Dr. James Dilley
@ancientcraftUK
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Experimental Archaeologist @sotonarch ; Media consultant; Specialist in Flintknapping & Bronze casting: see my work displayed at @britishmuseum & @EH_Stonehenge
University of Southampton
Joined February 2012
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While filming for this BBC doc, I was for a moment, looking across into the Palaeolithic. A normally damp, isolated cave was alive with voices, fire light & the distant roar of red deer.
It was a moment that made me feel so fortunate to do what I do professionally!
#flintfriday
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An amazing beach find from Denmark!Based on the decoration style of this amber pendant, it is believed to date from the early Mesolithic, Maglemose culture (9600-6400 BC). Amber artefacts and pendants are not hugely uncommon in Denmark, but what a find!
📸 - Peder Laursen
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A variety of flakes come from making a Neolithic axe. Stages of production can be recognised in the flakes themselves in some cases! Its also easy to see where tools like scrapers or piercers would suit certain flake shapes, in essence a toolkit is produced alongside the axe
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Neolithic axes are some of my favourite prehistoric tools, they're so iconic, & I wanted one when I was a kid. Now I'm making them constantly! (Thankfully its enjoyable work)
Axes in Neolithic Britain were made from a number of different materials with their own characteristics.
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It was clearly my lucky day! Can't believe I have finally found one...this might have been waiting in the soil for around 8000 years!
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Throw back to the creation of a “Levallois core”, a method of stone tool production favoured by Neanderthals. A stone is reduced down to a prepared core from which one or several preferred flakes are struck off. The other flakes were also used for simple flake tools
#flintfriday
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One replica Neolithic axe head made of Langdale Tuff for
@gmacg_1
of
@Northlighter
, just needs a handle now. The speckling is iron pyrite within the layers of volcanic tuff. Axes of this rock have been found all over the UK, but the rock occurs only in a localised area
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Polished Neolithic axes are some of my favourite artefacts. They can be both atheistically pleasing and very functional tools. This example is a Langdale Tuff axe made using the epidotised greenstone from the Lake District (UK). Axes of this material have been found across the UK
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Carved stone balls (or petrospheres) are curious objects from the Scottish Neolithic. Their function has been debated for decades with no clear answer presented. Having made several, I could wholeheartedly believe to be forced to make one would've been a form of punishment!
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One of the highlights in the
@britishmuseum
's exhibition: The World of Stonehenge is Mesolithic a burial from Bad Dürrenberg, normally housed in
@MuseumHalle
. This special burial may be one of Europe's most convincing examples of a Shaman.
Heres why 👇👇👇
📸
@emmalouwynjones
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Neolithic carved stone balls or "petrospheres" always draw questions at events & remain an enigma in prehistoric archaeology. Several hundred have been found, but never in groups or show evidence of impact or binding. Their purpose remains a mystery....
📸
@emmalouwynjones
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Would anyone be interested in a twitter based Flintknapping workshop? I’ll need to work out if live feed is better than prerecorded. But it might give people something to do if they have flint (or obsidian, glass etc). The more likes/retweets will help gauge interest - thanks!
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Making a Neolithic flint axe at
@EH_Stonehenge
as part of the
#Ingenious
project by
@EnglishHeritage
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As Autumn colours are still out (with winter well on the way) there are several replicas I've made over the years that spring to mind...
This polished Neolithic axe is made of a very unusual, intensely iron-stained flint from East Anglia.
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After yesterday’s
#KnapTime
, I was shocked, proud and delighted at the interest (over 10K viewers!) and kind words. Today is back to some normality completing orders including these Neolithic arrowheads
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It’s
#KnapTime
Wednesday! Today at 3pm I’ll show you how make a Neolithic axe head on live feed. I’ll tell you a bit about the archaeology and how I’ve used replicas experimental projects. Please share far and wide!
#museums
#prehistory
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There has been news in the archaeology feeds about a major BBC documentary called "Attenborough and the Mammoth Graveyard" to be broadcast in late December featuring Sir David,
@Ben_garrod
,
@TheDigVenturers
and us! An amazing project to be part of & we hope to reveal more soon!
