Neolithic and Ancient Roman Fire Methods

[@squatchburger1580]

every time I watch one of your videos I get a feeling of how adaptable and competent our ancestors were in their environment. We have lost so much knowledge, but you are helping us rediscover our past .Thank you

[@susanp.collins7834]

There is a book which EVERY bushcrafter should read and that is Jean Auel's book 'The Clan Of The Cave Bear', also its sequel 'The Valley Of Horses'. It describes perfectly how the Neanderthals lived 60 000 years ago. Jean Auel won archaeological awards for her research. The Neanderthals were an ASTONISHINGLY sophisticated civilization.

[@bernardgreer7834]

You're great at making your self understood Dave.

[@thomassmestead9905]

I learned 2 things here : I had already considered that the first method of strike ignition was probably using iron pyrite and good grade European flint in the neolithic. You confirmed that 'theory' of mine. The 2nd thing is that iron pyrite ore, can serve as a 'flint' with a fire steel, in areas where chert simply doesn't occur, geologically-speaking, ( like mine). I knew about quartz as a native sourced material for fire striking, but pyrite puts a new wrinkle on things LOTS of quartz, ( usually white quartz) and iron pyrite, here in the Western Cascades. Thanks, Dave. Put it to good use. Trapper Tom,

[@jasonpettit5688]

I really like the fact of you bringing the modern people knowledge that you've acquired throughout your life again Dave.Thank you ,keep on keeping on!

[@Nick-fu9su]

great video Dave. I'm curios to know how long would that fungus stay viable in my fire kit?

[@GAUROCH2]

I live in an area with lots of pyrite mines...worth trying...after all, the name "pyrite" has its origins in "pyro" that means FIRE in greek...so you see the conection, they even included the instruction manual in the name of the rock...but we never read the manuals, right? From a member of the Portuguese Bushcraft School...I salute Dave and his Folks Thanks

[@Tipi_Dan]

Thanks, David. This is the best video of its kind on the internet for pure information... and it WORKS. I purchased a beautiful reproduction viking "firesteel". I took my favorite piece of red jasper that throws sparks like crazy from my firesteel I got from Ray Mears's site, and hit it with the viking "firesteel". Nothing. Nothing again. Never. Then it hit me... right! This video. I just received my chunk of pyrite ore (purchased from a science supply house where this stuff is cheaper than from most online that are selling it.) I took the rock and hit my viking fire iron with it. Bingo! The sparks come off in clusters as the ore is clustered, glow with a different sort of yellow, and look like falling meteors breaking apart in the stratosphere. They can be big, and just like David said, they tend to hang around a few microseconds longer... and you can see it. A subtle degree of perception that is a treat for the senses. Then you smell sulfur. Thanks again for this practical and informative video, David. I took the information and used it.

[@ScrapwoodCity]

Pretty awesome techniques! I think that fungus grows in Greece too. People used to put it in lighters in the villages. We call it "iska" and it grows like some kind of mushroom on the sides of trees! Thanks for sharing!

[@ElmarDylong]

sulphur also lowers ignition temperature, that's why it is used in black powder

[@novabigstar1509]

I have an artifact the Native Americans used which is a recycled arrowhead in which the back end was used as a fire striker. You'd be surprised how effective a tiny striker rock can actually be and it won't bash into the tinder. Light wrist flicks is all you need. Big fan Dave! Good video!

[@infernomunky]

If i remember correctly Otzi had 2 mushrooms on him. one for ingestion i think they said, the other for fire.

[@deandeann1541]

A tip for you Dave - marcasite is a mineral made of iron sulfide but with a different crystalline structure than fool's gold - the ancients knew the difference and prefered marcasite over fool's gold as it works much better. Iirc it is what otzi actually had rather than pyrite. It is available on ebay and amazon - try it you will much prefer it over regular iron pyrite.

[@LShapedAmbush]

Two rocks, a fungus and some tree bark. Amazing. Otzi is smiling!

[@jasonmcdaniel7878]

Holy cow, I just remembered I collected some pyrite a few years back. I took it out and tested it. Man were they big sparks. Thanks for Sharing this awesome info Dave!

