Knapping is the shaping of flint , chert , obsidian , or other conchoidal fracturing stone through the process of lithic reduction to manufacture stone tools , strikers for flintlock firearms, or to produce flat-faced stones for building or facing walls, and flushwork decoration. The original Germanic term knopp meant to strike, shape, or work, so it could theoretically have referred equally well to making statues or dice. Modern usage is more specific, referring almost exclusively to the hand-tool pressure-flaking process pictured. It is distinguished from the more general verb "chip" (to break up into small pieces, or unintentionally break off a piece of something) and is different from "carve" (removing only part of a face), and "cleave" (breaking along a natural plane).
24-531: For the primitive technology, see Knapping . [REDACTED] Look up knap in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Knap is a surname, and may refer to: Josef Knap (1900–1973), Czech writer, poet and literary critic Ted Knap (1920–2023), American journalist Tony Knap (1914–2011), college football head coach at Utah State, Boise State, and UNLV [REDACTED] Surname list This page lists people with
48-426: A copper or brass tip, but early knappers could have used antler tines or a pointed wooden punch; traditionalist knappers still use antler tines and copper-tipped tools. The major advantage of using soft metals rather than wood or bone is that the metal punches wear down less and are less likely to break under pressure. In cultures that have not adopted metalworking technologies, the production of stone tools by knappers
72-488: A hammer or pick is used to split chert nodules supported on the lap. Often the chert nodule will be split in half to create two cherts with a flat circular face for use in walls constructed of lime. More sophisticated knapping is employed to produce near-perfect cubes which are used as bricks. There are many different methods of shaping stone into useful tools. Early knappers could have used simple hammers made of wood or antler to shape stone tools. The factors that contribute to
96-452: A lighter lithic tool kit to be carried by mobile societies. Pressure flaking involves removing narrow flakes along the edge of a stone tool. This technique is often used to do detailed thinning and shaping of a stone tool. Pressure flaking involves putting a large amount of force across a region on the edge of the tool and (when successful) causing a narrow flake to come off of the stone. Modern hobbyists often use pressure flaking tools with
120-437: A respirator, mask, or fan to control dust (although 68% preferred to knap outdoors). About half of respondents reported being injured at least "often" when knapping, and 23% admitted having to seek professional medical attention at least once. The most commons injuries were cuts and bruises, typically on the fingers and hands, while flakes in the eye were also frequent. Modern American interest in knapping can be traced back to
144-630: Is a field of study which attempts to generate and test archaeological hypotheses , usually by replicating or approximating the feasibility of ancient cultures performing various tasks or feats. It employs a number of methods, techniques, analyses, and approaches, based upon archaeological source material such as ancient structures or artifacts . It is distinct from uses of primitive technology without any concern for archaeological or historical study. Living history and historical reenactment , which are generally undertaken as hobbies, are non-archaeological counterparts of this academic discipline. One of
168-441: Is a resurgence of the craft due to government funding. The sustained inhalation of flint dust produced by knapping can cause silicosis . This has been called "the world's first industrial disease ". However, it is unclear how severe the issue may actually have been in prehistoric working conditions, as silicosis is aggravated by a lack of ventilation and the use of metal tools which produce more dust. Ancient knappers, working in
192-554: Is another contemporary expert, whose exposure on the television series Time Team has led to him being a familiar figure in the UK and beyond. Many groups, with members from all walks of life, can now be found across the United States and Europe. These organizations continue to demonstrate and teach various ways of shaping stone tools. Experimental archaeology Experimental archaeology (also called experiment archaeology )
216-463: Is believed to have been used to make some of the earliest stone tools ever found, some of which date from over 2 million years ago. Soft hammer techniques are more precise than hard hammer methods of shaping stone. Soft hammer techniques allow a knapper to shape a stone into many different kinds of cutting, scraping, and projectile tools. These "soft hammer" techniques also produce longer, thinner flakes, potentially allowing for material conservation or
240-503: Is common, but in modern cultures the making of such tools is the domain of experimental archaeologists and hobbyists. Archaeologists usually undertake the task so that they can better understand how prehistoric stone tools were made. Knapping is often learned by outdoor enthusiasts. Knapping gun flints , used by flintlock firearms was formerly a major industry in flint-bearing locations, such as Brandon in Suffolk , England, and
264-474: Is different from Wikidata All set index articles Knapping Flintknapping or knapping is done in a variety of ways depending on the purpose of the final product. For stone tools and flintlock strikers, chert is worked using a fabricator such as a hammerstone to remove lithic flakes from a nucleus or core of tool stone . Stone tools can then be further refined using wood, bone, and antler tools to perform pressure flaking . For building work
