Otzi had a birch bark cup he carried embers with. Try making a birch bark cup and putting powdered tinder fungus into the cup, then strike the flint with the marcasite into the cup to help direct stray sparks into the fungus without the chance of accidentally hitting the pile of tinder and knocking it around. The sparks will bounce off the inside of the bark and land onto the tinder fungus every time. He did it this way because the cup blocks wind and protects his precious tinder pile from blowing away in the wind. If you are surviving in the wild every day like him, you would be as smart as him because your life depends on it. Every piece of his kit was multifunctional. Try it like this and don't resort to steel because that is disappointing to see you give up and cheat.
I still appreciated the video & firgave the " cheat" because it was at least announced that he did so, unlike with modern political officials (almost anywhere)
Traces of pyrite were identified on the tinder fungus Ötzi carried in his toolkit, so he had it at some point. But it may have either become separated from the rest of the kit in the thousands of years after his death, or more likely, it succumbed to pyrite decay and corroded away. Or maybe he just dropped it, who knows! And a couple more points: 1) Try a little longer with the flint and pyrite, it can take awhile! But it can get easier once some pyrite dust has accumulated on the surface of the tinder (and with practice). 2) Raw, unprocessed amadou can be quite difficult to light with flint and steel, especially using the spark-throwing method you're using. You can try beating the amadou into a flat sheet and lighting it like you would charcloth (laying on top of the flint edge), but this is even more effective (and more common back in the day) when your amadou is treated with saltpeter.
I don't think he used pyrite. There is a closely related mineral that is pyrite that is crystallized differently called marcasite. It is easily available online, it works far better than pyrite to start fires. It is sometimes used in jewelry. It is what was actually used in wheel lock muskets rather than pyrite. I believe if you use marcasite you while solve the mystery of how Otzi started fires. Marcasite has been found in archaeological context. For years excavators failed to note the difference between marcasite and pyrite when they found it, and often erroneously labelled it incorrectly as pyrite. It is somewhat less common than pyrite, but the ancients were well aware of the difference and made use of its superior ability to spark and ignite fire.
Hi there, you are right! I have a more recent video where I use mercasite instead. A solid mineral that easily produce sparks much better than pyrite. The pyrite is very frigile, a cluster. It crumbles. Thank you for sharing your knowledge. 🔥👍
Pyrite and marcasite are chemically identical, just different crystal habits, and they can phase into one another depending on the surrounding environment (i.e. you can find a "marcasite" nodule that X-ray diffraction testing will tell you is now composed of pyrite). My point: they both work just fine to produce sparks.
With the method you are using at the start, you should be striking the steel with the pyrites, which will direct the sparks downward. By striking the pyrites with the steel, the sparks are directed upward and not onto the tinder. Again, though you were clearly successful, it is usually better to put the char cloth on top of the flint. Also, for the other commenters, as far as I am aware, amadou is only made from the inner material of the Fomes fomentarius BRACKET fungus; Boletus is a completely different taxa comprising many edible mushrooms. Incidentally, Fomes fomentarius was also found with Otzi's belongings. Chaga also has a number of proven medical uses, so may have been a multi-use item. As for the lack of pyrite...stolen by the guys he was fighting with? It would have been quite a valuable item...but then so was the copper axe. It is also possible it is still sitting at the find site, one rock among many. Nice video mate, I will be checking out some more of your content!
Hi mate, thanks for the feedback! Yes there is some confusion about the fungi, and I am not an expert - I am sure you are right! Don´t miss the coming video this week here about the unsolved case of Ötzi the Iceman. Take care and thanks for watching!
Otzi surprised everyone with his intelligence. He was a true Master of his occupation and perhaps ahead of his time. Even his bow was made of the very best wood for that purpose. I have no doubt he could skillfully start a fire in windy cold mountain conditions.
Probably yes. I believe, being an amateur on the subject, that he was an "average" neolithic man. No more no less. But he happened to be in some trouble, or perhaps he got himself in some trouble. Perhaps he worked as a smelter. Thanks for watching mate :) /Jonas
When I first heard about his fire kit, I was reminded of a few similar kits that I have read about. In Jerzy Kosinski's, The Painted Bird, the boy carried a coffee can stuffed with moss, and one small ember (he called it his comet). When he needed to make a fire, he would spin the can, which was attached to a length of chord that he used to attach it to himself, when he was traveling. I also read of a pouch made of leaves, also stuffed with moss, that the Mbaka people of the Ituri forest carry for the same purpose, and utilize in a very similar way. Even as late as the 19th century, one would rarely allow ones hearth to have no burning embers going . Fire, like water, is life.