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Laminar blade production is an effective way of maximising the available raw material with a high ratio of straight, sharp edges per kg of flint. Its a technique that appears around the start of the Upper Palaeolithic in Europe & continues into the early Neolithic
#flintfriday
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I’m known for working with stone (especially flint), bronze and copper. But I’m less known for my glasswork. This is one of a few glass bifaces I’ve knapped over the last several years. They start as a puddle of glass before I take my antler hammers to it. It’s very tricky work!
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One of the most special replicas I offer are Jade Axes. In the Neolithic, the raw rock was extracted at Mt Viso on the France-Italy boarder, then worked by grinding on sandstone. While many of the axes are too thin for felling trees, they would have been very special objects!
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Recently I was asked if I could make a late Bronze Age sickle as a birthday present which would be used for cutting crops. I based the handle on the sickle from Shinewater Park near Eastbourne which was found in a complete state.
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With a narrow stone blade that can cut deeply into wood, and the strength of an antler that resists splitting and shock: an antler-sleeved axe. These Neolithic tools are great tree felling and carpentry tools that offer a solution to a lack of large workable rocks for axe heads.
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Happy Winter Solstice!
As promised, here it is....our replica of the famous Nebra Sky Disc.
Normally in
@MuseumHalle
, the disc will be part of the World of
@EH_Stonehenge
exhibition in the
@britishmuseum
next year, which we are delighted to be playing a small part of!
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I've been busy over the Christmas season (like all seasons I suppose), making arrowheads for a large museum order that we will be handing over soon. The arrowheads required are mostly late Neolithic and early Bronze Age points, particularly barbed and tanged arrowheads.
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It’s been a flinty week, what with
#KnapTime
and all the orders I’ve been working on. I had some joy this morning with this fairly grey Norfolk flint making long blades. I used an antler punch to indirectly flake them, hard work on such resistant material!
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One for the gallery of stunning Neolithic axe heads...
I have always been a fan of Scandinavian style flint axes, but I suppose I am a fan of prehistoric axes in general. I have some very similar flint to this which will no doubt challenge me when I try to replicate this axe!
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From all corners, Neolithic axes truly hold their own stories in stone across hundreds of miles & thousands of hours flaking then grinding against sandstone. These tools, and the quarrying to make them had one of the first major impacts on the landscape.
📸
@emmalouwynjones
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Egypt's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities has launched a series of virtual and guided video tours of museums and archaeological sites around the country
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A friend who came to watch myself & John Lord knapping over the years has asked if I can donate his collection of replicas to museums due to ill health. I am honoured to have been asked to ensure his collection will be used to inspire the next generation of archaeologists.
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One of the many stunning objects in
@Northlincmuseum
is this flint sickle found at Dragonby. It is believed to date to the early Bronze Age, and must have been made by an incredibly skilled knapper. Curved blades are very liable to snapping while flaking.
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Got to handle some Neolithic carved stone balls in the Aberdeenshire heritage collection. Such amazing objects made from volcanic stones by pecking and grinding the surface to reveal circles and elevations. Jurys still out on their function....
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Alright, so
@CreswellCrags
have called in for some reinforcements for their
#CURATORBATTLE
. I’ve sent them some glass lithics recently, this is fresh off the...er...press?...hammers? 🤷♂️ Very hard to photograph so thought a video would show it off better! (Yes it’s pink glass)
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A polished Neolithic axe (replica) on its way to a customer this week. This one is made of microdiorite (group VII) from North Wales near
@Museum_Pen
. Its had a really high polish so you can see the white and green crystals. Very proud of this one!
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The density of late Neolithic - early Bronze Age rock art between Cairnbaan and Kilmartin in the west of Scotland is stunning. In Achnabreck forest there are several panels which have been discovered over a number of years, though it is believed that there is more out there.
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At opposing ends of the Stone Age timeline: a Neolithic axe head on the left and Palaeolithic handaxe on the right. One for felling trees, the other for butchering animal carcasses. Separated in time by over 400,000 years, and in this case 7cm.
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Spot the logboat!