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#1732765276000288-405: The surname Knap . If an internal link intending to refer to a specific person led you to this page, you may wish to change that link by adding the person's given name (s) to the link. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Knap&oldid=1143459676 " Category : Surnames Hidden categories: Articles with short description Short description
312-432: The condition before the age of fifty. The average age of death for knappers was 44 years, compared to 66 for other employed men in the same area. Modern knappers are advised to work in the open air to reduce the dust hazard, and to wear eye and hand protection. Some modern knappers wear a respirator to guard against dust. A 2020 survey of 173 knappers found that 86% used eye protection, 57% wore gloves, and only 5% used
336-588: The discipline. Another early example is the Lejre Land of Legends , the oldest open-air museum in Denmark . The site features reconstructed buildings from the Stone Age, Iron Age, Viking era , and 19th century, and runs experiments on prehistoric living and technologies. Other types of experimental archaeology may involve burying modern replica artifacts and ecofacts for varying lengths of time to analyse
360-485: The hands-on approach of actually making them. Experimental archaeologists have equipped modern professional butchers, archers and lumberjacks with replica flint tools to judge how effective they would have been for certain tasks. Use wear traces on the modern flint tools are compared to similar traces on archaeological artifacts, making probability hypotheses on the possible kind of use feasible. Hand axes have been shown to be particularly effective at cutting animal meat from
384-520: The knapping results are varied, but the EPA (exterior platform angle) indeed influences many attributes, such as length, thickness and termination of flakes. Hard hammer techniques are used to remove large flakes of stone. Early knappers and hobbyists replicating their methods often use cobbles of very hard stone, such as quartzite. This technique can be used by flintknappers to remove broad flakes that can be made into smaller tools. This method of manufacture
408-468: The late 1960s and early 1970s experimental archaeologist Don Crabtree published texts such as Experiments in Flintworking . François Bordes was an early writer on Old World knapping; he experimented with ways to replicate stone tools found across Western Europe . These authors helped to ignite a small craze in knapping among archaeologists and prehistorians. English archaeologist Phil Harding
432-417: The main forms of experimental archaeology is the creation of copies of historical structures using only historically accurate technologies. This is sometimes known as reconstruction archaeology or reconstructional archaeology ; however, reconstruction implies an exact replica of the past, when it is in fact just one person's idea of the past; the more archaeologically correct term is a working construction of
456-464: The open air and with stone and bone tools, would have had less prolonged exposure to dust than in more modern workshops. When gun flint knapping was a large-scale industry in Brandon, Suffolk , silicosis was widely known as knappers' rot . It has been claimed silicosis was responsible for the early death of three-quarters of Brandon gun flint makers. In one workshop, seven of the eight workers died of
480-616: The past . In recent years, experimental archaeology has been featured in several television productions, such as BBC 's "Building the Impossible" and the PBS 's Secrets of Lost Empires . Most notable were the attempts to create several of Leonardo da Vinci's designs from his sketchbooks, such as his 15th century armed fighting vehicle. One of the earliest examples is Butser Ancient Farm , which recreates buildings from UK archaeology to test theories of construction, use, and materials. Today,
504-494: The post-depositional effects on them. Other archaeologists have built modern earthworks and measured the effects of silting in the ditches and weathering and subsidence on the banks to understand better how ancient monuments would have looked. One example is Overton Down in England. The work of flintknappers is also a kind of experimental archaeology as much has been learnt about the many different types of flint tools through
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#1732765276000528-546: The site features a working Stone Age farm , a Bronze Age roundhouse , Iron Age village, Roman villa , and Saxon long halls. The work carried out at Butser has been instrumental in establishing experimental archaeology as a legitimate archaeological discipline, as well as assisted in bringing study of prehistory to the UK school curriculum. Butser still carries out long-term experiments in prehistoric agriculture, animal husbandry, and manufacturing to test ideas posited by archaeologists, as well as introducing visitors to
552-725: The small towns of Meusnes and Couffy in France. Meusnes has a small museum dedicated to the industry. In 1804, during the Napoleonic Wars , Brandon was supplying over 400,000 flints a month for use by the British Army and Navy. Brandon knappers made gun flints for export to Africa as late as the 1960s. Knapping for building purposes is still a skill that is practiced in the flint-bearing regions of southern England, such as Sussex , Suffolk, and Norfolk , and in northern France, especially Brittany and Normandy , where there
576-466: The study of a California Native American called Ishi who lived in the early twentieth century. Ishi taught scholars and academics traditional methods of making stone tools and how to use them for survival in the wild. Early European explorers to the New world were also exposed to flint knapping techniques. Additionally, several pioneering nineteenth-century European experimental knappers are also known and in
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