Ötzi is really Wim Hoff. He sneaks out of the freezer when nobody is looking, to do Ted talks and send me spam mail. Nobody has seen them together, am I right?
The lessons being Otzi was likely an expert, with years or decades of experience making fires this way. He probably needed a few grams of tinder and a few swings of the flint to catch it. So practice, practice, practice?
@@campsitesweden I liked your demo. It brought home to me just how useless I would be if thrust into a wilderness situation and required to get a fire started to cook, stay warm or fend off wild animals.
I seem to always see scenarios where basically somebody shot otzi and left him laying there- wouldn't it make more sense that he was on the run? His body wasn't recovered by anyone and wasn't stripped-- i imagine a copper axe would be way too valuable to just leave with a corpse. I think if anybody had been aware of where he fell his possessions would've been snagged by somebody. He was on the run.
Thanks to you subscribers I realized that this ancient method probably included marcasite (another form of pyrite), and boletus fungus (amadou). This will be covered in an upcoming video on this channel. Stay tuned! 🔥
I have started several fires using marcasite and flint. I used very soft chaga and a black smths file to make a large amount of fine sawdist like material in the bottom of a pie tin. Then I struck a piece of marcasite with a piece of flint many many times to produce fine red sparks on to the chaga dust. I did this in a some what dimly light room with just enough light. to avoid striking my fingers. I then let the dust burn enough to light a larger piece of chaga which I used in a birds nest for open flame. Both of these times took 5 to 10 minutes. Otsi did not have the file or the pie tin but then he probably had years of experience.
Strange as it may seem Marcasite and Flint are both found at the bottom of the White Clifs of Dover. And this is probably how ancient man discoverd the connection of these two materials to make fire.
Nice video. Dave Canterbury did a video while in Sweden on flint and pyrite to start fires. We normally pick pyrite pieced that are gold color and even have defined crystals in it. He showed this pyrite doesn't work well. If you get a cruder form of pyrite that isn't all gold and hasn't formed crystal it will work much better. It goes from all most impossible to just extremely difficult. Your burning ember in the fungus was a way fire was carried from one location to another. This showed these cultures had ab extremely difficult time starting fire and would rather carry it they could.
I often wonder why stone age people would carry fire. And they did carry fire. But they knew how to make a fire drill. And once you get the hang of it you can create an ember in les than 30 sec in that way..
@mike Kennedy Thats true, after this video I have tried Mercasite, which is a pure crystal form of pyrite (sort of), and it was so much easier! Pyrite clusters just crumbles to pieces. Carrying embers/fire is an interesting custom. I have heard it was done (or is?) into recent times in Australia by native people. And as we know Ötzi also had a birch bark container with embers. /Jonas
Here's my thinking. We know he was injured. So what if the stuff he has was just his essentials. Meaning the lightest easiest to carry- not necessarily the best way to start a fire. Also with experience comes tricks we don't know because we don't have those needs. I think people looking at it like that was his main system is not quite right. But it could be we just don't know
I agree that his stuff could have been his essentials. It´s easy and tempting to craft stories of heroism based on a find such as the Iceman. But honestly I believe he was an average neolithic man. On top of that he was in a bad state of health. /Jonas
I use flint and granite (or any rock that is strong, tight) and chaga. I put a quarter inch of chaga on top of the granite and strike the flint with the granite, the chaga is under my thumb as I hold both the granite and chaga under my thumb and strike. I strike towards the sharp flint with granite and chaga on top, held by my thumb. The flint spark flies forward onto the chaga and flint sticks to the spongey pourous chaga and smolders. I then add the smoldering chaga to dried fungus off of black spruce, acts like tinder. Many different tinders could be used as to whatever is available in the area. I blow on this and within 30 seconds it ignites. You obviously have small small kindling, small dry twigs off pine trees at the ready and birchbark and bigger pieces of wood and your fire will go always. I believe Otzi did it this way as well. Otzi's chaga would have been too dry when found, only the spongey pourous part of the chaga can be used for this. Hard chaga the flint spark won't stick to. Otzi would have used his knife or fingernail to pull off a small chunk of chaga to fit under his thumb to catch the spark/flint as he strikes. If you had to spend the night on top of a mountain while traveling you could possibly and easily carry 10 pounds of dry wood to spend the night on the mountain. You wouldn't be very warm but you would not freeze and travel off the mountain the next day. I am First Nations from North America and we been making fire this way for a long long time. Plus later the hand drill fire method was given through dreams.
