Excellent videos, not just the examples but the knapping demos. I'm really interested in Non-Flint tools here in the UK, trying to learn how to identify lower paleolithic quartzite artefacts. They are not easy 😂
Could I get you to check out some of my amateur archeologists finds here in North Carolina, US. The tools are Acheulean style. Similar ones were found in South Carolina and Georgia I read in a small article. Really would like someone in the field of study to give a look over. I'm in land surveying so we stumble across lots of things as land get leveled and moved.
There are no Achulean tools in North America, at least none that aren't in a research collection at a university. I know this is a 2 yr old comment, but where in NC did you find them?
Great educational video. I have a few achulean handaxes ihave found from a old river channel. One in my picture is one of them. Can’t get ya head around how old they are and still in prestige condition.
Cool find :) Would be hard to tell the age though. Would have to date the sediments from the river channel, but then again there is no way to know where its original context would have been, as it might have been eroded out of deposits upstream.
The river channel has been giving a age possibly of mis 13 and above as like u said it can have other ice ages and that from melt water also coming down at other stages. Apparently it was capped when the stage went over it but that’s no definite answer. I have a few more axes from there aswell that I have dug from the scree fall of the old river in the cliff.
If u have a email I can send you pictures of other ones I have. I’ve found them on the beach aswell but I don’t count them as need to find them insitu which is nearly impossible but I do have one. or in the scree heaps from the river as they in prestine condition.
Interesting the technique with immobile hammer. Just have a problem, you don't go to the centrer of the piece with your flakes (you have a big surface of the initial surface of your block) Is it not only a question of cosmetic it is a question you produce an angle to open to be really efficient. If they have removed flakes as far as they can it is because first it flattened the piece and second and it is the most important it close the angle on the edge. Some biface to much resharpened had been abandoned because they were not efficient any more. You may pay more attention to the convexity of your surface of débitage and pay more attention to your platform. Of course quartzite do not work as fine as flint but with a little attention it is possible to do really beautiful pieces. Some of acheulean bifaces are really well realised. Sometimes an edge was with a open angle to facilitate the prehension. Frequently the direction of blows go from the point to the base drawing a sort of chevron pattern (but not always of course) sometimes it is simply centripetal.
16/07/1996 On a trip from NZ I stopped at Yport on the Northern coast of France. A small beach of rounded flints. Inspected the cliff for fossils, "none there or on beach, but we had a good look at all the flints. I tried knapping, and was well-pleased to get a good sharp flake first hit. Cave-man me, ready to butcher a kill!". But I had seen documentaries and encyclopedia entries beforehand, so-to-speak.
@@niccisherwood1550 Thx for the acknowledgement, but it was just an experience I wanted to share. I think even with my modern intelligence and culture I would have difficulty producing one of those, what, pre-Homo Sapiens tools. p.s. Is it known whether they were really "hand" axes; is there proof they were not hafted? .
@@flamencoprof there is no proof of hafting, this is usually determined with high resolution scans which will show unique damage on the base or side of the tool. This is seen with other later points and segments. Experimental hafting of these tools proove to be way to difficult and using them even more so. Experimental use as handaxes show they were pretty effective for dismembering animals into more manageable pieces for carrying back to "base". I could go on but then you'll you have to read an essay 😁
@@niccisherwood1550 Thanks for your informative reply. I am aware that microscopic traces of wear on tools can be informative, even revealing what was cut with them, so I will take your word for it that these truly were hand axes.
I have found similar pieces here in North Carolina made of flint with a little quartzite I believe. I saw a similar piece specific to my find that said it was for canoe making
NICE information & Video...Great work!!! with sweet voice!! I saw near your thumb in palm cut by the stone during the demo...he he he....where is your protective gear in your hand???
Thank you that is very sweet. I don't wear protective gloves because it changes the grip you have on the tools, and because I'm stubborn and prefer to do things the way our ancestors would have likely done things. Cuts, nicks and bruises heal, it is also good for the immune system to get exposure to things in the environment, keeps it on its feet 😁
I was given a bunch of artifacts (hand axes from the middle east) from a friend who inherited them from her father. Could you help me figure out around how old they are and who might have made them?