[@talkinglens1]

Nothing better than the application of knowledge! Greatly appreciate your tenacity for your love for this field. Thanks Dave! By the way, I have ordered products from you and they are not only super reasonable but EXCELLENT!

[@johnwhittle.22]

There are some good ways of processing the amadou, this makes it almost a leather like consistency and you get more out of the fungus. As for fungus a few bracket fungus work but horses hoof is best followed by birch polypore. When you come to the UK bushcraft show next year you'll see plenty of it

[@jasonguidry73]

Thanks for sharing that older fire making way with us Dave. I watched a program about Otzi last year on PBS where the Scientist did new scans and X-rays that revealed the arrowhead in his shoulder area. They also talked about his tools and the possibility that what most thought was his knife may have been his fire "striker".

[@markh5889]

Excellent in depth review of the various fire starting methods. Thanks

[@puffinlittle]

Greetings, THANK YOU DAVE FOR THIS !!!!! And yes, I did mean to shout this out. This is EXACTLY the sort of thing I love to do and learn about. Thank you for the share. Hurrah! pax, PL P.S. since the late 1960's I have been doing historical demonstrations and examples of what I call, "Experimental History". The one thing I am explaining all of the time and worked hard to have those that saw and participated to understand from my demonstrations was this one thought..... "Just because they are dead now doesn't mean they were stupid then." : Keep up the good work, pax, PL

[@harrisquicksilver6595]

Dave u are amazing. If only we could express how much we appreciate you sharing your knowledge with us. U are a legend in your own time!

[@deanhumble7379]

Thank you for being on here on KZbin to help me re learn these techniques that I had learned originally in the Boy Scouts and that the Boy Scouts are no longer teaching these days

[@toddmuller5992]

Wow Dave, really opened my eyes. It is much easier to find pyrite than suitable chert in North Georgia. Fomes fomentarius is only found at the higher elevations (at least by me). The rest of the fungus works well as a fire carry.. especially when charred. Thanks for sharing!

[@garyminick1050]

as always, great stuff from the phenomenal teacher .

[@ianboudreau6622]

chaga fungus (also found on birch trees) works incredibly well as a tinder fungus and is a powerful medicinal allowing you to keep a multi purpose aspect with your fire kit . Thank you so much for your videos dave proud to be a subscriber of your channel and id gladly send some chaga your way from halifax nova scotia canada , you just say the word brother, keep up the great work !

[@5in1killa]

I love how passionate and knowledgeable you are about fire starting.

[@seanbrando_7456]

Very cool, history and bush craft/primitive skills in the same video.....thank's Dave.

[@davidmashburn9243]

There is a man in Alabama, Ben Norton, who sells a ironpyrite/marcasite fire buildingkit. I have been striking marcasite against iron pyrite with amadou(processed) to catch the spark which works well. You can get horseshoe fungus from Michigan Mushroom LLC as well as chaga for very reasonable prices. I buy processed amadou from Forever Mushroom in Knoxville, TN. You might check them out. David Mashburn

[@almollitor]

I saw a video where horse hoof fungus was charred in a tin like char cloth. It worked very well.

[@cherriemckinstry131]

Enjoyed the detailed discription of how the materials work.. better late than never.. ty Its always great to find a good fire starter.

[@joshbabb9909]

If you want to research more Ray mears did this as well with marcasite and flint like the natives in England did

[@fmfm8765]

ممتاز تصرف سليم

[@Traveler1226]

I love the mix of history and example. Much more real for me seeing how it's not always as easy as it looks. Good stuff. And thanks for all the stuff you have taught me.

[@anto_edc]

Thanks Dave I found the books I want at the library of the city.

[@kbilsky]

Romans have high carbon tool steel, and they use it like any later firesteel - with flint. I made a tool steel (about 1,2% C)with historical methods of that period, and works great as firesteel. That method is known as Aristotle furnace, and it is not only one method to create high carbon steel in that times.

[@DavidCanterbury]

I would say this depends on the Era in Roman history which starting about 753BC

[@kbilsky]

I agree that "Romans" started with wrought iron and pyrite.

[@joannagray632]

Dave can you try using those primitive methods with a fluffy cattail? if it was dried out of course.

[@gordonparsons6686]

Excellent, informative video. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

[@QuantumMechanic_88]

Great video Dave . I like to show using pyrites in a very dark area , to show people they are getting more sparks and hot materials than they might think. Thanks for your research and video. All the best.

