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flintknapping the old way. Philosophy What is traditional Flintknapping? Traditional primitive flintknapping is percussion with natural tools such as hammerstones and antler or wooden billets and punches. It is pressure flaking with antler or other natural tips, though copper tips are allowed for Neolithic and Post-Neolithic work. Traditional flintknapping is knapping through the stages the ancient way. This is our heritage. Traditional flintknapping excludes the use of copper billets, stainless steel fluting machines, sawn slabs, and ground preforms (except for hand grinding of Neolithic and Post-Neolithic work). These tools and tricks have no place in traditional flintknapping; they have no heritage. (Howls of protest from the anti-traditionalists from coast to coast.) I'm sorry, folks, but if it wasn't done in the past, it's not traditional. For us, traditionalism is not just a fad; it's something we believe in, a way of life. It is not a search for the easy way out, a search for more efficient tools and clever tricks. Traditionalism is a commitment to preserving traditions of value; for it is by means of traditions that value systems are passed on. We're not about to give that up. Needless to say, much more than flintknapping is at stake here. Having said that, I must add that traditional, primitive flintknapping is not the only kind of legitimate knapping. If one wishes to wear the primitive hat (never backwards), then one should work in a primitive manner. But, if one wishes to wear the contemporary hat, especially for learning exercises or for advanced fantasy work, then it's ok to use slabs and grinding--with traditional or comparable contemporary tools of course. But don't go calling it authentic. Don't call it primitive. Contemporary knapping allows the use of modern materials and tools if they are based upon prehistoric counterparts. Examples include such things us: coppertipped flakers made with copper wire or rods as opposed to hammered copper nuggets - the use of dowels or turned wood, commercial abraders, commercial grinding stones (used on the flat side, non-electrically), leather gloves, and the like. It does not include tools which have no prehistoric counterpart, such as the copper billet and metal machinery. The justification for using slabs is that it reduces waste. Once you've done your basic training 1000 times over, reverence for the material may become intrinsically more important than the 1001st time in boot camp. I would hope for a future when, as you get more experience, you brag about how little rock you use in a year, not how much. Why not think of slabs as something to graduate up to? (Along the way, practice on carrara glass, ceramic tiles, etc.) And don't forget, you can saw thick slabs and work them down by percussion, you know. Wasting any lithic material, regardless of its scarcity, is inexcusable. If you can't knap with reverence, then why knap at all? Innovations undermine values. (EC)
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