Great video. Can you provide me just some info for piece you shown at 1:48 ? Is this found maybe by river or is this source rock some type of alluvial gravel type which was processed to tool ? And also this first pieces in first part of video, where you take footage of this ?? in some museum or ? thanks
The piece at 1:48 is an andesite that is an actual artefact from China. It was likely made from a river cobble. The pieces in the beginning are from the university's collection of artefacts found from various locations. They use them for teaching as those were often found out of context or surface finds near a site. Some from mining dumps that destroyed sites and site contexts.
@@niccisherwood1550 Ok, thanks for your answer but you should put the credit or basic info about (non-yours) artifacts you showed in this video, or put some describing about them in video info.
I love this video! I’ve moved on from oldowan tools to trying create acheulian tools. I live in Tennessee and I’ve been trying to locate chert in the area but, I’m not entirely sure what to look for. Would you be interested in providing a video on the types of rocks sought for creating stone tools as well as the different kinds of fractures and how they are caused?
I can do that, but it will take a bit of time. Best for acheualnean tools is Quartzsite or igneous cobbles. Other mats that are better are often not big cobbles. For smaller tools finding obsidian, flint, jasper or chert is good, even glass slag or good old quarts works. I often practice with the bases of beer bottles.
Seems like things were stalled during the Homo erectus era once the Sapians arrived things got moving quickly - copper - bronze - steel - farming - animal husbandry etc
I have found another small one insitu from the river Channel the other day. It supprised me how one can be so big and one so small. I have one 20 cms from top to bottom and I have one that is 6cm from top to bottom small but symmetrical with a concave base.
@@ryziemac2146 possibly, initial raw material size may also have been a factor, or intended purpose. There could be many reasons why the size differences exist. 😁
@@niccisherwood1550 yes very true 😁I suppose they would of used what they found in or by the old river. Just fascinating that they are still as sharp as the day they were left/dropped. All the best with the videos
I found your post extremely helpful. I am giving a lithics workshop to students at the University of Crete and would like to use your video for instructional purposes. Is that OK?
Must say, looking at some of these stone hand axes sizes and lots of them lying around on our farm near Cape Town, is that these humans must have been massive creatures.
Acheulean tools were made by Homo erectus, which were rather athletic and slightly larger than modern man, but not by much. The really large handaxes we are not sure exactly why they made those. Could be to show off their skills😁
Some of those tools r so similar to some that came from my time in Arizona, I can't help but feel that people were here long before traditionally accepted by" experts"!For instance I have a projectile point,red and black obsidian, bout 3 inches long, roughly round at the end, with a crudely knapped business end.obsidian.Obsidian is always in super cool liquid state; Given enough time, that glass will reabsorb minerals, and develop a thick rock varnish.this point I have is covered!! How long does that take to occur? I have a Maya blood letter blade that came from a site dated bout three thousand years.there is no sign of remineralization
It normally takes many thousands of years for the surface to weather. It also depends on what context the tool is in. If in soil that has frequent periods of water penetration that will accelerate the process vs soils that don't.
@@niccisherwood1550 thanks for the response.I had already taken into account for the variables that would have affected reabsorption.I found the cylinderic point wedged in a crevice on mesa side in southern arizona.That is what gnaws at my curiosity; the exposure to mineral laden water is sporadic at best.Even taking into account the natural changes in the environment.if I ever learn to use my first smart,I will send u a video(don't hold yr breath) I have some very unique southwestern items.Thank u
Acheulean are prepared cores for producing flakes. The whole technology is based on the flake. Everything you find in Africa and Europe you find in North America even the triangular core but they are rare.
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Excellent videos, not just the examples but the knapping demos. I'm really interested in Non-Flint tools here in the UK, trying to learn how to identify lower paleolithic quartzite artefacts. They are not easy 😂
Doing masters in Archaeology. Really found it helpful for understanding Acheulean tools.
Could I get you to check out some of my amateur archeologists finds here in North Carolina, US. The tools are Acheulean style. Similar ones were found in South Carolina and Georgia I read in a small article. Really would like someone in the field of study to give a look over. I'm in land surveying so we stumble across lots of things as land get leveled and moved.
There are no Achulean tools in North America, at least none that aren't in a research collection at a university. I know this is a 2 yr old comment, but where in NC did you find them?
pretty sweet breakdown and nice innovative knapping ! that sure is tough rock , well done
Amazing documentary.
I am very proud of you. thank you, for your time.
Great educational video. I have a few achulean handaxes ihave found from a old river channel. One in my picture is one of them. Can’t get ya head around how old they are and still in prestige condition.
