Well the Olympics weren't a complete waste of time

11.3 billion, can't drive anywhere cos of the road blocks, nothing to watch on tv but pointless sports, however perhaps it's all worth it.

http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/ufQF7YrQu9S/Photo+Call+Artefacts+Unearthed+Archaeologists/ILEktLi7RQV

wow - i hope you dont mind but i have put the link on another forum.

Worth every penny.

Thas a beut! It's been in some of the archaeological mags, lovely piece of knapping.

It seems from the picture that the flint is of a decent working(?)thickness. Whereas nowadays we strive for the thinnest of finished knapped flint.

So would it have been made to use, or purely symbolic or a gift/offering.

I would guess the fact it's so thick it was for use. Also I wonder what it is made of, if it's greenstone it could come from the Langdale axe industry.

So, does that mean that certain areas were busy punting out this stuff for trade on a large(ish) scale? Sorry for my ignorance, but it's an area of knapping I haven't explored much yet.

I've forgotten the figure but a survey of all the axes found in Britain revealed a large amount all came from this industry. Langdale Cumbria was to Neolithic axes what sheffield was once to steel.

Been meaning to upload this vid to our channel for a while.

Hadn't seen that one before.

I do have a couple of thoughts though. Would this really be a right of passage thing, with everyone making their own axes, or do you think there is more chance that a good trade was going on with other tribes in the area.

I know I'm a bit cynical about everything being given a ritual slant, but it I've always felt we under rate the amount of trading that must have went on.

If you know where the best flint is, and can make bespoke axeheads, then you have a skill that will give you status. Same way that the first bronze workers, or the french(?) lacemakers were well sought after.

I have to agree, the evidence is there this was a huge export industry, 15 of these axes have been pulled out the Thames alone. A Neolithic major corperation of the day yes, the ritual element? Archaeologists love to wildly speculate...... I mean interpret, and it makes such good tv and newspaper headlines.

while looking for a decent how to polish stone video, I know there is one, saw it years ago, but can't locate it now, I stumbled on this, a swedish knapper actually Knapping the pre polish rough out.

This is Marquart Lund again, I think he's german.
I have had a go at making one of these Danish square section axes and they're rather tricky!

Love the ease and confidence which he roughs the axehead out.

I know you said that a number of these axe heads have been pulled out the Thames, but do you have any idea how far from home they have been found?

Just curious as to how far thesevtrade routes might have streatched.

Had a little rummage around Google and found this, best I could find.

from this website
http://www.philipcoppens.com/lakeland.html

Specialised trades have always been deliberatly shrouded in mystery. That is why we have guilds, to protect the secrets of the craft.

By being secretive, the jobs of the craftsment are kept secure, competition eliminated, and prices preserved.

I am now going to pretend to be an archy for a bit. The flint knappers wouldn't quarry the easily accessible flint because it IS easily accessible, to anyone.

I envisage the apprentices being sent up to the difficult areas as part of their training. It would add an air of mystery and 'tradition', and I dare say spiritualism to the act. Lending importance to it.

The rules of guilds up through to the 17C were pretty strict, and revealing their secrets was serious stuff. So for the flint knappers in that area, I would imagine dressing up the craft in 'sacred' terms would be a means of impressing on the apprentices the importance of the craft.

In a nutshell, tradition and cerimony lends a subject legitimacy.

You make a good point a lot of professions have been mystified just to keep how they did them secret. This is a quite modern example,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Chamberlen

Of course later generations can come to believe the mystical stuff made up by the originators of the guild.

And thus myths are born.......

sorry guy i`m still catching up. what amazes me about the Langdale axes industry is not the risks they take going up into the mountains but coming down. I know they roughed them out up there, obviouly to reduce weight for the decent but thats still a lump. You wouldn`t want to many of them in your rucksack and thats on a clear day. I wander how they made there forturn? Do you think they were the tradesman, knapper and farmer or do you think this was a seasonal adventure, after all it does get snowed in up there and you wouldn`t want to be exposed in winter?

No wounder myths are born.

It does make sense to me that it would be seasonal. Maybe visiting the area for the flint during summer, then either trading the blanks, or knapping the axeheads during winter for next season's trade.

Good way to fill those long winter evenings.