[@francoismorin8721]

Nice. Thanks for sharing this informative tutorial video.

[@nemic4188]

Field mouse @ 11:50 , bottom left. Looks like enough for a snack ;)

[@willynthepoorboys2]

Just a thought,but when you were fanning the ember...if you had a drinking straw or tubing you could have blown softly and had pinpoint accuracy to supply oxygen to the ember.

[@jabohabo3821]

Hope everything is going well for you sir. I always loved watching your videos.

[@stevenrobertson6656]

Just starting with flint and steel. Fascinating stuff Dave !

[@missionpreparedness1533]

Great presentation, Dave.

[@bigbasil1908]

Iv'e found a fair few horse hoof fungi locally where I live here in the UK. I have only found it on dead silver birch trees - whether they be standing on laying on the ground. I took most of a large horse hoof fungus off of a dead silver birch laying on the ground near a pond, and it has been growing back well (so it is possible to harvest horse hoof fungus carefully and have it grow a new horse hoof fungus from the same spot on a dead silver birch).

[@futuresonex]

An easier way to process the amadou is by cutting into it with a small saw, like you would find on a SAK or a Leatherman. You can get a really fine dust that way, and it takes almost no effort at all.

[@leasttrending]

I think ive watched this video like 3 times and i still love it man

[@earlr8595]

Thanks Dave, I always enjoy learning new facts about Otzi.

[@jocla1]

I would like to confirm that this very same fungus grows in Eastern Canada. I am sure that it is even more prevalent in the US. Thank you for the very informative video.

[@bridgettebrown6689]

Learned something new. Thanks Dave

[@WildernessCalling]

I didn't know the Roman fire method before the gathering! Great demostration!

[@maskedhobo]

Nice work Dave.

[@robertwood4783]

your effort is educational and appreciated

[@msilverhammer]

Dave, Very good historical explanation, of some of the earlier fire starting methods. Also, the secondary, and tertiary experiments/demonstrations were good too. I would only modify your method slightly, by scraping and placing my tinder onto a small platform, or shim, that I could lift up after a coal had formed. Of course you used the knife blade which obviously works too. I would also use a small bellows, basically a straw to gently focus more oxygen onto the tinder as the coal was forming. Obviously, if I needed to start a fire, and I wanted to do it quickly, I would use something like a lighter, or a UCO Stormproof match. The historical techniques that you showcased would be much harder to utilize in wet or damp weather. Anyway, all of this is good to have knowledge, just in case, or if you desire to use primitive skills. Thanks for taking the time to share.

[@markh5889]

Thanks for the video. Yet another way to achieve fire. Love it!

[@granstaffjohn]

Super video sir. I watched dual survival. So glad to find you doing all these amazing resourceful videos. God is good!

[@chamanlal3371]

I have done this stones method in forest fountain. Pine rasin will help more .

[@Moshthun]

Very nice video, Dave! The playing with sequencing was pretty nice, as it clearly showed what you wanted us to see! Thanks for the interesting video, and I'll keep a lookout for the horseshoe fungus!

[@Mr_Green892]

Dave, I live near Springfield Ohio, that horse hoof fungus grows around here. I have a milk crate full of fungus. I use it in my fire kit. If you have friends that pass through this area I would be happy to harvest some and send it with them.

[@phillipkarnehm7712]

yeah here in Troy I follow Dave

[@phillipkarnehm7712]

once you get that fungus going it's hard to put out yeah good stuff

[@phillipkarnehm7712]

I don't know anything about the pyrite

[@phillipkarnehm7712]

hey that's some tough stuff

[@Mr_Green892]

I will keep my eyes open for it now that I know it is useful.

[@davehoward6573]

Hi Dave thanks for this really interesting video on the progression of firecraft.

[@steffanoswald7917]

Now I get why you told us about the pyrite in the basic class. Next time I see that stuff. I’ll grab some and give it a try. Awesome!!

[@terrychorn1503]

Great research Dave. Thank you for sharing!

[@tommyadkins9043]

I. Really enjoyed that video Dave ...

[@4570levergun]

Very cool Dave.

[@skwalka6372]

Great tutorial, thank you!