Paddling down the River Boyne at the Dowth estate near several Neolithic tombs, while a camera crew captures the scene. Amazingly, shortly after this filming, some anglers found the remains of a Neolithic logboat only a few hundred metres from this spot!
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Out of all the objects I have made for living history displays, I love my logboat the most. It has accompanied me around the UK and beyond on a number of projects in some special landscapes. There is something special about gliding silently across the water in a handmade boat.
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What are you doing at 21:00 GMT tomorrow??
Watching BBC 2 "Stonehenge: The Lost Circle Revealed" with
@theAliceRoberts
and Prof Mike Parker Pearson?
Luke Winter, the
@ATCranborne
team & myself take on a pretty rocky challenge using only Neolithic tools!
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The appearance of the needle over 50,000 years ago may have provided the solution to allow Neanderthals to making clothing good enough to operate in harsher, cold environments. We still rely on this stitching device today that has saved far more than nine! 📸
@emmalouwynjones
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We’ve just sent off a MASSIVE order of Bronze Age replicas over the water to an American university. The objects will be used by students of archaeology and anthropology in practical handling seminars. All together, the objects represented 12kgs of bronze! - Quite a hoard
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Polished stone axes/adzes are wonderful woodworking tools from the Neolithic. A ground cutting edge over a ragged flaked blade delivers a deeper, cleaner cut. A smooth surface allows the shock of each strike to disperse from the blade over the surface to the wooden haft evenly.
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Absolutely stunning artwork of ice age animals, scenes, people and other archaeology by Tom Björklund. The boat axe looks like a photo!
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A replica Neolithic flint-bladed sickle. The handle is partly based on an existing example from Central Europe. Sickle blades are particularly painful to make as they often snap during the last few flakes
#flintfriday
#archaeology31
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A bit of evening pressure-flaking practice: This flint is from the field opposite my house, so it’s ‘locally sourced stone’ connection makes it a little more special. This is an early Bronze Age barbed & tanged arrowhead.
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Just another day in the office at 3000m….Getting some Ötzi vibes
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The copper to make Ötzi's axe came from Tuscany, and had been poured into a bivalve mould instead of being forged after casting into an open mould. Evidence shows the copper had not been work hardened, leaving the blade soft. It was initially mistaken for an unusual ice pick!
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Taking aim at prehistoric stereotypes - We're dispelling assumptions about who performed certain roles/skills in European prehistory. Lack of firm evidence means we shouldn't make assumptions. Our approach is simple: if you could do it, you probably did.
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Flint comes in a variety of colours & textures. Its surface changes when buried in soil that contains iron or calcium carbonate or in water with certain types of algae! This axe is made of some rather unusual flint from East Anglia, its tough to flake!
📸Prehistoric Jewellery
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I’ve made a few of these early Neolithic kite-shaped leaf arrowheads. Though this original one on display in
@BuxtonMuseum
is rather special. They are often very finely flaked anyway, but look how thin it is!!!
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Neolithic arrowheads are fantastic tools for putting a relative age on a site. Its odd to have what appears to be such a clean-cut transition, they don't appear at the same time. Were the style changes due to cultural shift? Technology? Or social changes? Maybe a combination!
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Testing a Must Farm style bronze axe!
The iconic two-part hafted axe found at
@MustFarm
has often raised questions over its effectiveness against a single part (one branch) hafted axe. But I can fully vouch for its ability to knock over trees!
📸
@emmalouwynjones
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One Neolithic sickle.....finding a branch with the right angle and thickness is the challenge. Though flaking a long enough blade has its moments too....
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How to attached a Neolithic axe head to a handle, it’s surprisingly simple and doesn’t require glue, binding or anything other than a well made haft/handle. A bit of tool maintenance for your new replica
@gmacg_1
@Northlighter
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I am often asked if there were gender specific activities in prehistory. Its a tricky question to answer with limited evidence either way. In my opinion, skill & ability is rarely gender specific, so it shouldn't be portrayed as such in living history displays & reconstructions
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A new archaeological project, the Neolithic Landscape of the Dead, will look at the tombs on Orkney’s smaller North Isles
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Neolithic to early Bronze Age arrowheads in a timeline:
- Leaf arrowhead (Early Neolithic ~4000-3400 BC)
- Oblique arrowhead (Late Neolithic ~2600-2200 BC)
- Barbed & Tanged arrowhead (Late Neolithic - early Bronze Age ~2450-1600 BC)
📸
@emmalouwynjones
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Now that we’ve been given the green light to share some images from our recent filming adventure for the BBC doc “Attenborough & the Mammoth Graveyard”, I thought I’d start with a caption competition. Over to you!
