Saturday, December 16, 2017

Making stone tools: Ancient “cutting edge” technology to be taught at Coyote Hills Knap-In

With a deft flick of the wrist, an experienced “flintknapper” can chip off a stone blade so sharp you can shave with it. Saturday, August 27, stone tool expert Ken Peek will lead the annual Coyote Hills Regional Park Knap-In where students can get an introduction to the ancient technology of flintknapping (a term that applies to any rock, not just flint). Students may not start out making razors, but they will learn the basics of a skill with a legacy more than two million years old.

The Park’s Knap-in has been going on since 1993. According to park naturalist Kristina Parkison, “It originally came about to complement the Annual Gathering of the Ohlone, which takes place at Coyote Hills every October.” Every year the Knap-In draws about a dozen students and hundreds of spectators as Peek leads the class. Peek, a retired Alameda County agricultural biologist, has been knapping for about 25 years. “I was interested in rocks as a teenager. My grandfather collected rocks, and I learned to do lapidary work, polishing stones and such.” Peek learned his skills from various teachers over the years including the Miwok Archaeological Preserve of Marin (MAPOM).

Today, flintknapping is mostly considered a craft, even an art in the hands of a few experts, but for ancient peoples, such as the native Ohlone and other California tribes, stone implements were essential survival tools. Archaeologists working around the Bay Area have uncovered arrowheads, knives, and scrapers used for preparing hides.

Only certain types of rock are suitable, generally those that break off in thin chips. Such pieces can be very sharp. In his YouTube video, flintknapper and educator Mike Cook strikes a chip off of a 10” diameter piece of black obsidian and proceeds to shave with it! Typically, however, stone tools needed to be tough as well as sharp. Arrowheads had to bring down a deer; knives and scrapers had to hold up to the task of dressing one. Early stone toolmakers therefore perfected standardized shapes with the right thickness—not too much to make them hard to pass through the material to be cut, not too thin to break and need constant retouching.

For the people living around the Bay, good quality stone was not found on the ground, but obtained by traveling to the source or trading. “The most popular source for obsidian near here is Napa,” says Parkison. “Obsidian would have been a valuable trading commodity for the Ohlone.” The reason for the uneven distribution of obsidian is that it is a by-product of volcanic activity. Certain types of volcanoes with silica rich magmas spew thick lava that if cooled quickly forms a glassy substance that fractures like glass. Chert, a rock in the same family as flint, is a silica rich fine-grained clay transformed by geologic forces into a hard stone that fractures like obsidian. Though flint was used in California, obsidian was more common. East of the Mississippi, Native Americans were more likely to find and use flint, since it is associated with ancient river beds, common to the lands around the Mississippi River.

In the past, the technology of flint knapping was passed from generation to generation, as well as from tribe to tribe as innovations arose and designs and techniques changed. With time and the arrival of metal tools, the need for stone working diminished, until only a few people held the knowledge. One such person was Ishi, the last Yahi in California, who came down out of the foothills near Mt Lassen in 1911. In addition to providing anthropologists insight into his language and culture, Ishi demonstrated his flintknapping skills. These techniques, however, may not have been representative of everyday tool-making practice. As Peek points out, “Ishi was making impractical and even non-functional blades, as though to see how far he could push the limits of his own skill.” In the 1960’s and 1970’s, a resurgence of interest in native cultures renewed an interest in knapping. Books, magazines and even encyclopedia articles written over the last few decades have captured the attention of a new generation of knappers. Today the Internet and YouTube provide easy access to knapping knowledge.

The tools have changed little. A modern flintknapper often uses bone and antler, but metal tools are not uncommon. “I prefer to use traditional tools,” says Peek, “though my kit is something of a hybrid. I like to use copper for some of the work.” Copper, like bone and antler, is hard, but resilient, and allows the knapper to built up pressure on the stone, grab it, and fracture it with control.

Knapping takes time and patience to master, but novices can quickly grasp the basics. Participants in the Knap-In can experience for themselves a little of what it what it was like to rely on nature for the tools needed for survival.


Knap-In: Stone Tool Making – 13524

Saturday, August 27

10:00 am to 3:00 pm

Coyote Hills Visitor Center, 8000 Patterson Ranch Road, Fremont

Event is free. No registration is required (Junior Guard Aide, Junior Guard Cadet, Park'n It Leaders-In-Training, and the 10am Group Mine Tour require an application). Anyone can come watch. You must be 16 or older to participate. Participants need to bring long pants, closed-toe shoes, leather gloves and protective eye wear. Materials will be provided, and there will be tools.


Parking fees apply where charged. Disabled accessible.

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