Thank you for sharing that my friend! So you use granite and flint right? Sounds really interesting. And as you say I guess you need that spongey type of yellowish chaga to catch onto. Granite and flint is a much more available resource since I assume that pyrite is rather rare to find or at least very regional in its distribution. We have a lot to learn from people like you with a heritage to people that lived off nature. Thats where real knowledge lies. Thanks for watching! /Jonas
A real spark is a very tiny piece of material that burns in air. In the case of pyrite (struck with flint), a chemical reaction occurs, burning a bit of FeS in the oxygen contained in the air (the products of this reaction are FeO and SO2). In the case of steel and flint, there is a chemical reaction of burning a bit of iron in the oxygen contained in the air (the product of this reaction is FeO). You can't get a real spark by striking flint against granite. Yes, you will get small pieces of flint and small pieces of granite, but none of these pieces can burn in air. When crushing these rocks, no chemical reaction occurs or will ever occur. That's for sure! The described case of successfully obtaining real sparks by striking granite and flint is a fairy tale for me. If I'm wrong - show this method in a video on YT - you will be famous. Seriously.
Well, that's news to me and my people. As long as the rock is harder than the flint it will set spark and that tiny piece of flint will fly off and stick to the chaga and smolder Don't try and use stupid science on something my people have been doing way before Otzi existed or 4:16 his clan
@@rivereagle6908 As long as the rock is harder than the flint it will set spark and that tiny piece of flint will fly off and stick to the chaga and smolder - such a thing can only happen on a flat Earth; There is no need to use science on a flat Earth.
He was murdered. Scientists found a stone point in his back. A brain scan showed trauma. When found by the skiers thawing out of the ice he was naked. If the point didn't kill him nor the blows to the head then hypothermia would surely finish the job.
Here is a video on flint and steel technique that may help. There are two methods - casting sparks up to a tender or casting sparks down to tender. You have your scraped tender down on the table but you are casting your sparks up hence no ember. It matters which stone is driven or stationary. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Xp1AnY00VlY.html
Good video. the fungus they found had a little hole in it, maybe they struck the spark into that, developed an ember and picked it out. mustve been a smooth dude with all that gear
use a cast over method mate, cast spark over the top of the chaga rather than the cast down method. The cast down method sucks and all it does is spill your tinder with a miss strike. The cast over method isn't as efficient (as not as many sparks are directed into the pile) but it is far better. I am not sure Otzi would have used chaga with flint/iron pyrite as it isn't very conducive to the cold sparks it produces. All the marcasite/flint ignition I've seen uses amadou, most often treated in potash or potassium nitrate.
Hi there, yes you are probably right! After some more research I realize that he probably used mercassite and amadou as you suggests. He carried live ember in a birch bark container in the form of chaga and as you say probably started the fire with amadou. I have to get a piece of mercesite, but seems to be hard to find/buy.
You really need to learn how to use a flint and steel. When you are trying to shower sparks onto something you strike the steel with the flint and it throws the sparks down onto your material. If you hold the material on the flint you strike flint with steel and it throws the spark upwards onto the material
Would it not be better to put the fungus scraping in the birdsnest prior to sparking? I think I read that Otzi had a container with char that possibly carried live coals. Not having pyrite and unable to start a fire might have killed him.
Hello Friend, here in the middle age, instead of this birch fungus, they used the spongy material from the under side of a mushroom named boletus in latin (bolet in french), they dried it out after boiling, and you're good to go. This product was also called "amadou" (amadou is a generic term, it can be made from other stuff ) Easy to find and to use. Great video; P.S: I see you're using your Feuerhand 175... nice :)
You are right mate! Im still learning you know 😊 I have an upcoming video on marcasite and flint where I will use a boletus tinder fungus. So stay tuned! 🔥
Good try Am going too look into the Otzi method if l can find the right rocks. Already have the chaga & have had good luck lighting it with flint & steel. I think your flint was dull or striker may not be tempered properly. Cheers
Yes give it s try. The reason for my failiure, I have come to relize, is that I used pyrite which is a clustered mineral. It crumbles. Try mercasite instead, thats a pure crystal form of pyrite /Jonas 🔥🌲👍
Chaga smolder for quiet som time. I have another video showing it smolder as a mosquito repellent. Carrying ember is a method that has been used around the world in different cultures. Ötzi had chaga ember with him, in a birch bark container. 🔥🌲 /Jonas
:) True. But Ötzi living just 3500 years ago had the same intelligence and cognitive abilities as us, so I guess you can say I outsmarted myself /Jonas
Hi there, Im sorry, that was not my intention. I have this other video, where I succeeded with this very technique, also link in video description: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-g0UmcIB-b_E.html
modern flint and steel ? this steel is called a " Briquet" in french middle age language, meaning "lighter" and was used since the iron age ( almost 3000 years ago), if you call this "modern" so be it, but I'm sure you will show us on a video how you do it ? Oups, you have no video....
