How to Make an Ovate and Pointed Handaxe for

Рет қаралды 23,301

2 жыл бұрын

#Knaptime season 2 is back!
This season begins with arguably the most iconic tool from the Stone Age: the Handaxe!
Dr. James Dilley goes through the process from raw nodule to finished tool through a primary reduction sequence using hard hammers before a secondary refinement sequence using antler hammers. The objectives of this episode is to start thinking about platform preparation and making tools thinner by invasively flaking. Reading edge angles allows the flintknapper to dictate how shock travels through the rock, just be sure to keep your platforms tidy!
Comparing some real handaxes gives an important sense of imperfection that should be kept in mind while replicating these tools (not pieces of artwork). You’ll also get to see a tiny handaxe from Swanscombe to show that there isn't really a solid set of guidelines for these tools.
Grab your hammer stones and antler hammers and get ready to knap-along!
Filmed Edited & Produced by Emma Jones of ELWJ Media - www.elwjmedia.co.uk
A special thanks to the Lithics Society and the Wymer Bursary.
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To find out more about my flintknapping and experimental archaeology visit my website or follow me on social media!
Website: www.ancientcraft.co.uk/
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Пікірлер: 51

@Just_Sara 2 жыл бұрын

Well for the record, we actually ARE here to hear you waffle about handaxes!

@ancientcraftUK 2 жыл бұрын

Haha touché! Some more waffle coming your way after Christmas!

@zander1323 2 жыл бұрын

@@ancientcraftUK Any thoughts about knapping the uniquely North American fluted Folsom-point blades?

@LuxisAlukard 2 жыл бұрын

Let's all take a moment to appreciate this man, who is giving away (for free) his knowledge and his craftsmanship on the internet, so anyone can learn by to flintknap. Of course, if one can find flint, deer antlers and perfectly shaped rocks =) Thank you, sir!

@PaleoNature 2 жыл бұрын

it's important he does not giving away his fingers :)

@jordopia 2 жыл бұрын

A t-shirt with a hand axe and #knaptime on it is something I would definitely buy and wear.

@ernestdurphy154 2 жыл бұрын

Hope you post more videos soon!.., you are absolutely THE. VERY. BEST. at describing in detail and in teaching your knapping process, and the history behind the tools and points that you recreate!! If I would’ve discovered your channel earlier I would’ve saved myself a LOT of grief, and rubble piles! Lol I’d absolutely LOVE to see some projectile points, particularly Folsom and Clovis!

@eilerz 2 жыл бұрын

Excellent content as always :) and I do love the waffle about hand axes and anything else too. I’m definitely here for the waffle as well. And the final comment on the sexy hand axe theory had me in stitches 😂 can’t beat a video containing flint knapping, educational info AND good humour. Perf 😃

@postictal7846 2 жыл бұрын

Just listening for the snap and tink sounds I could tell when a nice thin or long flake came off. It was a pleasant experience. So much I nearly nodded off.

@gradybaker5063 2 жыл бұрын

I just started watching your channel and I’m loving the content, keep it up and keep napping

@stihl888 2 жыл бұрын

As usual, well presented and well executed!

@DD-kc5pw Жыл бұрын

Love it!

@KismetWLS Жыл бұрын

Thank you Professor

@blessings2you435 Жыл бұрын

"BIG, SEXY TOOLS = BIG SEXY MATES"... precisely the mechanism we've employed throughout eons to identify "smart, skilled, strong breeding partners... Hence, we continue on as a species. "Seriously 😎 cool demo, doc!! Thanks for your finesse... but... watching you knap is quite addicting!! I'm going cold turkey tonight (of all nights) MAKE MERRY🎄!

@augusthermann5111 2 жыл бұрын

Hello, I've just seen you digging in Whales (Preseli Hills) for Blue Stones in a Video about Stonehenge in German TV. Greetings from Germany

@captainflint89 2 жыл бұрын

nice flint ! wish we had some in scotland worth knapping

@wonderbubbles4092 2 жыл бұрын

And Montana! I would sell my neighbors firstborn for a couple of those nodules. It wouldn't be a good deal for whomever wound up with him though. He's not a nice child. 😉

@lougrims 2 жыл бұрын

Is there any plan to show actual butchery with that kind of tool at some point on the channel? I would be really interested in it.

@ancientcraftUK 2 жыл бұрын

Quite possibly, but I would want it to be conducted as responsibly and ethically as possible

@lougrims 2 жыл бұрын

@@ancientcraftUK Yeah I understand the challenge. If you find a good compromise I would be really keen to see how the tools are used in real life.

