had discoverd by the great river. The way was long and full of great adventure. There was the day the boys visited the houses of the Huicholed and saw the astonishing blue bird of magic. They discovered their first white man's town and were attacked by the frightening "people" of the trees. And Wolf Boy proved his courage - both in a daring escape from fierce Apaches and in a deadly battle with the water monster!"
https://www.worldcat.org/title/black-...

Is this the cover that you remember?
The Black Stone Knife https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000OIYEO6/...

[CR]

That is it! I searched under the black knife, and I searched under the stone knife, and could not come up with anything. Ha! If I had been more confident that that was in the title, I would have played around with the words more.
That is not the cover I remember, but I read it in paperback, probably a later edition.
Thanks!