Cool find :) Would be hard to tell the age though. Would have to date the sediments from the river channel, but then again there is no way to know where its original context would have been, as it might have been eroded out of deposits upstream.
The river channel has been giving a age possibly of mis 13 and above as like u said it can have other ice ages and that from melt water also coming down at other stages. Apparently it was capped when the stage went over it but that’s no definite answer. I have a few more axes from there aswell that I have dug from the scree fall of the old river in the cliff.
If u have a email I can send you pictures of other ones I have. I’ve found them on the beach aswell but I don’t count them as need to find them insitu which is nearly impossible but I do have one. or in the scree heaps from the river as they in prestine condition.
Had been waiting for this since finding your first 2 :)
Lol yes took a while, partly cos i was lazy and party cos of phd write up :)
@@niccisherwood1550 I noticed the Dr. Congrats!
@@niccisherwood1550 "partly cos i was lazy": napping instead of knapping?
GREAT VIDEO
Interesting the technique with immobile hammer. Just have a problem, you don't go to the centrer of the piece with your flakes (you have a big surface of the initial surface of your block) Is it not only a question of cosmetic it is a question you produce an angle to open to be really efficient. If they have removed flakes as far as they can it is because first it flattened the piece and second and it is the most important it close the angle on the edge. Some biface to much resharpened had been abandoned because they were not efficient any more. You may pay more attention to the convexity of your surface of débitage and pay more attention to your platform. Of course quartzite do not work as fine as flint but with a little attention it is possible to do really beautiful pieces. Some of acheulean bifaces are really well realised. Sometimes an edge was with a open angle to facilitate the prehension. Frequently the direction of blows go from the point to the base drawing a sort of chevron pattern (but not always of course) sometimes it is simply centripetal.
Time stamp for part 2 the knapping part, 5:32 and the transforming of a handaxe to a cleaver 11:33
Awesome!
16/07/1996 On a trip from NZ I stopped at Yport on the Northern coast of France. A small beach of rounded flints. Inspected the cliff for fossils, "none there or on beach, but we had a good look at all the flints. I tried knapping, and was well-pleased to get a good sharp flake first hit. Cave-man me, ready to butcher a kill!".
But I had seen documentaries and encyclopedia entries beforehand, so-to-speak.
Awesome, I mostly taught myself how to knap, once I got the basics I watched tutorials on you tube for more advanced techniques. 😁
@@niccisherwood1550 Thx for the acknowledgement, but it was just an experience I wanted to share. I think even with my modern intelligence and culture I would have difficulty producing one of those, what, pre-Homo Sapiens tools.
p.s. Is it known whether they were really "hand" axes; is there proof they were not hafted? .
@@flamencoprof there is no proof of hafting, this is usually determined with high resolution scans which will show unique damage on the base or side of the tool. This is seen with other later points and segments. Experimental hafting of these tools proove to be way to difficult and using them even more so. Experimental use as handaxes show they were pretty effective for dismembering animals into more manageable pieces for carrying back to "base". I could go on but then you'll you have to read an essay 😁
@@niccisherwood1550 Thanks for your informative reply. I am aware that microscopic traces of wear on tools can be informative, even revealing what was cut with them, so I will take your word for it that these truly were hand axes.
Thanks for a fabulous video, no need to apologize for the hair - it's more spontaneous!
I have found similar pieces here in North Carolina made of flint with a little quartzite I believe. I saw a similar piece specific to my find that said it was for canoe making
NICE information & Video...Great work!!! with sweet voice!! I saw near your thumb in palm cut by the stone during the demo...he he he....where is your protective gear in your hand???
Thank you that is very sweet. I don't wear protective gloves because it changes the grip you have on the tools, and because I'm stubborn and prefer to do things the way our ancestors would have likely done things. Cuts, nicks and bruises heal, it is also good for the immune system to get exposure to things in the environment, keeps it on its feet 😁
excellent....Thanks
I was given a bunch of artifacts (hand axes from the middle east) from a friend who inherited them from her father. Could you help me figure out around how old they are and who might have made them?
Very cool 😎
Great video. Can you provide me just some info for piece you shown at 1:48 ? Is this found maybe by river or is this source rock some type of alluvial gravel type which was processed to tool ? And also this first pieces in first part of video, where you take footage of this ?? in some museum or ? thanks
The piece at 1:48 is an andesite that is an actual artefact from China. It was likely made from a river cobble. The pieces in the beginning are from the university's collection of artefacts found from various locations. They use them for teaching as those were often found out of context or surface finds near a site. Some from mining dumps that destroyed sites and site contexts.