@marycomeau9364 2 жыл бұрын

Maybe a pig carcass could be used unless wild boar wasn't on the menue yet.

@ancientcraftUK 2 жыл бұрын

It's not a bad idea but I would probably look to use a deer carcass when I'm next in Scotland as it would give me the opportunity to show the difficulty of cutting through animal hair.

@1südtiroltechnik 2 жыл бұрын

@@ancientcraftUK that would be interesting, first time i heard about the problem, i never would have tought!

@Drench3 2 жыл бұрын

Great video man! keep this sort of ancient content coming! oh and as a side, i assume you do but if you don't have you seen or heard about Will Lord?

@ancientcraftUK 2 жыл бұрын

Glad you enjoyed it! More to come soon

@zander1323 2 жыл бұрын

@AncientCraftUK - Dr. James Dilley Any thoughts about knapping the uniquely North American and fluted Folsom point blades?

@tpal3243 2 жыл бұрын

I love your videos! However, why is the sound so quiet?

@craiglyon9502 Жыл бұрын

Hi there are you still running flint knapping courses at all ? I know you use to run them up and down the country 👍

@flugschulerfluglehrer7139 2 жыл бұрын

What happened? You started a great channel. You should keep producing videos.

@singularwave 2 жыл бұрын

It’s not really a thing you have any control over, Dr Dilley, but your voice gives me ptsd flashbacks to the “Jiggle Jiggle” song.

@esben181 2 жыл бұрын

Have you tried heat treating flint? Like cooking it in sand under a fire?

@ancientcraftUK 2 жыл бұрын

I have! You get some amazing colours out of poor quality flint occasionally

@youtubebandme4382 Жыл бұрын

Could you build a battle axe or of the Material

@dennishill4687 Жыл бұрын

Has your material been heat treated

@raccoonresident5760 Жыл бұрын

Dr James? How much do you know about gem stones, plasma lightening granite and quartzite? I would go more into here but privacy. Think piezoelectric effect on a massive scale.

@captainflint89 Жыл бұрын

what the ?

@marycomeau9364 2 жыл бұрын

Are the small hand axes retouched into smaller hand axes a child could use? Or???

@ancientcraftUK 2 жыл бұрын

It’s hard to say when only the ‘finished’ tool remains, but many small handaxes were probably curated and retouched into smaller versions over time. We certainly see this with many Neanderthal handaxes that ended up with steep edges

@marycomeau9364 2 жыл бұрын

@@ancientcraftUK Thank you Dr. Dilley I wonder about these things and the way knowledge is/has been assimilated through time. If it is possible that some of the muscle memory and skills developed may have seeped into our DNA because those skills prolonged lives and allowed for larger brain development.

@bigoldgrizzly 2 ай бұрын

Just a random thought.... would mesolothic, or neolithic, folks who happened across tools from an earlier age, have been tempted to rework them with their more 'modern' methods ..... up-cycling, so to speak ?? I wonder what their thoughts might have been 'critiquing' what they perhaps considered to be 'crude' work

@ancientcraftUK 2 ай бұрын

There are a few examples of this happening, though it’s quite rare and the reworking is usually quite basic. Interestingly there’s an Iron Age burial from near London that contained two Mesolithic axes. The burial was closer to today in time than it was to the axes by three fold!

@bigoldgrizzly 2 ай бұрын

@@ancientcraftUK I found a polished flint axe head in the mid '60's that had been retouched very nicely at the business end, most likely in the same 'era'. I lent my entire collection to a small local museum when I left for college but never got a receipt for it and the curator popped his clogs. Some years on I tried to get it back but could not prove ownership so there it stays :

@calebholle7685 2 жыл бұрын

Is he using heat treated flint?

@joanneshorter3001 2 жыл бұрын

I have been on his course and he did not use heat treated flint on that!

@austinjk24 2 жыл бұрын

That stone fractures so easily, some of the rock I get out of the creeks in central Texas is so tough! May need heat treating ? But did they heat treat stone back then ? Great work !

@henrydikeman4223 2 жыл бұрын

I’ve read that they did. They would cover their stone in sand then make a fire over it. Not sure how widespread this was, but it was done Most of the “cool” knapping we do nowadays with high quality stone though the people back then might think is a waste of time. But who has a blast making blade cores for Pete’s sake!?

@marycomeau9364 2 жыл бұрын

Sexy hand axes lol

@gustavderkits8433 Жыл бұрын

Produces a thing that looks nice, but our ancestors would have had a purpose for use in mind. Unless some of these objects are tested as tools, the art remains vacant. The hypotheses that these are for butchery, versus root vegetable preparation, versus “see my sexy hand axe” needs more exploration.