British flint firelighting

[Rhodri]

Right, this arose from another thread about prehistoric technology - it made me realise how much I don't know...

All you flint and steel fans out there might be able to help with an age-old archaeological mystery (well I think it is anyway). Have you ever thought about whether there would be any advantage to using a particularly shaped piece of flint?

There's a type of implement mainly found on Neolithic sites in the UK called a 'fabricator' (see photos). It's long been assumed to be associated with firelighting. I think this connection has been made because they seem to have been repeatedly struck with something 'hard', but not in a way intended to remove other flakes.

Do you see any real purpose to their shape in relationship to striking a steel? Or a lump of iron pyrites if you were neolithic...

What do you think?

Cheers,
Rod

 

[Jeff Wagner]

The term "fabricator" is not familiar to me. Based on the diagrams I would guess these are most likely cutting / scrapping tools made from blades and retouched to restore the cutting edge. Any sharp edge on a chip of flint will produce sparks when struck with suitable steel. Other than broken projectile points that have been reshaped into strike-a-lights, I am not aware of specifically shaped flints having been used for fire making.

 

[bambodoggy]

I'm no expert but having used flint and steel many times in the past I cannot see any advantange in spending time shaping the flint before use...you simply don't need to. So unless this was done for asthetic purposes, which I doubt, I don't think they would have bothered, certainly I wouldn't bother.

Sorry I can't help more.

Bam.

 

[ilovemybed]

(because I don't know the exact terms I'm going to make the following assumption: When I write Steel, I mean the metal, and when I write steel, I just mean the generic thing wot they struck sparks off e.g .pyrites.)

Perhaps there is an advantage to shaping the flint, because back in the day before Iron and Steel, they would have had irregularly shaped, naturally occurring steels which might not have been so ready to spark.

As I understand it, the secret to a good spark is to "cut" the tiniest fragments off the "steel", and the friction caused by the cut is enough to heat the shard to a level that makes it red hot. So having a specially prepared "cutting" edge surely makes this easier, especially with harder or irregular steels?

 

[bambodoggy]

(because I don't know the exact terms I'm going to make the following assumption: When I write Steel, I mean the metal, and when I write steel, I just mean the generic thing wot they struck sparks off e.g .pyrites.)

Perhaps there is an advantage to shaping the flint, because back in the day before Iron and Steel, they would have had irregularly shaped, naturally occurring steels which might not have been so ready to spark.

As I understand it, the secret to a good spark is to "cut" the tiniest fragments off the "steel", and the friction caused by the cut is enough to heat the shard to a level that makes it red hot. So having a specially prepared "cutting" edge surely makes this easier, especially with harder or irregular steels?

Sounds fair enough to me Matey.... I've never tried it with Pyrites so don't know what it's like but as I said, with a normal bit of steel (old files etc) you wouldn't need to.
Makes sence what you're saying though.

Bam.

 

[Jeff Wagner]

Knapping is done to create special shape as with a gun flint that must fit in the jaws of the cock or to create a point for use as a graver. There is no advantage however in reshaping the cutting edge used for making sparks unless it is to restore a dulled edge. A flake of flint is at its sharpest as it comes from the core.

 

[KIMBOKO]

Hi Rhodri
With a good steel there is no point in shaping the flint other than having a reasonably sharp edge. But with poor steel or pyrites I find I have to use a lot more force/velocity to obtain a spark. If you have a long flint or a flint on a stick you can then hold one end and "flick the other end" at the steel or pyrites and more easily obtain a spark.
If these flints were to be used for this purpose then the flints should show signs of being struck on the ends.

Thats my 2p.

 

[Rhodri]

1. The term "fabricator" is not familiar to me.
2. Based on the diagrams I would guess these are most likely cutting / scrapping tools made from blades and retouched to restore the cutting edge.
3. Any sharp edge on a chip of flint will produce sparks when struck with suitable steel. Other than broken projectile points that have been reshaped into strike-a-lights, I am not aware of specifically shaped flints having been used for fire making.

Thanks for your replies everybody.

Hi Jeff,

First, sorry for messing with your post - makes it easier for me to address your points.

1. The "fabricator" term is peculiarly British I think - associated with sites like Grimes Graves.
2. I would agree with the tool idea if it wasn't for the fact that they generally have very poorly retouched edges - they seem to have been deliberately made blunt but 'serrated' (even 'rubbed' to destroy the cutting edge). They have been found in otherwise good condition along with much sharper tools, so we don't think they are badly preserved ("rolled" we sometimes call it over here when they appear to have "been around a bit" and got damaged since burial).
3. I agree. If they were used for firelighting I can see no real purpose in them being made especially - more likely re-use of something else that became useless for its original purpose.

Kimboko,
Yes, they are often struck on the ends. The "one good whack with a long 'un" makes sense.

When I originally posted I was wondering whether the 'serrations' would serve any purpose. Has anybody ever tried striking along a long serrated/uneven edge in order to try and get more than one hit on the target?

Cheers,
Rod

 

[Jeff Wagner]

No problem. I wish I had someone to organize my thoughts on a regular basis.

Some added thoughts on the subject:

As a knapper I am very careful about striking long narrow flints on their ends as they have great tendency to snap. In fire lighting we generally strike the flint with the steel rather than the other way around.