Chaga fungus makes an excellent tea. It is used medicinally by native americans in Maine where I live. It looks nasty on the birch, like a black booger stuck on the tree's trunk.
They don't know how old he is? They are guessing and probably not even a good one? These tools were used alot earlier than they are saying and far longer than they are willing to say
He has a bow . He do not need to strick but take any stone put the mushroom as powder down on the stone and take 1 of his arrows and spindle with the bow string. because of friction he made fire. bow drill technick.
Maybe Otzi didn't drop where he was hit. Maybe he was shot at lower altitude (possibly in enemy territory on other side of ridge top), went higher where falling snow might cover blood and tracks....
Thats in fact almost as exactly my conclusion, I have an upcoming video about just that theory, that he was shot at a lower altitude. Thank you for shring your thoughts!
He had the blood of 2 people on his arrow heads and blood of a third on his coat. I think he killed his assailants but later succumbed to his own injuries.
His clothes were found around him. Fur cap, shoes and cape and more. The bad excavation of ötzi meant that much of his clothes were destroyed in the excavation. But his hat and shoes is in rather good condition.
Well, i don't think this is the way he did it. I think he would catch the spark straid in to the fungus. So the fungus he got would last a long time. And the flint took some work to create a sharp edge so he carried that with him. The pyrite stone was easy to find. So when he used the pyrite stone to where it wassn't useble he would search a new pyrite stone. It whas easy to find. The fungus is also made in to tee that would help his midecal condition. Also over 5300 years the stone could have been lost from the pouch.
It could definately have been lost. After this video I have re-evaluated what I show here. After som more research it is most probably that Ötzy used tinder fungus (fomes fomentarius or horse hoof fungus) for catching the spark. And the chaga was used only as a way of carrying an ember. Thank you for watching! /Jonas
he would never use that much Charga it was too precious the easiest way it to strike the pyrite and direct the spark to the big piece of Chaga then blow on it to create a spark it will catch a spark easy...
I have only been able to catch an ember on fungus either by carefully scrapping into a FUZZ ...the amadou layer of a horsehoof fungus . Or using the same material in a compression lighter ( fire piston ) I have never had much luck with any not charred material. I consider chaga to be an ember extender ....not something to directly catch an ember.
You are right! In this video I did not know what you know, that chaga is indeed an ember extender. Since then I now use amadou and it works exellent. By the way, Ötzi used amadou for catching the spark, and amadou as an extender. /Jonas
@@campsitesweden Amadou is a great extender...in fact it is used as slow match on matchlock firearms ...however it is a much smaller item than a chunk of Chaga (or the tube like gills of the same horse hoof fungus) so I tend to use those and save my amadou as it is rather more precious.
Here is another video showing casting as mentioned by another commenter. Notice how steel stationary and steel moving have different effects. Casting throws the spark sideways so you have room to develop speed and the gravity pulls the spark down to the tender. Given Oetzi,s dependence on fire, I would guess he might have been well versed in these various techniques. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-q8y8BRE1gGM.html
Yes he might have lost it. But making a fire at that altitude with no wood around and possibly in bad weather is not ab option either I would say /Jonas
LOL I watched this after MANY failed attempts to get a fire without char cloth for medieval living history. I had to laugh when you reverted to the char cloth.
Yeah... I didnt make it this time. But I have a more recent video using mercasite "How homo erectus made fire". Watch that one, mercasite is much better than the brittle pyrite clusters. 👍🔥
Thats right, he had an birch bark container in which he had wrapped smoldering chaga in maple leaves. At least that is what is thought based on the evidence on the site. That means he relied on being able to make fire with the embers he had with him. Thanks for watching! /Jonas
I did note you seem to be very much a expert with very little patience, this don't work I'll 11:41 try this, also noted how well the ember was smouldering in the crack in your wooden bench beside the firewood pile, plenty of fuel to burn once you did get it burning. Just saying. 🤔😥🌩
You are right that Ötzi did not use chaga. I learned that after making this video, also noted in the video description. But he had chaga with him in his birch bark container. Strangely enough no pyrite was found with him. I guess it had disintegrated, as pyrite easily does when exposed to air. Thanks for watching.
Ötzi used mercasite and tinder fungus (not chaga as shown here). Actually we dont know for sure. I have another video showing use of marcasite and flint, which is much easier. Im learning step by step, thanks for watching 🔥😊
But why try a copper ax and flint? Probably not for lighting a fire? It wouldn't make sense. Strikes with flint cannot remove small enough copper fragments for the copper particles to ignite spontaneously.
I see in his equipment is also fomes fomentarius, "false tinder fungi" amadou... I have succeeded with sraping... both with marcasite and knapping siilar fools cold you have
