![]() ![]() It’s well written, and found it to be very useful. “This is a guide for beginning flint knappers. The ins and outs of knapping have been passed down from generation to generation from prehistoric times, yet the results remain timeless.įlint Knapping: A Guide to Making Your Own Stone Age Tool Kit Until various cultures learned metallurgy – or in cultures that never discovered metalworking methods – knapping was the most common means of crafting tools and weapons. There are, however, plenty of knapped stone artifacts that have been unearthed. Some knapped stones, like arrowheads, are easy to discern from unaltered rocks, but others may be more challenging to find. ![]() In North America, some unearthed spearheads are thought to be more than 15,000 years old. Some sources suggest human ancestors began knapping stones millions of years ago, while the oldest known stone points date back more than 60,000 years. According to archaeological findings, the oldest tools that have been discovered were made from rock and stone. When Did Flint Knapping Start?įlint knapping is a tool-making technique that dates back to the Stone Age, when our early human ancestors first began to make their own tools. Knapping is different than carving or etching: it is the deliberate removal of thin layers in the stone in specific sequence in order to shape and sharpen the stone into a usable tool. The stone is carefully and precisely chipped and shaped through a process called knapping, or flint knapping. Good arrowheads are not found they are formed. This took both bravery and confidence in the adroit flint knapper’s ability. Oftentimes, the only thing standing between a Native American hunter and a charging bear or bison was a small rock – and knapping techniques handed down since the Stone Age. An important item to the Indigenous people of the American West, the humble arrowhead – and the skilled craftsmen who made them – often doesn’t get the recognition it deserves. For thousands of years, the Native American people of North America relied on stone arrowheads and project points as their weapons of choice for warfare and hunting.Īn expertly tooled stone point could be the difference between life and death, feasting and starvation. ![]()
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