View allAll Photos Tagged flintknapper
This November we celebrated everything geological as part of the Festival of Geology, in partnership with the Geologists’ Association.
We were showcasing some rare rocks, minerals and fossils from the UCL Geology Collection and Materials Library. Visitors saw meteorites that are composed of a rare type of iron not found on earth. Played with naturally magnetic sand from California. Gazed into an obsidian mirror, which has a long history of association with the supernatural. Watched master flintknapper Karl Lee make delicate tools, weapons and decorative items lump of flint.
We were also exploring the world of geological fakery with fool's gold and synthetic rubies. Visitors got the chance to see if they can spot the synthetic diamonds.
Guests made and named their very own fake rocks with prop maker Richard Graham.
People could try their hand at carving soft materials, like limestone, pumpkins, chocolate, cheese and soap; architectural stonemason Paul Jakeman was on hand to lend carving tips!
Our Makespace manager Ellie, made honeycomb rock and you could try rock! Finally Jo Lathwood was displaying her latest project, ‘Is this Magma?’ and discussing the melting points of rocks.
This photo of Tim Rast appears in the Sept 26th 2009, Canada Blog Friends profile of Elfshot: Sticks and Stones . The scholarly backdrop for that web encounter includes exotic locations like St Johns and Labrador, and of course Newfoundland archeological sites. Tim is a flintknapper which means he knows how to make stone arrowheads.
Mookaite from the Cretaceous of Western Australia.
Mookaite is a silicified sedimentary rock from the Lower Cretaceous Windalia Radiolarite Formation, a succession of moderately deep marine siltstones and cherts that contain numerous microfossils of foraminifera, radiolarians, and coccoliths. Because this rock is hard, very fine-grained, and attractively colored, mookaite is valued as knapping material by flintknappers.
The yellowish and reddish colors are from iron oxide impurities (limonite and hematite).
This photo of the Elfshot banner appears in the Sept 26th 2009, Canada Blog Friends profile of Elfshot: Sticks and Stones .
The blog is a front for an information and education / artifacts repair and replication portal Elfshot Gallery. The scholarly backdrop for this encounter includes exotic locations like St Johns Newfoundland and Vulcan Alberta and boasts images of archeological sites all across Northern Canada. Tim is a flintknapper which means he knows how to make stone arrowheads.
Lithic reduction involves the use of a hard hammer precursor, such as a hammerstone, a soft hammer fabricator (made of wood, bone or antler), or a wood or antler punch to detach lithic flakes from a lump of tool stone called a lithic core (also known as the "objective piece"). As flakes are detached in sequence, the original mass of stone is reduced; hence the term for this process. Lithic reduction may be performed in order to obtain sharp flakes, on which a variety of tools can be made, or to rough out a blank for later refinement into a projectile point, knife, or other object. Flakes of regular size that are at least twice as long as they are broad are called blades. Lithic tools produced this way may be bifacial (exhibiting flaking on both sides) or unifacial (exhibiting flaking on one side only).
Cryptocrystalline or amorphous stone such as chert, flint, obsidian, and chalcedony, as well as other fine-grained stone material, such as rhyolite, felsite, and quartzite, were used as a source material for producing stone tools. As these materials lack natural planes of separation, conchoidal fractures occur when they are struck with sufficient force. The propagation of force through the material takes the form of a Hertzian cone that originates from the point of impact and results in the separation of material from the objective piece, usually in the form of a partial cone, commonly known as a lithic flake. This process is predictable, and allows the flintknapper to control and direct the application of force so as to shape the material being worked.
[from the Wiki entry: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chipped_stone ]
This photo of Tim Rast appears in the Sept 26th 2009, Canada Blog Friends profile of Elfshot: Sticks and Stones . The scholarly backdrop for that web encounter includes exotic locations like St Johns Newfoundland and archeological sites in Labrador, and northern Canada. Tim Rast is a 'flintknapper' which means he knows how to make stone arrowheads. You can see more examples of his work and learn more about flintknapping inside the Elfshot Gallery proper.
