I have what is probably a good habit of giving away most of the stuff I make. In doing so I have received a range of responses from recipients over the years, from super excited, to super confused. However, it feels at the moment like the boot is on the other foot. This is because over the past two weeks I have been graced with some amazing lithics related gifts and now it is me who is super excited! First up from my lithics friend, Alice la Porta.

Alice has a new job in Spain, and she had a lot of lithics materials from her post-Doctoral research in Manchester that she didn’t want to take with her, and so she donated them to the Department! Above are some unused heavy antler hammers from a range of deer and countries.

Alice’s post-Doctoral research was looking at the evolution of the human hand in relation to the development of early stone tool technology. To reduce the experimental variability in the handaxe making process she commissioned around 30 porcelain blocks of the same form, so that whoever made the handaxe would be dealing with the same problems. I have inherited around 20 of these!

For the same reasons she had around 50 smaller ‘cores’ produced to standardise bladelet production. We have inherited around 40 of these and this seems an ideal opportunity to organises a microlith making workshop with my Mesolithic friend, Stephen Poole.

Next up, Jeremy, Ian and Lesley from Salford Archaeology. For various unfortunate reasons, Salford Archaeology has recently closed, and being based in Greater Manchester they had a specialism in Industrial Archaeology. Chatting to Jeremy about sites, I realised they had a lot of glass slag from excavations in Manchester. Fast forward to last week, Jeremy left a large box of glass slag in Ian’s office at the University of Salford and it was passed on to me by Ian’s colleague Lesley . And guess what, it knaps!

Last but not least, a ton of medium sized flint nodules arrived this morning courtesy of Needham Flints from their quarry in Norfolk. This was an end of budget year bonus, and thanks to Osen and Clare for facilitating the purchase and delivery, and Graham, John and Paul from Estates and Facilities and Environmental Services respectively for receiving and storing the pallet in their yard for us.

I think what this series of fortunate (for me and the department) episodes illustrates is the social role of artefacts and materials within the stone tool making process. I now have a series of large Red and Sika Deer antler hammers from around Europe. The porcelain blocks were custom made in Southampton for Alice. The glass was buried in Manchester until the last decade or so, and as discussed, the flint nodules were quarried in Norfolk. My social links have allowed me to access materials from around Britain and Europe, whilst having no direct connection myself.

Through this process I have initiated new connections at both the Universities of Salford and Manchester, and strengthened relationships with established colleagues and friends at Manchester. Alice received my blue glass handaxe as a small expression of thanks. Jeremy, Ian and Lesley each got a glass arrowhead, I think Osen, Clare, John, Graham and Paul each warrant a nice flint handaxe. These feel less like obligations, and more like commissions, which means I will be making nice examples, that I feel acknowledge the value of what they have kindly done for me and the department. I suppose this is where aesthetics comes in, less a functional butchery tool, more a demonstration of skill to produce an object of perceived value, that forms a positive connection between the giver and the recipient.

Writing this, I realise a real blurring between myself and the department. Absolutely none of this would have happened without me recognising and developing these opportunities. At the same time, being part of an archaeology department has provided me with the platform and infrastructure to have these connections in the first instance. I suppose it is an interplay between myself, my work role, and the connections I encounter and develop within that context, and the currency I use to facilitate and nurture these connections is, as you have probably recognised…stone tools.

One down, four more to go!