Orifrog
|
How to recognise flint tools?
Apr 22, 2015, 11:21
|
I'm getting frustrated by finding pieces of flint and not knowing if they've been worked or just been knocked about by a plough.
Can anyone recommended a good book/ course/ Youtube video, etc. that would help me to identify how to recognise flint tools, please?
|
Evergreen Dazed
|
Re: How to recognise flint tools?
Apr 22, 2015, 22:19
|
|
Orifrog wrote: I'm getting frustrated by finding pieces of flint and not knowing if they've been worked or just been knocked about by a plough.
Can anyone recommended a good book/ course/ Youtube video, etc. that would help me to identify how to recognise flint tools, please?
One of the best things to do is look at images of scrapers, blades etc online. That should help you to know what you are looking for.
In general, the working on a flint tool will be more uniform. On a side scraper, for example, the working will be all along one edge. Plough damaged flint tends to have bits chipped off here and there and is much less uniform.
You can also keep an eye out for things like the bulb of percussion and ripples on the Flint. These can be indicators that it is an intentionally worked piece.
http://www.leics.gov.uk/flint_id_guide.pdf
|
Orifrog
|
Re: How to recognise flint tools?
Apr 23, 2015, 07:48
|
Thanks for the advice and link, very helpful and I'll print out the guide give it a go when I take the dog tonight.
That Adam bloke off Countryfile was going on about how he's always finding flint arrowheads on his farm, and I thought, right ,I really want to find one of those. There are tons of flints in the fields at the end of my road, and the odd piece of worked flint has been found there before, so I should be in with a chance.
I'm also going to Grimes Graves on Sunday, so I'll ask them if they do any courses - I think field walking with someone in the know would be really good as well.
|
Evergreen Dazed
|
Re: How to recognise flint tools?
Apr 23, 2015, 11:46
|
Is that the bloke who keeps reminding everybody that he is a farmer? He mentions it on every show he appears on.
I baulked when he said he finds things like barbed and tanged and leaf shaped arrowheads 'often' in his fields. Hmmm.
He also seems to buy an inordinate amount of bulls.
Anyhow, good luck with your fieldwalking. I think you'll probably know when you happen across the real thing. My own small collection is split into definites, maybes and probably nots. Scrapers can be the most difficult to be sure about, but I found a couple of knives/blades a few years back and there was no mistaking the working on those.
If in doubt, record the location (do not remove anything from the area of a scheduled monument) and take your finds along to your local PAS person who will be happy to identify it for you.
|
spencer
|
Re: How to recognise flint tools?
Apr 23, 2015, 12:51
|
|
Try Prehistoric Flintwork by Chris Butler. Pretty cheap from Amazon, especially if bought s/h. The Amazon links to other books customers checked out or bought are useful. The best thing though would be to see work in a museum - 3D is better than a photo.
|
Orifrog
|
Re: How to recognise flint tools?
Apr 23, 2015, 22:35
|
|
Thanks, the Butler book was also in the link that Evergreen Dazed gave me, so clearly a good one to go for.Good idea about looking in a museum, too, that way I'll have a better idea of what I'm looking for.
|
nigelswift
|
Re: How to recognise flint tools?
Apr 24, 2015, 08:54
|
|
The other thing you can do is search in areas where there aren't natural flints, and preferably very few pebbles. If you see one there's a good chance it's a tool - and they really stand out, especially after rain.
|
Orifrog
|
Edited Apr 24, 2015, 23:23
Re: How to recognise flint tools?
Apr 24, 2015, 23:19
|
|
Probably a very good plan for a beginner like me, having looked fruitlessly in a flint-filled field this afternoon.Plenty of the flints looked like they could have been used as a tool,i.e. they had edges that you could cut or scrape with, but didn't have any signs of having been worked. I shall persevere.
|
Evergreen Dazed
|
Re: How to recognise flint tools?
Apr 25, 2015, 11:24
|
|
Orifrog wrote: Probably a very good plan for a beginner like me, having looked fruitlessly in a flint-filled field this afternoon.Plenty of the flints looked like they could have been used as a tool,i.e. they had edges that you could cut or scrape with, but didn't have any signs of having been worked. I shall persevere.
Some pieces which you can identify as flakes would have been used as tools in their unworked state, if they had sharp enough edges and were comfortable to use. But, obviously, it's impossible to know if they were used as tools or are just discarded pieces from the core.
|
moss
|
Re: How to recognise flint tools?
Apr 28, 2015, 11:03
|
This might help ;)
http://www.culture24.org.uk/history-and-heritage/archaeology/art525415-stone-age-axemen-used-complicated-thinking-say-archaeologists-using-brain-scanning
|
