Learning Through Making

Experimental production of stone tools

Tag: Flint

Mrs Anning’s amazing fossil echinoderm handaxe

August 21, 2024 / / 0 Comments

As discussed in the previous post Ian brought not one, but two of Mrs Anning’s handaxes to site for me to have a look at. This second handaxe is another amazing example, for both similar and different reasons to the first.

Dealing with ‘similar’ first, you can see from comparing these two photographs that the patina on each surface is different. It looks like the more orange face sat uppermost, whilst the more cream coloured face was face down and protected, for many millennia (my hypothesis).

Moving onto different reasons, the echinoderm in the room is the amazing fossil sitting at the top of the photograph below. I sent a picture of it to my Geology friend, Stephen Poole, and he got back to me with the term: echinoderm. A number of well known handaxes have fossil inclusions and this has led to debates about evidence for Palaeolithic aesthetics. The most recent paper I read (Flanders & Kay 2023) argues that with the famous West Tofts example, it was simply left in because it would have been difficult to remove. I have discussed similar in a previous post.

There is a potentially long and interesting discussion on Palaeolithic aesthetics, however I think we first need to speak to Mrs Anning!

Reference: Emily Flanders, Alastair Key, The West Tofts handaxe: A remarkably average, structurally flawed, utilitarian biface, Journal of Archaeological Science,
Volume 160, 2023, 105888, ISSN 0305-4403, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2023.105888.

In the lab

February 26, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Flint, Handaxe

Second Saturday in the lab. I made some more large flakes from an older nodule of different flint. This was harder and chalkier than the new material. Consequently, it took me a while to get it right, hence the small size. However, I like it. I should also say at this point I had about five goes, destroying three flakes before coming away with two handaxes. The others would have worked as tools but they weren’t ‘right’, so I carried on with consequences.

This is the second handaxe, and last go I had. It is of the same flint as the large handaxe last week, and this is slightly larger. It is mainly flake, with thinning going on at the proximal or bulbar end. Karl Lee told me that handaxe edges were worked so that they didn’t break and leave bits of flint in the meat.

Approximately two thirds of the cutting edge is worked, and the final third simply the feathered edge of the original flake. I think this would have worked fine as each edge type would have had different qualities.

Anyway, the inadvertent soundtrack is ‘Senorita’ by James.

What to do with all this flint?

February 11, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Flint, Handaxe

I have had a bit of a ‘John day’ today. First thing I took Bella for a walk to the bottle dump. I found some blue glass fragments and a couple of interesting bottles, but no nice thick pieces.

After a late breakfast of left over veggie Shepherds Pie I went into uni. As you can see, we have some very big nodules, inherited from Alice la Porta. When she was buying them I told her to specify big nodules, as our previous delivery had been largely small ones. I should have said medium size.

Anyway, today I wanted to try breaking one up to see how it would go. I chose what looked like the easiest nodule, with flat sections as ways in. I then proceeded to produce a series of large flakes, and a lot of small debris.

For the breaking up process I used these two hammer stones, and as you can see, I didn’t get off scott free. However, they did their job and I then wanted to make a handaxe from one of the flakes.

All together I had three goes and made two handaxes, and I really like the one made from this flake. I learned from the glass handaxe I made last week, and this time stayed focused on preparing platforms and getting long thin flakes off.

One of the transverse flakes came off nicely but stepped in the centre of the handaxe (see left hand side with brown stripes).

So I did one of my special techniques that I learned from a Bronze Age knapper, and fitted the flake back in. I then whacked it again and successfully removed the step.

If you look at the flake scar on the right hand side you can see the negative bulb of percussion in the centre of the handaxe illustrating the process.

I am very pleased with this one, it is large with nice long flat removals. I don’t know if a Homo heidelbergensis knapper would have been concerned about the step fracture, however that process was immensely satisfying for me and gives the handaxe some personality. Happy days.

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