I am at a loss to explain the first diagram. Its cross section seems too thick for it to be a cutting tool. It may be a remnant - a spent core from which other tools or microblades were struck. Thin blades having pressure flaked serrations along their length, such as the one above the scale, suggests possible use as a SAW to me, especially if these serrations are worn and dulled.

 

[jason01]

Ive also seen flints of this shape illustrated with other archeological finds and described as strikers for use with steels, one in particular was beautifully bound with leather, it was almost spearhead shaped with just one end of the flint exposed allegedly for striking, unfortunately I cant find that particular picture though I know Ive seen it online somewhere . I cant see for the life of me how flint shaped like this would be more useful for firelighting than any old piece of flint with a sharp edge.

Also, amongst Scandinavian artifacts Ive seen smooth stones with grooves in them (there are some on the Viking answer ladys site) that are apparently associated with fire starting, they look more like slipstones to me and again I dont see how they were used for firestarting!

Would love to know more!

The mystery deepens.....

 

[KIMBOKO]

The flint from Storms Flint and Marcasite Fire set here is on a wood or horn handle giving a length of flint similar to the fabricators?.

 

[Jeff Wagner]

Most often, clues to the likely use of an artifact are provided by the items shape. Knives have cutting edges, gravers and perforators have pointed projections such has the one in the illustration. Arrow heads are distinguishable from spear and dart points, axes look different from hammers etc. Sometimes, as in the case of North American winged banner stones, the use of a lithic artifact is a complete mystery and the subject of much conjecture. There are theories concerning their use as atlatl weights but on close scrutiny the theory begins to fall apart.

I have a suspicion that some of the very rough flint artifacts found in assemblages may not be tools at all. The characteristics of flint knapping have not changed since neolithic times and not every piece of stone worked results in the intended item. Then as now, faults occur in the stone, new knappers, while learning the secrets of flake removal, discard large numbers of unidentifiable stone remnants from which they are no longer able to strike flakes. The first illustration may depict such a discard. While working with a new knapper yesterday we made a furture artifact that looks just like it....

 

[Wayland]

Rhodri, I'll have my flint and steel set with me at Chedworth so you can have a look for yourself ( and a go too ) see if that helps.

 

[Rhodri]

Rhodri, I'll have my flint and steel set with me at Chedworth so you can have a look for yourself ( and a go too ) see if that helps.

Wow - old thread resurrected...

Sounds like it'd be worth knocking up some of these 'fabricator' affairs and getting the more experienced flint'n'steel users to see whether they can be used more efficiently. I just can't see any practical advantage to the shape. Probably just a case of 'adornment for the sake of it'.

A case of prehistoric 'kitaholicism'? Most have us suffer from it today, I'm sure our ancestors did too.

 

[Wayland]

If you have any good pyrites bring them too.

I use flint and steel almost daily in my work but I've never tried it with pyrite.

 

[Pappa]

I've been trying with flint and pyrite for a while now, off and on. I've got a few unusual bits of pyrite that stain the hands greenish (there was a thread about them here once), and another pyrite 'sun' that I bought. I've tried both types with brown chert and grey flint. The chert is useless. With a bit of practice it's pretty easy to produce sparks with the flint on either type of pyrite, but the sparks are so cool, they rarely last long enough to ignite charcloth. As yet I have not managed to produce fire with pyrite.

Pappa

 

[Jeff Wagner]

The Fire Volume one video covers this mehod using pyrite on pyrite and with tinder fungus in addition to charcloth. The authors recommend doing this in low light in order to better see and aim those delicate little sparks.

 

[TAHAWK]

In fire lighting we generally strike the flint with the steel rather than the other way around."

I was taught, as with the flintlock mechanism, to strike the fire steel with the flint to shave steel, heating it with the friction. I see Mears teaches the same technique in Outdoor Survival Handbook. I pin the tinder down with a piece of old file and flail away. The file helps channel the sparks against the tinder.

Always willing to learn to do better.

 

[Wayland]

I use either method depending where I want the sparks to go.

 

[Mike Ameling]

Just my humble opinion, but ....

To me those "fabricators" were used to strike sparks from iron pyrite - as several people have already mentioned. Those "serations" help chip/dig/scrape little bits of the iron pyrite off, and that action then heats those bits up hot enough that the carbon in those bits burns - the sparks you see are the carbon burning. But the "sparks" you get from iron pyrite are few and "cool". It takes a lot longer and more practice to catch those sparks than with a true steel flint striker. And the material you use to catch those sparks must be very good - either charclothe or tinder fungus or charred punky wood.

Some of the original flint artifacts recovered with iron pyrite even look like a flint knife/dagger, but with at least one edge very dulled and something of a groove worn in that chunk of iron pyrite.

And many flint "tools" only look like a chunk of flint knocked off of another piece. Scrapers were a common "tool" made, and little extra knapping was done on most of them. Just knapp off a chunk with a sharp edge and start scraping your wood/bone/hide. So most any flint chard could be a "scraper" tool.

There were a few pieces of flint knapped for use with the traditional steel flint striker. They tended to look like a large gun/musket flint, but with three of the sides knapped more rounded in profile instead of squared like a gun flint. It was not really necessary to make them, but some were - and then included in fancier fire starting sets/kits. In the North American fur trade, many steel flint strikers were sold/traded along with a gun/musket flint - to be used together. That way you didn't have to find some other piece of flint to use.

Just my humble thoughts to share. Take them as such.

Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands