Flintknapping a Kimberley Point and Life in the Kimberley Region of Australia

Flintknapping has not commonly been recorded by ethnography, and even rarer has the manufacture and use of flintknapped projectile points been recorded first hand. One of the few cases where this was the case was in the Kimberley region of Australia. Up through the 19th and 20th centuries Indigenous peoples from this region made stone points, called Kimberley points, for hunting and for exchange with other people. In this video I flintknap a Kimberley point and discuss the life of Indigenous people from the Kimberley as recorded by ethnographic and archaeological work.

[@tristanhuxtable4037]

Awesome stuff, this is a super cool tradition and I’m stoked to look into it a bit deeper.

[@pathwaysofthepast]

Thanks! And please do!

[@TaxConsumer]

I am you 1,000 subscriber. Beautiful work

[@stormtroopr1977]

I'd love to see a video of making a spear thrower/spear. Very cool!

[@pathwaysofthepast]

Thanks man! That’s definitely gonna happen, probably in the summer

[@hiddenwoodsben]

@@pathwaysofthepast looking forward to that as well.

[@herbhunter5520]

Very nice

[@slicinison4472]

Awesome video I would like to give you a little bit of a challenge you should Knapp a calf’s creek

[@pathwaysofthepast]

I’d like to! I need a lot of practice with that style, never successfully made one

[@chucklearnslithics3751]

Oh wow! Phragmites darts? They just don't seem sturdy enough. Maybe I better try one! Also, did you run into any good typology work done on australian lithics? I've gone looking before, but didn't have much luck...

[@pathwaysofthepast]

Yup! I think old-growth phragmites are sturdier. Yeah there’s not much typology for projectile points because there’s a pretty limited number of styles. I’d recommend checking out my references on Google Scholar

[@rcmore1470]

I wish I was this good

[@pathwaysofthepast]

Keep at it and you’ll be even better!

[@darcydole428]

Your a bit of a way out on your dates mate.

[@pathwaysofthepast]

Which ones?

[@darcydole428]

@@pathwaysofthepast the change in flaking styles you talk about around 3/4 minutes in. The change can be seen around the date of the last ice age here around 6/7 thousand years ago. I’m Ngiyampaa First Nations as well as work as a sight significance officer (informing archeologists on what tools they’ve found as well as overseeing and undertaking archeological digs)

[@pathwaysofthepast]

Thanks for letting me know!

[@pathwaysofthepast]

I might need some more sources so I can cite this info next time I do a video on Australian prehistory.

[@darcydole428]

@@pathwaysofthepast have a bit of a google around, Bruce Pascoe is an expert, a book called the greatest estate on earth. And I’ll try and find the title of another book I have when I get back home.