[@WorldSurvivalist]

Brilliant video

[@sherriestes-erwin1908]

Great video. Thank you 😊

[@EDCAdventures]

Love the history you showed. Great video

[@tanfo8]

Never thought about pyrite. Good info Dave

[@jpgr8937]

I got these growing right in my backyard!

[@JJ-vf4id]

Thank you for making this video.

[@romanista77]

Excellent video!

[@HBC258]

Very good Sir.

[@McLambo]

Nice, I've been to the Ötzi museum 2 years ago in Ötztal. Very interesting!

[@RiverbendlongbowsOutdoors]

Awesome! Makes me want to draw pictures in a cave Good show

[@SurvivalAussie]

Thanks for crediting my friend Michele Lupoli from W.O.L.V.E.S Italia, for where you learnt some of these methods. I enjoyed this video immensely..

[@karsonbranham3900]

Another very excellent video!!

[@LarryRobertsbc]

Horse hoof grows like crazy here in MN as well.

[@carlinlentz6849]

Based on what I know the chert and quartz are always the harder material than the steel. Maybe I misheard you, but I thought I heard you say that the steel was removing the chert? The chert may be chipping but as I understand it the chert is removing a piece of the steel and that is where the spark is being created is that piece of that carbon steel (or iron sulfide) coming off.

[@Kristoffceyssens]

very cool, thanks for showing us. greetings from Belgium.

[@ourtechwriter]

Great, Dave! Thank you...very interesting.

[@ZZoutdoors]

Thanks Dave. ZZ.

[@daveagar5594]

Great tutorial.

[@davegoodridge8352]

This is way cool. Pyrite I can find, flint not so much. Thank you for teaching this. Your Facebook video using the Garberg knife really seems to take that knife up a bunch of notches in my book. Thank you so much sharing this information.

[@tonynapoli5549]

Thanks David very interesting subject thumbs up 👍 Horse hoof fungus plenty of it in my area if you know where to look. Thanks for sharing 👌🇬🇧

[@woodyasher1969]

I actually work in coal and tried some pyrite that I found at a coal preparation site in Kentucky. It actually works better. It’s actually found in coal seams. Some more so than others.

[@noelmcgillion9503]

great video dave

[@bds123087]

Awesome video! Keep them coming

[@robertowens5295]

very nice thank you very much David for sharing that with us I will be sure to hunt me down some iron pyrite for my go bag

[@phillipkarnehm7712]

thanks Dave very educational good luck deer hunting this year hope you get a big one

[@MetalHeadJimmie]

I can find you all you want of that yammado mushroom. I'm in the woodz alot here in Michigan.

[@Plain-Ole-Chuck]

Just came back from Nether's farm on Flint Ridge here in eastern Ohio with a bucket of flint.. now it looks like I have to go digging for pyrite ! lol It's hard to keep up with you guys ..lol

[@khamen723]

Flint, steel & char material is my favorite way to start fires. I’m in Florida, so I have beautiful flint. Is there a real advantage? Should I carry pyrite instead? 😮

[@gonagain]

Very, very cool. Thanks!

[@MentalSurvival]

Thanks for posting. I'm always interested in Stone Age techniques of fire starting.

[@firewaterforgeofarizona4304]

informative video. Always wondered how the romans did it.

[@BLACKIETHOMAS]

great info sir..really good research..safe journeys

[@radscientist]

Looks like I might have to go to the local quarry and do some shopping.

[@markisthegreat3432]

Yeah iron pyrite was perfect. It's such a useful tool

[@UrbanSurvivalcraft]

Very cool!

[@Cosimate]

On my screen it says this video was posted 41 minutes ago, and you posted this comment 36 minutes ago, but the video is 21:42 long.

[@grantglenndale152]

Urban uses a very efficient and effective Otzi clock ;-)

[@UrbanSurvivalcraft]

Lol, I caught it right as it came out coincidentally. I've long been interested in this subject particularly neolithic period stuff. I commented just minutes into the video when I saw where he was going. There was no glitch in the matrix ; )

[@johnrossSorbie]

Thanks for the lesson

[@dcslapout5697]

Wild! Thank you for the history lesson

[@ancoopa]

Nice. Thank you for the info.