Could clay be used to protect parts of antler, covering the lot in clay using a stick to remove clay where breaks are required and just chuck it on a fire? Does antler age matter? I've one I've had for years (red deer).

Are those clay moulds fired or just dry clay?

Great video and nicely edited and detailed and very educational and entertaining.

I think if you maybe say “what’s the weakest part of a bridge, the middle,” it may be easier to understand but it’s just a suggestion I’m not sure if the analogy would still work.

Hahaha “Flint can be a real liar” 😂😂💀

Nice work!

Since I started knapping 5 months ago, I always wore glasses, glove, and a respirator. That hasn’t stopped me from getting glass or stone in my eye twice where I had to go to the ER, many many cuts most of which were not too serious, but last night I was knapping and the gloved hand I was supporting the stone in had a big flake shoot through the glove and into my hand and it was almost stuck it took some pressure to get it out of my hand as it almost poked out the back side of my hand and it really injured my hand. If you’re gonna do this, make sure you wear goggles, and have a glove that will stop cuts. I won’t be able to knap for awhile now. 😂

Wow! Imagine being able to hold something in your hands over 2000 years old! Excellent video! You had asked the question at about 4:37 in the video as to where the copper for this weapon came from, besides re-melting the copper down. Well, I was in my favorite book store recently and there was something there that troubled me. I was looking at one of the magazines that dealt with archaeology and there was an article that intimated that there was some evidence that there MIGHT have been ( emphasis on the word "might") a very early trans-Atlantic trade in copper. This article threw my mind back to a book I had read, somewhere, that stated American Indians were using copper in the Great Lakes region millennia ago, procured from a large slab that was exposed in this region. Could this be the source of copper in the sword? Is there a way to scientifically investigate this? Alternatively, where were the mining sites in Europe that produced this copper? Do we still know where they are? Would be interesting to find out . Thanks and have a blessed day! 👍👍

thank you for the video. Brilliant demonstration.

Please don't stop uploading. This channel was unique in that it had solid academic backing and a very high production value.

I took part in a program that included learning animal butchery with stone tools and we used flint blades/saws and some flint scrapers throughout the majority of the process. We used modern kitchen knives when it came to cutting the edible parts of the meat, though I'm sure the flint blades/saws would have been effective as well, just a bit more messy. When it came to making tools out of the bones, we used either flint saws/scrapers or a modern hand saw. I was able to make decent progress in sawing/cutting the bones with flint blades, I'm sure it would end up taking more like 5 hrs as opposed to 30 mins with the modern hand saw. Perhaps the flint hand axe would be more effective in splitting the bone into pieces? I'm not sure, I could imagine there would be a lot of splintering. Or perhaps the flint hand axe would be effective at slicing the meat? I'm not sure. Just thought I'd share my experience to provide a bit of insight. Who's to say if this is how ancient peoples would have done this process

I’ve got a question. So I know it’s important for modern knappers to get flak scars on the pieces we make because they look good, but if our ancestors didn’t need to run flakes because the stone was already thin enough, did they care if they got the flake scars like us?

Damn. That’s amazing. It’s so strange to see how innovative and creative they had to be to realize this skill.

Is your brother the mp who debated Nancy Pelosi? If not he could be your doppelgänger

What’s thinninn precious ehhh, what’s thinninnnn?

My armchair reason as to why antler hammers are rare archeological finds is that like shed antlers today they are readily chewed up and eaten by certain rodents, at least here in the US they are. Antler hammers would probably have to be buried or otherwise shielded to protect them from the same fate.

These look like they could have been used also to skin animals or fish. Maybe they were a multi purpose tool.

All these celt axes appear all across America during roughly the same time period. There's zero chance there wasn't communication and trade between the two continents.

Thank you! Great explanation. It was great to see the segment in the end gave me a fair bit idea of the practical side.

Maybe having a removable head means you could use it in different ways, like a chisel, using the handle as a hammer, to make bowls or smaller objects.

What if this pre historic people were living on this one continent before the land shifted?

@AncientCraftUK - Dr. James Dilley -- (👁👃👁) -- why didn't you forge the bronze ?

Still people with real skills out there. Awesome 👍

Hi James this is an old video so you may have discoverd this by now anyway. But if you smear fire cement with your finger on the seam inside and out before you wire it shut it should cut down on the bronze flashing around the edge,then drying it next to a fire before using. Maybe back in the past they would have used a clay. hope this is of some use. regards Scott

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Is there a longer version of this?

Charcoal is great. I make mine from pallets with drums

Did you ever do the bronze spearhead?

Very interesting!

Thx

Thx

I've seen a polished jade axe in a museum somewhere. Can't remember where it was. Bum! They're still stunningly beautiful. We do like showing off. I've also seen a small flint tool, that was made to show off a beautiful bivalve mollusc shell fossil.

Looks awesome. Funny to think you'd be an old guy in the Paleolithic.

What if you dropped it at the end? Lol

A young Phil Harding 😂😊😅

What is this

Good to see videos back from you!

I just wish I could find a good video of someone making a mold and casting a bronze spearhead, the old way. There are like five videos, at best, of anyone casting one at all and none that follow history.

It's good you kept a log of the events.

Great idea to bring back this kind of hands on knowledge -- never know when we might need it

Nice experiment😊

Why is the sound volume so low? I have turn the volume up really high to hear the sound. 😮😮😮

Nice

I always imagined them being useful for letting a big animal bleed out and that seemingly works pretty well. With some of those large animals they might have encountered that seems like a pretty clever tactic.

Living history

Interesting! Thanks I've learnt something then :-)

G'day James, love the video. I was directed to it by a FB post. The posters I think claimed that you were using an actual Bronze Age mould. You suggest that you've made a replica. I studied Metallurgy in the 1970's and also did a bit of metal mixing and casting with Copper/Tin alloys. I was surprised that you are using a Bronze mould to cast a Bronze product. To me this is counter intuitive if both are made of the same composition Bronze eg 86% Copper, 14% Tin. They would have the same melting temperature. Can you help me out here?

I want to be your boyfriend... exquisite delicious man.

The spearheads are much smaller than I would have guessed.

They might also work well as a draw knife, which would be really useful for debarking and shaping bigger logs.