Classic Flintknapping Experiment: Stone Age Long Blades, (subtitles) Sagnlandet Lejre, Denmark

[@ekim000]

I'm stunned. It's hard to imagine the single minded dedication required to reaquire this knowledge and technical skill.

[@Aluttuh]

Just imagine if you have nothing else to do besides hunt, gather, craft and defend.

[@Bob-h3n]

Imagine the first group of people that figured this out in the past. These were for reaping grain, so a better diet and trade goods.

[@mariociaramellano7509]

Saw in Mexico's Museo de Antropologia a blade of this type, strong curvature, made out of obsidian, I always wondered how it was made, till this day. Thank you for settling a 24-year puzzle.

[@IonOtter]

This is how professional knappers create specialist blades out of obsidian. They're in very high demand for precision eye surgery, because under a microscope, the edge of a steel scalpel looks like a rip saw, while the edge of an obsidian blade looks perfectly smooth. The cuts made with such blades heal so fast, and so well, that they can sometimes be closed without any stitches.

[@nielsmllerandersen7989]

Jacques Pelegrin is actually a surgeon himself and was (to my knowledge) one of the pioneers to try out obsidian scalpels

[@Max-ek4dn]

This whole channel is a work of art. Idk how this footage is uploaded now but im very glad it is, these blades are beautiful

[@lisascenic]

Absolutely fascinating! Thank you for sharing your expertise.

[@cavecavecavecave5295]

Absolutely fascinating. I was captivated. Thank you for posting this amazing craft, perfected by our "primative" ancestors. ❤

[@marcmarc172]

I never realized its possible to consistently break off such large pieces and also their technique of increasing pressure 11:37 broke my brain for a sec

[@DottieWade]

WOW and WOW some more..! Tremendous material too...!

[@МИТРИЧ-р3э]

никогда бы не поверил, что так возможно, если не увидел бы своими глазами!!!! огромное спасибо!!!!

[@ecv80]

This is actually way more interesting than I thought at first. That technique is genius.

[@nielsmllerandersen7989]

Jeg husker meget godt Jacques fra min brors og min tid i smedjen på Lejre i de tidlige 90'ere. Utroligt dejligt menneske og fantastiske skills.

[@ecv80]

That's the hardest baguette I've ever seen in my life. And I've seen lots 😂 The white asparagus is something to be noted too.

[@mookmook5715]

This definition of real commitment.. absolutely amazing and truly beautiful.

[@robertmeadows7508]

Really enjoyed this ! I've used indirect on smaller cores & took me some time to realise how important that 'exaggerated' follow -through with the punch is to obtain satisfactory results ! Thank you Sir !

[@GuitarGuyATX]

Mastery. Beautiful to watch. Thank you !

[@senkuu_ishigamii]

that lever thing was so cool i wanna see more of that

[@homeonthemountain]

This was really excellent to watch

[@Chr.U.Cas1622]

👍👌👏 Oh WOW, simply fantastic! Thanks a lot for making teaching explaining recording editing uploading and sharing. Best regards luck and health in particular.

[@paulthebaker]

Simply stunning, mouth agape when the first was removed.😊

[@johndobbie528]

Impressive flint working. There used to be on display at Brighton museum a very much smaller 'core' that was reassembled from the multiple long flakes that had been struck from it. Probably now buried in the museum's redundant stock rooms!

[@normanodekirk6766]

Thank you for this marvelous post. 👍🏼

[@armandbourque2468]

Craft skill to the point of an art form.

[@mostly_accurate]

I've never seen a flint blade that long or made that way. That's incredibly cool. Kind of boggles me how it separates so clean.

[@Mikelectric]

it looks so satisfying but i know its bound to be much harder than it looks

[@honouryourvomit]

that flint is amazing in its quality and workability. the techniques you have developed are equally amazing. I am impressed.

[@Mars-zgblbl]

It’s surprising that shaping the two outside curves determines the shape of the inside curve

[@luisernestoramosduron3349]

Maravillosa demostración de la tecnología de nuestros ancestros 😊

[@chitacarlo]

Amazing!

[@grabacr9]

Humans are brilliant and have been for a very very long time. Stuff like this is why I have basically no doubt we built all the incredible stone structures of antiquity. We are problem solvers and we shape the world to suit us.

[@bobain111]

respect , im impressed ...