This photo of Tim Rast appears in the Sept 26th 2009, Canada Blog Friends profile of Elfshot: Sticks and Stones
The scholarly backdrop for this image is The Rooms in St Johns Newfoundland where he works to analyze and in some cases replicate artifacts found on local archeological sites.
Tim is a flintknapper which means he knows how to make stone arrowheads.
Anasazi State Park Museum
Utah Route 12
Boulder, UT
The Art of Flintknapping
Flintknapping is the shaping of rock by breaking off pieces. Native Americans use flintknapping to manufacture tools such as projectile points, knives, scrapers and drills. Only a few basic tools are needed to shape the stone. Hammerstones are round, hard stones used to break down big rocks or remove large flakes of stone. This creates a blank, which is the starting base. Blanks were easier to transport than raw stone, so it was common for prehistoric tribes to trade them. When a flintknapper is ready to turn a blank into a tool, he or she will continue shaping the stone with a billet made from an antler. This tool removes smaller flakes and shapes the stone with greater precision. At each stage of production, some stone material will be discarded. These unwanted pieces are referred to as debitage.
Today, flintknappers live all over the world. Archaeologists who practice flintknapping use it to help them understand the past. Some flintknappers use their tools in hunting or for outdoor survival, while others create works of art for jewelry or display. Flaked stone tools are not just created for daily use – they have also been found buried with the dead.
The lightboxes to the right contain stone tools created by local artist Todd Campbell. Due to the translucency of the stone, the rich colors that occur naturally in local rock are enhanced when viewed in front of a light source. The same techniques used to create these works of art are used by indigenous peoples around the world.
Compare the modern tools with the prehistoric tools from the Behunin collection. What differences and similarities do you see?
Utah National Parks Trip
Mountain Man Rendezvous Mountain Man Rendezvous - These Flintknappers demonstrate the art of shapping flint into arrow heads and spear heads. Their camp sites were teepees and their dress were leathers and indian style adornments.
This photo of a Newfoudnland engraving was borrowed from the CBC website in connection with a St Johns archeologist doing work documenting the transaction thats visible here - I made a note but
the image appears in the Sept 26th 2009, Canada Blog Friends profile of Elfshot: Sticks and Stones .
Tim Rast is a flintknapper which means he knows how to make stone arrowheads.
Mookaite from the Cretaceous of Western Australia.
Mookaite is a silicified sedimentary rock from the Lower Cretaceous Windalia Radiolarite Formation, a succession of moderately deep marine siltstones and cherts that contain numerous microfossils of foraminifera, radiolarians, and coccoliths. Because this rock is hard, very fine-grained, and attractively colored, mookaite is valued as knapping material by flintknappers.
The yellowish and reddish colors are from iron oxide impurities (limonite and hematite).
Mountain Man Rendezvous Mountain Man Rendezvous - These Flintknappers demonstrate the art of shapping flint into arrow heads and spear heads. Their camp sites were teepees and their dress were leathers and indian style adornments.
Flintknapping is the process of chipping or flaking a stone into tools. Each step of the flintknapping process produces distinctive types and numbers of flakes. By studying the size, type, and location of flakes at an archeological site, archeologists can tell what type of flintknapping activities took place.
1. Testing
Quality is tested by removing a flake or two with a hammerstone. If the flint is poor quality the cobble and test flakes are thrown away.
2. Making an Edge
A small stone hammer is used to prepare the outside edge of the stone for thinning the piece.
Using a hammerstone the flintknapper removes flakes from the edge.
3. Thinning
By stricking the prepared edge with a soft hammer the flintknapper can remove long thinning flakes from the top and bottom sides of the stone.
4. Shaping
Additional thinning with a soft hammer shapes the stone into the form of a spear or dart point.
5. Pressure Flaking.
can't make out the rest. sorry.
Mountain Man Rendezvous Mountain Man Rendezvous - These Flintknappers demonstrate the art of shapping flint into arrow heads and spear heads. Their camp sites were teepees and their dress were leathers and indian style adornments.
