Flintknapping: Making and Understanding Stone Tools

by John C. Whittaker

An updated edition of the classic guide to the ancient skill of flintknapping.

Flintknapping, the art of making stone tools, is an ancient craft generating renewed interest among both amateurs and professional students of prehistoric cultures. John C. Whittaker’s best-selling guide is a foundational and highly regarded handbook that combines practical instruction with the archaeological perspective of interpreting as well as making stone tools.

This updated edition provides clear, step-by-step guidance on tools, materials, and techniques for producing basic stone tool types. Diagrams and illustrations help readers visualize each stage and model their work. Whittaker also introduces the history of the field, the role of stone tools in human technological development, and experimental archaeology, concluding with an accessible discussion of how archaeologists study stone tools to understand the lives of our ancestors. For more than thirty years, Flintknapping has been essential for knappers, archaeologists, and teachers. This expanded and revised edition adds new insights, illustrations, and guidance for a new generation of readers.

Genres: Archaeology, Nonfiction, Crafts, Reference, How To, Outdoors, Anthropology

Kindle Edition

First published November 30, 1993

About the author

John C. Whittaker is an assistant professor of anthropology at Grinnell College. He has twenty years' experience in making and analyzing stone tools and has written many articles on the subject.

Reviews

[Roseanna]

I love this book! if you want to be a flint knapper this is where you should start. gives people an idea of how complex our ancestors actually were.

[Berry Muhl · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one took me a while to finish, because it's not one of those read-from-start-to-finish kind of books. This is closer to a textbook, in that you have to work through some examples along the way. And to make things easier for the student, Whittaker presents some material out of strictly-logical order, so that you can learn easier techniques first before applying them to later projects, despite the easier techniques representing ostensibly more sophisticated stone technology.

Although I've "finished" this in the conventional sense, I'm going to keep it handy for quite a while, as I've hardly begun to learn and apply the skills Whittaker teaches.

As was the case with the 90-or-so books I collected and read over the course of a years-long study of economics and human nature, this book is the first in a new study of mine, involving outdoorsmanship and survivalism. I expect that within a year's time, I'll be knocking out workable flint blades and arrowheads. The book certainly offers the detail and knowhow to accomplish that, and I'd recommend it to anyone interested in either the archaeological or sporting aspects of stone tools and weapons.

[Jacob Hall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good, very easy to understand.

[Kass · Rating 3 out of 5]

Purchased and read with the intention of giving it a try. After reading this (basically an instruction manual), I got scared off - [lots of warnings throughout!] and gave the book to a family member who I think MIGHT use it instead.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Please ask about the obsidian bifacial handaxe I made!

[Heather]

K is very interested in some books on making his own stone tools or pictures or stories about people making & using them as he has been designing & making his own this week...

[Sss Book]

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[Heidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Covers a lot of information, and even if i didn't make a good point it was a good resource.

[Michael Brady · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Flintknapping: Making and Understanding Stone Tools," by John C. Whittaker, is a rich resource for those who want to make stone tools or just understand their place in pre-history.