[@kriskarson2195]

Moje gratulacje 🙂 To było fantastyczne i niewiarygodne 👍👍👍 Pozdrawiam serdecznie z Polski 🖐️🖐️🇵🇱

[@СемёнЦыганков-ы9ъ]

Спасибо за видео, ему уже 31 год

[@emoryogglethorp8180]

Those would be great for taking apart large game, even that slight curve to them is useful for getting in tight spots

[@seanarthur2001]

Its really fascinating. Many cultures around the world practiced blade core technology whether it was for microblades or extremely large blades as shown here. Interesting thing that I noticed as a knapper is that the platforms were individually done for every blade. Cultures in South America produced blade cores about this size and smaller with pre-ground and pecked surfaces where the top was completely smoothed down for easier cone initiation and less platform preparation. I can see that over time individual platform prep would have incremental waste of material after every blade. However, when you can quarry out extremely large chunks of pure flint like this its not surprising that material waste was not a concern. Using leverage systems to unilaterally distribute force with added pressure would no doubt provide better blades compared to just a punch.

[@acmhfmggru]

Your assumption about cleavage is wrong. The point loading shears, whereas spread out pressure causes numerous shearing planes, compounding the error rather than minimizing it. You shouldn't make such baseless claims without experience or evidence.

[@chrisgrill6302]

Blimey that was quite a surprise.

[@dustbunny3824]

Impressive. These people were very intelligent.

[@rupertgethin-u5p]

Unreal, sharp like nothing can imagine, I’ve never seen that length achieved. So sharp do they have to be strong.

[@Forest-iv5vm]

Sharpness comes from being hard which comes with being brittle, so no these are not strong. You would need to support them in use, the flint would be an edge and a very good one but at this length it would be at extreme risk if snapping if expected to even support its own weight during a swing. As a skinning/sluding low speed blade it could probably support itself.

[@Saltade]

sick, thank you!

[@docersatz5228]

What beautiful material, and interesting techniques! I need to try some of these now. But I won't have Danish flint!

[@danielflintknapping]

I think the viewing number shows that we want more flintknapping videos from Lejre! Maybe a video on square section axes? 😁🤞

[@KnowArt]

nice

[@johnsherwin1104]

Those long thin flat blades with a single ridge coming off the sides of the ridge crest you are making are very similar to the double dorsal flat blades off a 70° "quartered" wedge of mass produced flat prismatic blades that end up with a blade core. This 40,000 year old Iberian technique for double dorsal blades from the Aurignacian era (Brittanica) spread across the alps to Turkey and became a common way to produce threshing sleds with 1000 blades used in countries around the Mediteranean Sea. (6000 year old Iberian threshing sled). These sleds had different names in different language areas. The technique was still being used until the about 1940 (see Brandon flintknapping documentaries demonstrating four sided prismatic gunflint production from double dorsal blades) (see also "Stone Knapping in Modern Turkey, 1973" threshing sled production). Mass produced flat prismatic blades would disappear from the historic timeline as they become lenticular blades after a couple of resharpening episodes.

[@jorgenskyt]

Very impressive demonstration! It's hard to believe these skills were abandoned during the following bronze and even iron age as "common knowledge" indicate. The techniques demonstrated here seems rather superior for making common tools for day-to-day use, compared to the expensive bronze casting and iron working techniques, though still rather labor intensive. Is it possible to find scientific papers based on these experiments?

[@armandbourque2468]

Until at least the 9th century, stone arrowheads were fairly common in military use. Nothing like this, though. This is tech mastery.

[@michaelsimmons261]

I often would hold my breath 😮

[@84com83]

Oh, please show me how those long, thin blades were used!

[@Makdaddy-q4y]

8:00 - + very impressive 11:00-14:00 very very impressive

[@PhilipSiddall]

Oh for flints that size! Here on the west coast of Scotland, the only source of flint is small beach pebbles.

[@84com83]

Thank you for a very informational video! I have some wood in my garden, my butcher can sell me a bone, but where is flit for sale?

[@EugeneK88freeride]

Невероятно! Потрясающий уровень понимания минерала, его характеристик и владение инструментами. Даже не верится что древние люди придумали такие магические с виду методы!

[@adroaldoribeiro4529]

Wow, just wow... Some of those blades can be used as freaking drawknives...

[@johnblais2065]

That is manufacturing,,,,,, production,,,trade,,,, great great

[@bryanjoachim5655]

So what did they use these blades for? Late paolithic, early post bronze. They look like scythes's

[@chucklearnslithics3751]

Do you find prepared core crest blades like this in the field?

[@dannycroft9627]

How would these have been used? They just seem too fragile to be used for much. I can really appreciate the skill it takes to do this being a knapper myself.

[@John-M.]

These would of been retouched with pressure or percussion to form knife blades, scrapers, burins, awls, and atlatl dart points. For this certain type of very large core flint from Gran Pressigny was preferred. Also you could simply flake the base a tad haft one up to a simply handle and you have a razor blade. Also great for making incision cuts on hides.