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A rather nice Neolithic axe head made for another order. Really like the way this one came out, tried a few different methods and feel it matches artefact examples around the UK. Using an antler punch with in-direct percussion really did the trick!
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How I imagine a Stone Age hunting station: A well-used vantage point with natural shelter that played host to hunters making fresh stone tools from cores. A fire is created for light, warmth and to melt glue to fasten sharp tips onto spear shafts.
🎥
@emmalouwynjones
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Something new I've been working on, now finished (and soon available in the replicas shop). A large early Bronze Age flanged axe of the Arreton type (originals date to around 1600BC). Many are found with decoration, created using punches post-casting to add a personal touch.
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Made in their hundreds to fell thousands...
A tool that changed the British landscape above and below ground was the Neolithic axe. From around 6000 years ago they were produced in huge to fell the Mesolithic forest.
📸:
@emmalouwynjones
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Fairly successful evening making a Neolithic axe for some documentary filming in the next couple of weeks. Next stage is grind and polishing (sadly the longest stage by far). All the flakes will be used for arrowhead production which will be filmed as part of a Neolithic toolkit
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After yesterdays offering for the stunning axe head gallery, here is another from the
@Nationalmuseet
These Scandinavian style axes do appear in the UK (typically in eastern river basins) suggesting trade rather than domestic production, along with materials like amber.
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Over 500,000 years of (pre)history from the Palaeolithic to Bronze Age represented by some materials changing and others persisting through time. But its quite a challenge to build the skills and understanding of technology that moved through thousands of years in one lifetime!
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Thunderbolts from the sky...
Jadeitite axes are stunning pieces from the summit of Neolithic stone axe making. Having made several, I can testify to the hardness of the stone & the hours required to grind & polish their surfaces to a mirror finish.
📸Prehistoric Jewellery
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Absolute gem of a comment on our recent YouTube video exploring Irish Neolithic axes….
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I've got some copper ore from an exciting 'new' UK location that has potential for Bronze Age mining activity. I'm going to be putting through some different processes used over 3000 years ago to see how viable the ore is for metal extraction!
📸Prehistoric Jewellery
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Some Neolithic axe heads made for
@loveheritage
a little while ago. I’ve got some more polished axes to make over the next few weeks and it’s always difficult to let them go! The Jersey-bound axes are being used with schools and visitors to the new long house.
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Some big news!
@emmalouwynjones
& I are delighted to announce we will be supplying the
@britishmuseum
giftshop with replicas & jewellery for their upcoming exhibition showcasing The World of
@EH_Stonehenge
. We are honoured to have been recommended & look forward to the opening!
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Some morning knapping practice from 4000BC
Pressure flaking is a difficult part of a challenging craft at the best of times. Understanding the fracture mechanics of flint on a micro scale requires a familiarity with surface topography & platform edges while knowing one's limits!
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All set up for filming in Scotland at a secret location. Very much in the Mesolithic today, just across the Loch from an actual prehistoric hunting station!
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An enjoyable afternoon making thin blades for microliths & retouched bladelets. They will be hafted for a new display at the
@britishmuseum
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Jewellery from Neolithic Britain is generally quite rare, though a variety was found at Skara Brae (Orkney). To produce each bead would take a significant amount of time, meaning these pieces must have carried special value to the owners (much like we treat jewellery today)
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A rather nice early Neolithic Laurel leaf made with Suffolk flint. These have always intrigued me as to their function. Were they knives? Spearhead? Or something else? There is a range in forms (from these curved sides example to kite shaped), and a range in quality.
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Inspired by the giant Palaeolithic handaxe found in Kent by UCL researchers
@LettyIngrey
&
@MatthewPope
, I wanted to have a go making one myself- in glass.