Mountain Man Rendezvous Mountain Man Rendezvous - These Flintknappers demonstrate the art of shapping flint into arrow heads and spear heads. Their camp sites were teepees and their dress were leathers and indian style adornments.
Mountain Man Rendezvous Mountain Man Rendezvous - These Flintknappers demonstrate the art of shapping flint into arrow heads and spear heads. Their camp sites were teepees and their dress were leathers and indian style adornments.
John's uncle got it when he went to Arizona years and years ago. It is rather large: 4" x 2.75" x 1/2" (or 10.16cm x 7cm x 12.7cm). According to Gailen Mapes, this is "the equivalent of a butcher knife. There was a recent "Nova" on educational TV called "Decoding Neanderthals." They had some modern flintknappers making and using tools like this." plus.google.com/u/0/photos/101192315121866349980/albums/5...
Mountain Man Rendezvous Mountain Man Rendezvous - These Flintknappers demonstrate the art of shapping flint into arrow heads and spear heads. Their camp sites were teepees and their dress were leathers and indian style adornments.
Mountain Man Rendezvous Mountain Man Rendezvous - These Flintknappers demonstrate the art of shapping flint into arrow heads and spear heads. Their camp sites were teepees and their dress were leathers and indian style adornments.
This photo of Tim Rast driving appears in the recent Canada Blog Friends profile of Elfshot: Sticks and Stones . The scholarly backdrop for that web encounter includes exotic locations like St Johns and Labrador, and of course Newfoundland archeological sites. Tim is a flintknapper which means he knows how to make stone arrowheads.
This photo of Tim Rast driving appears in the recent Canada Blog Friends profile of Elfshot: Sticks and Stones . The scholarly backdrop for that web encounter includes exotic locations like St Johns and Labrador, and of course Newfoundland archeological sites. Tim is a flintknapper which means he knows how to make stone arrowheads.
This photo of Tim Rast appears in the Sept 26th 2009, Canada Blog Friends profile of Elfshot: Sticks and Stones . The scholarly backdrop for that web encounter includes exotic locations like St Johns and Labrador, and of course Newfoundland archeological sites. Tim is a flintknapper which means he knows how to make stone arrowheads.
A obsidian point made by a contemporary flintknapper is seen at the Yellowstone Heritage and Research Center Park in Gardiner, Montana February 7, 2023. Photo by Natalie Behring for the New York Times
John's uncle got it when he went to Arizona years and years ago. It is rather large: 4" x 2.75" x 1/2" (or 10.16cm x 7cm x 12.7cm). According to Gailen Mapes, this is "the equivalent of a butcher knife. There was a recent "Nova" on educational TV called "Decoding Neanderthals." They had some modern flintknappers making and using tools like this." plus.google.com/u/0/photos/101192315121866349980/albums/5...
Mountain Man Rendezvous Mountain Man Rendezvous - These Flintknappers demonstrate the art of shapping flint into arrow heads and spear heads. Their camp sites were teepees and their dress were leathers and indian style adornments.
John's uncle got it when he went to Arizona years and years ago. It is rather large: 4" x 2.75" x 1/2" (or 10.16cm x 7cm x 12.7cm). According to Gailen Mapes, this is "the equivalent of a butcher knife. There was a recent "Nova" on educational TV called "Decoding Neanderthals." They had some modern flintknappers making and using tools like this." plus.google.com/u/0/photos/101192315121866349980/albums/5...
via Tumblr.
That #newengland #connecticut style #flutedpoint #arrowhead from last night, decided to not make it a projectile but a #skinning and #butchering #knife. Makes me wonder how many #Clovis points were actually #knives #paleo #paleolithic #archaeology #anthropology #bushcraft #outdoorsman #survival #hunting #spearfishing #knife #flintknapper #crafts #primitive #limestone #paleotechnology #visionquest #caveman #flintknapping #chipping #aboriginal #biggame #rhyolite ift.tt/2aLbF0P
John's uncle got it when he went to Arizona years and years ago. It is rather large: 4" x 2.75" x 1/2" (or 10.16cm x 7cm x 12.7cm). According to Gailen Mapes, this is "the equivalent of a butcher knife. There was a recent "Nova" on educational TV called "Decoding Neanderthals." They had some modern flintknappers making and using tools like this." plus.google.com/u/0/photos/101192315121866349980/albums/5...
John's uncle got it when he went to Arizona years and years ago. It is rather large: 4" x 2.75" x 1/2" (or 10.16cm x 7cm x 12.7cm). According to Gailen Mapes, this is "the equivalent of a butcher knife. There was a recent "Nova" on educational TV called "Decoding Neanderthals." They had some modern flintknappers making and using tools like this." plus.google.com/u/0/photos/101192315121866349980/albums/5...
Mountain Man Rendezvous Mountain Man Rendezvous - These Flintknappers demonstrate the art of shapping flint into arrow heads and spear heads. Their camp sites were teepees and their dress were leathers and indian style adornments.
John's uncle got it when he went to Arizona years and years ago. It is rather large: 4" x 2.75" x 1/2" (or 10.16cm x 7cm x 12.7cm). According to Gailen Mapes, this is "the equivalent of a butcher knife. There was a recent "Nova" on educational TV called "Decoding Neanderthals." They had some modern flintknappers making and using tools like this." plus.google.com/u/0/photos/101192315121866349980/albums/5...
John's uncle got it when he went to Arizona years and years ago. It is rather large: 4" x 2.75" x 1/2" (or 10.16cm x 7cm x 12.7cm). According to Gailen Mapes, this is "the equivalent of a butcher knife. There was a recent "Nova" on educational TV called "Decoding Neanderthals." They had some modern flintknappers making and using tools like this." plus.google.com/u/0/photos/101192315121866349980/albums/5...
Mookaite from the Cretaceous of Western Australia.
Mookaite is a silicified sedimentary rock from the Lower Cretaceous Windalia Radiolarite Formation, a succession of moderately deep marine siltstones and cherts that contain numerous microfossils of foraminifera, radiolarians, and coccoliths. Because this rock is hard, very fine-grained, and attractively colored, mookaite is valued as knapping material by flintknappers.
John's uncle got it when he went to Arizona years and years ago. It is rather large: 4" x 2.75" x 1/2" (or 10.16cm x 7cm x 12.7cm). According to Gailen Mapes, this is "the equivalent of a butcher knife. There was a recent "Nova" on educational TV called "Decoding Neanderthals." They had some modern flintknappers making and using tools like this." plus.google.com/u/0/photos/101192315121866349980/albums/5...
Mookaite from the Cretaceous of Western Australia.
Mookaite is a silicified sedimentary rock from the Lower Cretaceous Windalia Radiolarite Formation, a succession of moderately deep marine siltstones and cherts that contain numerous microfossils of foraminifera, radiolarians, and coccoliths. Because this rock is hard, very fine-grained, and attractively colored, mookaite is valued as knapping material by flintknappers.
Mookaite from the Cretaceous of Western Australia.
Mookaite is a silicified sedimentary rock from the Lower Cretaceous Windalia Radiolarite Formation, a succession of moderately deep marine siltstones and cherts that contain numerous microfossils of foraminifera, radiolarians, and coccoliths. Because this rock is hard, very fine-grained, and attractively colored, mookaite is valued as knapping material by flintknappers.
Mookaite from the Cretaceous of Western Australia.
Mookaite is a silicified sedimentary rock from the Lower Cretaceous Windalia Radiolarite Formation, a succession of moderately deep marine siltstones and cherts that contain numerous microfossils of foraminifera, radiolarians, and coccoliths. Because this rock is hard, very fine-grained, and attractively colored, mookaite is valued as knapping material by flintknappers.
The yellowish and reddish colors are from iron oxide impurities (limonite and hematite).
Mookaite from the Cretaceous of Western Australia.
Mookaite is a silicified sedimentary rock from the Lower Cretaceous Windalia Radiolarite Formation, a succession of moderately deep marine siltstones and cherts that contain numerous microfossils of foraminifera, radiolarians, and coccoliths. Because this rock is hard, very fine-grained, and attractively colored, mookaite is valued as knapping material by flintknappers.