[@dannycroft9627]

@John-M. But they are so incredibly long, with a curve to boot. It just seems really awkward to use, and a regular stone knife, one made with percussion and kept at the ready by beveling the edge would be more useful. These things are a foot long and it just seems like you'd be using most of your time trying not to break it. I have seen knife blades made this same way struck off a core that are about 3 to 5 inches long that seem more useful. I could maybe understand this better if they had one particular purpose for being so long.

[@yetanotherjohn]

@@dannycroft9627 I think they are to be cut down into a series of smaller tools.

[@graphiccontent98]

It could also just be a very fancy way of showing off your skill. There are many flint items that take high levels of skill and time but practically they're not very good. For example. Bifacially worked knives are far less effective than a simple flake. But they're prized possession. I have no evidence to back this but good for thought 😁🤷🏼‍♂️

[@armandbourque2468]

​@@graphiccontent98and there was that whole central american tradition of figurative knapped stone- just to show off fancy.

[@larsstougaard7097]

Fascinating

[@AreHan1991]

Fantastic! But we don’t have finds of such long blades from the stone age, so maybe they weren’t practical? Too fragile maybe?

[@PaulGriffin-ox1gp]

Thats possibly the same way the stone sickle found here in the US was likely made, but its made from American black flint and ive seen pieces of shorter chert that was around 3-4.3 inches in length

[@moemuggy4971]

A big cache' of blades just like this was recently found in Texas. Alongside arrowheads/dart points, and also square celts that suspiciously look similar to the Amesbury Archer lithics. Too similar to be coincidence, IMO. Not saying early Europeans populated the America's, but they certainly shared technology. This I have no doubt.

[@cnawan]

What would these blades have been used for? They seem ideal for use as a sickle to harvest grain, but too fragile for much else.

[@John-M.]

These would of been retouched with pressure or percussion to form knife blades, scrapers, burins, awls, and atlatl dart points. For this certain type of very large core flint from Gran Pressigny was preferred.

[@peetsnort]

Fish

[@DalHrusk]

@John-M. The side curvature of the blades seems impractical. Were they chipped to smaller pieces to make a final product?

[@nielsmllerandersen7989]

Probably just to show off skills and wealth, just as the supersized axes put down as offerings to the gods

[@lumbaracres3587]

beautiful blades!

[@AndrewSteffenHB]

Is there a full documentary or more videos by this man?

[@danstueber1537]

The blades were used as daggers and were traded long distances in the Late Neolithic.

[@elgatoconbotas8518]

En cuanto pueda, practico.

[@thormidthagahast8914]

Beautiful work. No copper. All natural. Even the press is old style.

[@mikef.1000]

Wow!

[@bobfree]

Impressive work... However, rather than just banging at a chunk of flint, it would have been helpful to first describe what you are attempting to make, how you plan to achieve that, then explain the purpose of each strike - so that we can understand your process for doing the work.

[@brushbros]

There have been countless toes severed through the millennia.

[@FactsAndEvidence]

So many

[@FREDDYGN2022]

Are any of those sharp enough to shave with???

[@Thom4ES]

Very very sharp...( not particularly straight an level )

[@uncletiggermclaren7592]

A side issue, but the very thin sections of the waste, you could have set them in a wood frame, and made a very poor kind of window. Would let some light in to a room.

[@ladedk]

Very french of him to use a baguette as a mallet

[@HermannCortez]

Wow! Thisnis incredible. The supposed 'cave men' were anything but savage brutes we like to think they were.

[@neo3768]

I thought he's going to make one blade from that big rock

[@Llir666]

Это определённо самый сложный пазл что я видел.

[@johnsherwin1104]

It is bent. The method of mass producing double dorsal straight blades 5" to 7" (15 to 18cm) long, one after the other, from a wedge of "floor" flint, by buckets full in an hour, to end up with a blade core, is clearly demonstrated and explained by professional knappers in the English documentaries of Brandon Flintknapping at Grimes Graves.

[@nzworkhorse888]

thin blades, too fragile and long, I would rather shorter, thicker.

[@shawngraham7743]

Dude's chipping that whole boulder down to make one knife😂😂

[@matthewbadger8685]

i bet you closed the video before it was revealed what it was for

[@Giganfan2k1]

Do you see those flakes?!?!!! Up until 10 thousand years ago this man was swiming in women. 😂

[@blattspitze]

Superb skill and great systematic scientific work! And at 6:20 there is next to Prof. Pelegrin the late Swiss Masterknapper Peter Kelterborn, who himself did great work exploring parallel pressure flaking of egyptian ripple flaked knives. Two flintknapping legends!