@@niccisherwood1550 Ok, thanks for your answer but you should put the credit or basic info about (non-yours) artifacts you showed in this video, or put some describing about them in video info.
The " mother" of all stone tools!
I love this video! I’ve moved on from oldowan tools to trying create acheulian tools. I live in Tennessee and I’ve been trying to locate chert in the area but, I’m not entirely sure what to look for. Would you be interested in providing a video on the types of rocks sought for creating stone tools as well as the different kinds of fractures and how they are caused?
I can do that, but it will take a bit of time. Best for acheualnean tools is Quartzsite or igneous cobbles. Other mats that are better are often not big cobbles. For smaller tools finding obsidian, flint, jasper or chert is good, even glass slag or good old quarts works. I often practice with the bases of beer bottles.
This is what i been finding this last 9 months
Over a million years and this is all the tech we could develop
That technology served them well enough so they didn't need to develop more. Evolution doesn't have a goal to become more complex.
Seems like things were stalled during the Homo erectus era once the Sapians arrived things got moving quickly - copper - bronze - steel - farming - animal husbandry etc
Pls mention the name of the raw materials used in experimental knapping.
Will do so in future videos. The tools i made in this experiment was made from quartzite.
I have found another small one insitu from the river Channel the other day. It supprised me how one can be so big and one so small. I have one 20 cms from top to bottom and I have one that is 6cm from top to bottom small but symmetrical with a concave base.
From the same channel I may add. But I suppose resharpning must have something to do with it
@@ryziemac2146 possibly, initial raw material size may also have been a factor, or intended purpose. There could be many reasons why the size differences exist. 😁
@@niccisherwood1550 yes very true 😁I suppose they would of used what they found in or by the old river. Just fascinating that they are still as sharp as the day they were left/dropped. All the best with the videos
I found your post extremely helpful. I am giving a lithics workshop to students at the University of Crete and would like to use your video for instructional purposes. Is that OK?
Great video! If you don't get step fractures ones in a while, then you are not trying to make stone tools :)
Must say, looking at some of these stone hand axes sizes and lots of them lying around on our farm near Cape Town, is that these humans must have been massive creatures.
Acheulean tools were made by Homo erectus, which were rather athletic and slightly larger than modern man, but not by much. The really large handaxes we are not sure exactly why they made those. Could be to show off their skills😁
Some of those tools r so similar to some that came from my time in Arizona, I can't help but feel that people were here long before traditionally accepted by" experts"!For instance I have a projectile point,red and black obsidian, bout 3 inches long, roughly round at the end, with a crudely knapped business end.obsidian.Obsidian is always in super cool liquid state; Given enough time, that glass will reabsorb minerals, and develop a thick rock varnish.this point I have is covered!! How long does that take to occur? I have a Maya blood letter blade that came from a site dated bout three thousand years.there is no sign of remineralization
It normally takes many thousands of years for the surface to weather. It also depends on what context the tool is in. If in soil that has frequent periods of water penetration that will accelerate the process vs soils that don't.
@@niccisherwood1550 thanks for the response.I had already taken into account for the variables that would have affected reabsorption.I found the cylinderic point wedged in a crevice on mesa side in southern arizona.That is what gnaws at my curiosity; the exposure to mineral laden water is sporadic at best.Even taking into account the natural changes in the environment.if I ever learn to use my first smart,I will send u a video(don't hold yr breath) I have some very unique southwestern items.Thank u
Acheulean are prepared cores for producing flakes. The whole technology is based on the flake. Everything you find in Africa and Europe you find in North America even the triangular core but they are rare.
I think you you might be thinking of the Oldowan, which was mainly flake technology, the Acheulean still uses flakes, but also more formal tools.
No. I said what I meant. I have been studying lithics since a friend found a biface in dredge spoil on Cumberland Island on the Coast of Jawja in 1993
I have about a fifty gallon barrel of stone tools different things i have been finding.
The technology of Homo erectus
But not that big
they are good but not as good as my makita 18v sds drill
I blame Saturn for the blueprint.
Note: no examples of anything resembling a hand axe repurposed as a ball peen hammer.