Far sharper, yet more brittle than flint, this was a challenge I managed to complete in one of the caves at
@CreswellCrags
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Been made aware this morning of another UK flintknapper (who should know better) doing demos within the burial chamber space at Coldrum Longbarrow, with little concern for archaeological contamination from waste flakes. Please be mindful of knapping waste if have a go yourself!
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Amazing early Bronze Age coffin found on a golf course in Lincolnshire containing this hafted axe!
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Was Ötzi a hunter, shepherd, or a warrior? His equipment & stomach contents suggest hunter, his wounds & contemporary evidence indicates he was high status warrior/archer class. His clothes suggests a shepherd moving his flock in the process of transhumance.
📸
@emmalouwynjones
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And there it is, the traditional post-viva picture. Holding some bits of bound paper and spear for a very short Palaeolithic hunter
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Some of the replicas this week have certainly tested my skills & patience!
Casting Bronze Age spears with long cores is seriously challenging because any slight misalignment will cause holes in the cast. Grinding stone axes is slow & monotonous, but definitely worth the effort!
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Not a bad early Bronze Age barbed & tanged arrowhead. Only a couple of mm thick so certainly on the upper end of the quality scale. Might even be grave good quality!
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I have been saying I’ll make one of these for some time...finally managed it. A Jadeite axe...Similar to ones in the
@britishmuseum
,
@WiltshireMuseum
,
@CantMuseum
,
@loveheritage
,
@NtlMuseumsScot
,
@AshmoleanMuseum
(and many others). Not quite
#FlintFriday
, but hope you’ll accept
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Pine resin has been used for glue since the Palaeolithic and has been mixed with beeswax to offer a more versatile mastic. It’s burned as incense & is used on both instrument and bow strings. Keeping an eye, ear or nose out for resources would have been a key skill in prehistory.
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As part of Ötzi's final journey about 5300 years ago up to the Hauslabjoch Pass, he was carrying a burning ember wrapped in maple leaves inside one of the birch bark containers. It had been started using iron pyrite based on particles found in the container.
📸
@emmalouwynjones
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When we have the luxury of setting out a full living history display, I love to show some of the possible foods of prehistory. Its one of the best talking points with visitors as they see pots with unknown contents and ask “whats for dinner?”.
📸Prehistoric Jewellery
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The oldest logboat in the world dates to the European Mesolithic around 10,000 years ago. Discovered in 1955 during road construction, the Pesse canoe is made of Scots Pine and around 3m in length (similar to the one pictured) is now in
@DrentsMuseum
📸
@emmalouwynjones
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What an amazing exhibition! A real treat to be at the preview evening of The World of Stonehenge at the
@britishmuseum
. A huge congratulations to
@NWilkinBM
,
@JWexlerBM
and the team. So good to see so many friends and colleagues in one place!
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An early Neolithic assemblage of a perforated stone, laurel leaf blade, leaf arrowheads and a beautiful polished axe head made of iron-stained flint. New people and new ideas to Britain around 6000 years brought with them tool types for working the land and holding onto it!
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One year ago AncientCraftUK revealed its new website and replicas shop. To celebrate, we've decided to announce a give away of our most popular replica!
To enter you must:
🏹1. Like this tweet
🏹2. Follow
@ancientcraftUK
🏹3. Retweet this post
(Winner to be announced on Monday)
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Stone is certainly a useful material for tools, but the role of other materials like bone and antler are sometimes equally important. For certain tools, stone is not suitable as it can be too brittle, but antler or bone are really resistant to shock!
📸
@emmalouwynjones
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Denmark has some seriously cool currency, it features prehistoric archaeology! 🇩🇰 The fifty Krone notes has the Skarpsalling Vessel 3200 BC - one for
@Pottedhistory
. The 100 Krone has the Hindsgavl Dagger 1900 -1700 BC. The 200 Krone note has the Langstrup Belt Plate 1400 BC.
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Ground/polished Neolithic axes seem to be very popular at the moment with museums (resulting in a busy and tiring few days at the grindstone)! These are going to be sent all over the UK for various new projects and gallery developments.
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