Barbed and Tanged Arrowhead Guide

This free guide explains the varieties of Barbed and Tanged arrowheads found in Britain during the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age. A high resolution version and more free posters can be downloaded from the site below.

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Flint Knapping Tools

Antler Billets (long, short & heavy), antler set in antler pressure flaker, thin antler tine in wood pressure flaker, long and short pointed antler tines for pressure flaking.

The tools used by flint knappers both today and in the past is one of the most hotly debated areas of the art. The only definite thing that can be said is every knapper today has his/her unique preferences, some knappers prefer to keep it simple having just a few favourite tools they have mastered while other carry tool boxes of specialist utensils, some knappers prefer to knap ‘Paleo’ using only what they believe people in the past used while other knappers embrace modern technology, some knappers buy their tools preferring ones from specific shops who all make their tools slightly differently, while others custom make their own coming up with original twists and takes. Some knapper even construct elaborate contraptions such as jigs to knapping machines. The sheer variety of tools and techniques modern knappers have come up with makes the case knappers of the past would have done it very creatively too so no hard an fast views of how people in the past knapped or what tools they used can be formed. 

Click here to view a range of modern knapping tools made in the UK

Today we are still not entirely sure what tools ancient knappers used and how they used them. Archaeological finds have revealed to us many tools that were used, lithic analyses and experimental archaeology have suggested even more, but this doesn't seem to be the whole pictured as many artefacts are still unreplicatable by modern knappers, and many that have been successfully replicated have only been done so with custom made tools that lay outside the archaeological record. There have been discoveries of knapping tools  we don’t know the use for, archaeological digs have uncovered tools that would have been very useful for knapping, but not in clear enough context to say they definitely were part of a knapper’s tool kit, also first hand descriptions of prehistoric knappers by people such as the Conquistadors suggest the way tools were actually used is very different from some modern methods.

Flint knapping has been around for 2.6 million years and done globally, so it is not surprising there was a lot of variety in what was made, how it was made and what was used to make it, for example one stalwart of man made knapping tools throughout much of the world is the deer antler, however in several parts of the world such as Australia and parts of South America, antlered or horned animals simply do not exist, so alternative tools had to be found.

(Left; Flint Knapper's Kit? Discovered during Heathrow Terminal 5 excavation) 8 Arrowheads, 5 Flint Tools, Whetstone, Copper Awl.

At the moment modern knapping seems dominated by one very limited area of knapping, biface production, and two methods of lithic reduction, direct percussion and pressure flaking and the tools most conducive to doing this the most commonly mastered by modern knappers. Which has lead them to continue to use these methods when experimenting in other areas such as making blade cores. Such a limited style of knapping and tools use in no-way reflects the majority of knapping done in prehistory, the main methods used or the tools used. 

Direct Percussion is the main method of knapping used today, basically is hammering. The piece of flint is hit with a hammer, some varieties of which are called billets and boppers. The first kind ofthis tool is a hard hammer, in prehistoric times these were stones and possibly pieces of copper, in modern times stone, copper, aluminium and iron/steel is used. Copper is the most limited of these usually being made into a billet and replicating the effect of a very hard hammer stone, iron/steel hammers used in the gunflint, strike-a-light and brick making industries are much more specialised and come in various weights and shapes such as pointed, rounded, flat ect. Hammer stones though offer the most flexible option in range of sizes, shapes and weights but most importantly textures and hardness. Being able to switch between hard stones such as chert pebbles to soft stone such as limestone offer a knapper a greater flexibility than modern tools, though they take a longer time to master.

Hard tools are used in the early stages production to remove large pieces of the flint, when the flint is suitably reduced softer hammers need to be used so not to break the flint and also because they enable longer thinner flakes to be removed. Prehistorically deer antler billets were a favourite for this but also wooden ones. Many modern knappers use moose antler billets which are heavier and more dense than deer antler, however none have ever been found in the archaeological record so it is a point of contention how authentic something made with one of these is. Other traditional tools suggested are copper, bone and ivory. Modern knappers tend to use a copper bopper and occasionally aluminium ones, technically hard not soft percussion, they perform similarly to antlers, are much quicker to master and much cheaper, last a lot longer and require little maintenance unlike antler which need constant maintenance. 

A less common method of knapping used in modern times is indirect percussion, this is where a hammer and punch are used to remove flakes. Antler or wooden billets being commonly used for the hammers and antler for the punches. 

 (Left: Copper Boppers and Copper Pressure Flaker, made and sold by Prehistorics Shop)

Pressure flaking, a lot of prehistoric pressure flaking was done with an antler tine while most modern pressure flaking is done with a pressure flaker. Pressure flakers were used in prehistoric times though. Pressure flakers are short sticks with either and antler tine tip, wooden tip, copper or iron/steel nail inserted into it. Otzi the Ice Man was found to have an antler tipped pressure flaker on him when his body was discovered in the Alps, also in Peru a pressure flaker with a wooden tip was recently dug up. Longer pressure flakers are known as Ishi sticks were used by the American Indians and even longer ones with copper tips were used by the Egyptians,  copper has also been found on tools in Europe though the exact tool type is unconfirmed. Iron/steel nails is a very recent addition made by modern knappers, but were also adopted by Australian Aboriginals and American Indians after contact, so technically prehistoric, iron/steel working better on obsidian and glass and making notching a lot easier. Another suggested insert for pressure flakers is animals incisors, these can be large predator's down to rats, a set of rat's incisors were found alongside some knapped objects in the US.

In Search of Britain’s First Knife

In Search of Britain’s First Knife

Knives are a diverse species of objet d’art straddling such extremes from the minute bladed craft knife to the rugged Bowie knife, from the hodgepodge that is the Swiss Army Knife to the grim shape of a Kukri, they come in all shapes and sizes from switchblade to carving knife, can be curved, straight bladed, pointed or snub nosed, they can be made of metal, plastic, ceramics, even bamboo and used for cutting, stabbing, throwing, chopping, as a ornament, a status symbol or even in a religious ceremony. So setting out too find the first British knife may not be as straightforward a task as it at first seems, especially when we throw in a huge philosophical discussion on what actually constitutes a knife in the first place. Taking this on board the search for Britain’s first knife is going to be more a journey by the scenic route of prehistoric knif-ish development rather than a concise answer. 

Oldowan Flake Tools
Our story starts when a species of monkeys got bored just hanging around in trees and had delusions of grandeur deciding to kick start the whole technological process that one day would lead to splitting the atom and Justin Beiber CD’s. It was about 2.6 million years ago in Oldawan Gorge in Tanzania when the diminutive Homo Hablis hominid species, the aptly named ‘handy man’, one of man’s earliest ancestors made humanity’s first cutting blade by striking a flake off a flint pebble and creating the first knife-like object.

These first flake blades are about as crude as it comes but they were used for cutting the raison d'etre of a knife, so could the search be over already? The first flint blades found in Britain date back over 800,000 years. They were created by an unknown people and so sketchy is our knowledge of these very first Britons even what Hominid species they were is unknown. It’s ironic in many ways living in a country which prides itself on its contribution to science and technology that it has an extensive ban in place on knives, the very item it was man’s desire for that created this whole technology thingy that the modern world is a malaise of in the first place. 

Acheulean Hand Axes

Around 1.7 million years ago a new knife-like tool appeared on the bloc, the magnificent Acheulean Hand Axe, arguably the most inaccurately described thing in history, at least until Ed Miliband described himself as a Socialist that is. Called a ‘hand axe’ the tool was a cutting implement and although varying enormously in shape and size all designs have the quality of having long continuous cutting edges. The Acheulean Hand Axe would continue to be manufactured on and off for a million and a half years giving is the longest use in human existence of any tool and any tool manufactured for that long must have many merits. 

While Acheulean hand axes were most likely butchery knives, the mysteries, quirks and out of the box theories you would expect that surround a tool this distant in time and with this longevity are abound. Up until the 18^th century hand axes were called thunderbolts and when found in the ground believed to be the tip of a lightning strike. One of the more quirky modern archaeological theories of their use is they were hunting Frisbees thrown at the legs of running animals to bring them down. Hand axe’s size also differ greatly making interesting theorising as in many countries giant handaxes were made, in Britain the largest found is 307mm long. The complete ludicrousness of the size of some hand axes making them impossible to wield show there must have been more than a purely functional use for them, was it art, religion? One archaeologist suggests that is was phallic, the size of the hand axe representing the size of the manhood of the owner, unsurprising the said archaeologist who came up with this interpretation is female and she married a man who drove a 4 by 4. One of the more tangible mysteries of these items though is the phenomena of burying large quantities of unused hand axes together, for religious reasons perhaps? In Britain the Acheulean industry occurred in several locations, most famously Boxgrove around 500,000 years ago and the culprit the unfortunately named Homo Heidelbergensis.

Lithic Core Blades
Another strong candidate would be Lithic Core Blades, these are even called blade knives. These blades are high tech and are created by the systemic removal of long straight blades from prepared flint cores. It is a highly skilled technique dating back possibly as far as 200,000 years ago and was still use by gun flint knappers in England in the twentieth century. Blade cores were used the world over and the blades from these cores were the staple tool of many prehistoric societies being razor sharp and manufacturable in seconds. They would have been used for all tasks imagineable from cutting meat and vegetables to making cloth or even agriculture, the abundant blades would simply be used for a few minutes until blunt, thrown away and another one grabbed. They were the world’s first completely disposable tool. 

The technique for making these blades is best described as bloody difficult to do but is extremely ergonomic aswell as virtually the whole flint nodule can be turned into blades with little wastage. Blade core technology proves that Britian did once actually have an efficient industry, just you have to go back two hundred thousand years to find it.

An excellent film of a Brandon knapper making these blades can be seen here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgLCXkOv-bc

Microliths

Microliths is a name given to a whole miniature tool kit and includes knife style blades. Being called micro it doesn’t take a degree in linguistics to work out these blades are extremely small however if you regard a doctors scalpel as a knife it would be hard to say these minute scalpel like implements aren’t knives too. 

Microliths first appeared around 30,000 years ago in China, when they arrived in Britain is more sketchy, they may have made it before the Dimlington Stadial but they definitely arrived after it during the Mesolithic era where they became the whole basis of technology in Britain for millennia. There are two kinds of microliths, the older Laminar ones which are simple straight blades and later geometric shaped ones. 

Discoidal knives

After thousands of years of using microliths people in Britain finally went bugger it they’re too fiddly and concluded they needed something they could get their fingers around, a more sensible design of knife, naturally they came up with a circular one.

Discoidal knives were manufactured in Britain during the Neolithic Era, the rather odd shape does have some logic to it honest! It gives it the longest possible cutting edge possible and as it blunted could just be rotated. Also resharpening would be easier than with a straight blade. 

Plano Convex Knives

Plano convex knives or ‘slug knives’ are an especially British knife appearing in the late Neolithic. Plano Convex means flat on one side and rounded on the other. They were manufacture from Blade Core Blades, the inner flat side of the blade being left unknapped and the outer ridged edge being flaked over, this basically made the blade eco friendly as the blades were resharpenable and didn’t need to be disposed of after one use. Slug knives then were officially the beginning of the green movement in Britain and shortly after green and black top bins became common outside all roundhouses. 


Beaker Daggers
With the coming of the Bronze Age stone technology died...... No actually it didn’t, it boomed, you see metal at first was only available to a few people, the super rich or people good at plundering things from the super rich. Knappers got brand new tools kit including metal tools which improved their knapping quality skyward and a whole lot of custom orders flooded in from the middle classes who couldn’t afford shiny metal things so wanted decent flint imitations.

Beaker Daggers were the finest flint knives ever produced in Britain and clearly and indisputably knives. The only problem is they first appeared in the Bronze Age and seem to be imitations of copper or bronze knives. This would rather surreally mean stone technology post dated metal technology. 

