Flint Knapping

During this course you will be learning the various techniques and skills our pre-historic ancestors required to detach flakes from sharp stone so arrowheads, knives and other tools could be produced.
During this course you will be removing flakes from a core and fashioning these flakes into arrowheads. Although this course is very hands-on, a fair bit of science is covered to give you the ultimate understanding of how and why it works, so you will be able to take this skill home to perfect.
We focus mainly on the “pressure flaking” technique, as it enables you to practise the science most accurately. You will then be able to take the lessons learned from pressure flaking and use them to detach larger flakes using direct or indirect percussion (techniques which will also be explained and demonstrated)
We will serve you lunch in the form of bread, butter, ham, cheese, jams and other spreads. We will make sure there are plenty of hot and cold drinks available for you throughout the day.
The course is taught from our specialized course-site where there is plenty of shelter to work in if the weather is bad. The site is about 10 minutes walk away from the car-park, and there may be some muddy areas on the trail to the camp.
This course does not require you to have a lot of equipment available, but below is a list:

Required:
• Plate, drinking-mug
• Notebook and different colour pens
• Leather gardening gloves for handling sharp stone
• Cloth or other suitable container for bringing home your projects or extra flakes

Recommended:

• Camera
• Some snack food (IE: travel-mix, dried fruits, chocolate)







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