Beaker daggers are large usually 7-8 inches on average and were hafted with wooden handled similar to the ones bronze and copper knives had. They vary in design but seem to be very wide at the tip and designed for cutting not stabbing, it’s unlikely their use was as a weapon if they even had a use at all beyond that of status symbol.

Non-Conclusion
I set out to discover what Britain’s first knife and have travelled through 2.6 million years in order to do so. Somewhere along the line Britain’s first knife has revealed itself, the question is where? I would guess different readers will have their own views, so I offer no conclusion to this article but instead a question, which is Britain's first knife?

British Neolithic Arrowheads Video

This video is made as a follow up to last month's post explaining the seven main types of arrowheads found in Britain during the Neolithic Era.

These arrowheads were made for our...........  Arrowhead Set Range.

Set contains one of each king and come in a display box. Other sets are also available featuring different kinds of arrowheads. 

British Neolithic Arrowhead Poster

This free poster explains the variety of arrowheads found in Britain during neolithic times. A high resolution version and more free posters can be downloaded from the site below.

Free Posters Click Here

Leaf Shaped Arrowheads

Prehistorics reproductions of the wide variety of leaf blades style found in the UK.

Leaf Arrowheads are a diverse category of arrowheads which dominated the early Neolithic Era, are found in smaller numbers dating from the mid Neolithic and become quite scarce in late Neolithic. The decline most likely demonstrates their gradual replacement as more effective designs of arrowhead were created. 

Leaf Arrowheads can be divided into two broad types, oval and kite shapes, these can be both long and thin or short and wide. Some found can be very crude only basically shaped while others incredibly thin and delicate showing an immense amount of skill which were most likely status symbols as they were far to delicate to shoot. 

Left: Kite shaped arrowhead found in Wandsworth. Below: classic leaf design.

Lacking barbs leaf arrowheads are not as effective as later Neolithic designs but not being notched are easier to make. One suggestion is as the Neolithic farming evolution was taking place and knapping was changing from being a survival skill learnt to a basic level by everyone, to an artisan trade done by a specialists in a pastoral community, that the leaf arrowhead was a transitory arrowhead. As highly skilled knappers emerged the crude Mesolithic designs began to go out of fashion and the more aesthetic leaf arrowhead was introduced, being manufacturable in both cruder forms by basic knappers and highly skilled forms it fitted all for a period until knapping became entirely specialised.

Petit Tranchet Transverse Arrowheads

Petit Tranchet arrowheads are similar in design to Chisel Arrowheads however they are transverse. Transverse means they were knapped sideways. Usually arrowheads are knapped along the length of the flake, but with transverse arrowheads they go from one side to the other across the width of the flake. Also rather than being made from either a debitage flake or a custom removed flake from a prepared nodule they made from blade struck off a blade core. 

There is nothing as sharp as the edge of a newly stuck flint flake,  no amount of retouching can come even close to this level of sharpness, the Petit Tranchet design makes use of this. Designs that narrow towards a point retouching must always be done to shape them however the Petit Tranchet's unusual design allows the unmodified edge to be retained as tip. 

The advantage of a blade core industry is that blades can be turned into almost all flint tools, knives, drills, butchery tools, woodworking tools, leather working tools, sickles and hunting weapons, almost all knapping needs bar axes and adzes can be created from cores. This creates standardisation, a person need only carry a few blades with them and they can modify them on the spot to any tools. It also creates specialisation of industry where people can become highly skilled at producing at one kind of knapping. Petit Tranchets then coming from cores provide a blade based industry a quality easy to manufacture arrowhead, whereas any other design would require knappers with differing skills such as pressure flaking and bifacial knapping.

Making a Petit Tranchet from a blade is quite easy, but generating a blade to make one from highly skilled, in blade core industries this means division of the labour is possible, a specialist expert knapper will provide the blades then anyone can take them and make their own tools from them, with the case of hunters, that being arrowheads. This introduces many of the principles of mass production to flint tool making.

Neolithic & Mesolithic Petit Tranchet Arrowheads 

found in various places inNorthern Europe