Neanderthal Digging Sticks

Digging sticks were a common tool of the hunter gatherer, used to harvest roots & tubers.  In 2012, archaeologists excavated 39 pieces of digging sticks dated to around 170,000 years old.  Neanderthals peopled this site in Tuscany, southern Italy, called Poggett Vecchi.  Made of tough boxwood, the staves showed signs of burnt film, and cut & scratch marks.  Scientists recognized the use of fire as a tool to scorch the bark, so that it could be more easily scraped off with stone tools.  One end was charred and rounded for a handle, the other abraded into blunt point.  Experiments to remove bark, round the handle, and abrade the tip proved difficult, with stone tools, on the uncharted fine grained hardwood.  In an effort to understand this woodworking technic, I worked two staves of dried burr oak I had on hand.  One I worked solely with stone tools.  Their other, I utilized fire to char the bark and ends, for finishing with stone tools.  What did I learn?  (Forth coming) (Pictures from online)

Fire Hardening Wood

Pictured is a fire hardened spear point, dated at over 400,000 years old, discovered in 1911 in England.  It is the oldest known worked wooden implement, known as the Clacton spear.  Everything I have ever read about making wooden spears involves hardening the point in the super heated soil, or coals of a fire.  I thought this was interesting... a team of British researchers conducted tests in 2016 on the effects of fire hardening on wooden spearpoints.  After treating, and subjecting wooden shafts to impact, they concluded that fire treating did ‘slightly’ harden the point, but also ‘significantly’ weakened it by making it 35% more brittle. They surmised that the appearance of purposeful fire hardening, may more so have been the byproduct of charring the tip, so that it could be more easily shaved or abraded into a sharp point.  It was more about reducing the time and labor to produce a sharp point on a wooden shaft.  As a side bar, flintknapper Jack Cresson, in the Bulletin of Primitive Tecnology, conducted experiments with hardwood pressure flakers, fire hardening some for flintknapping stone points. He concluded that the fire treatment did nothing to increase the efficiency of the pressure flaker flintknapping.  As a thought, perhaps burnishing (polishing by rubbing with a bone) the point, compressing the wood fibers, after forming the point might be more efficient.  Any thoughts?

Birch Bark Adhsive II

I have processed the oil from birch bark, but saw you could purchase it online.  I thought I would try it and make some hard birch tar for hafting.  It took several hours simmering it, evaporating the volatile ingredients.  I added finely powdered charcoal and it cooled to a hard consistency, some brittleness, but not as much as pine pitch.  It is a smelly process that permeates your hair and clothes and irritates your wife.  Now I need to haft a point and assess the strength.

Birch Bark Adhesive

I was playing with fire this week trying to replicate a prehistoric adhesive. There was an article last year that Neanderthals were attributed with making the first glue, as far back as 200,000 years ago, from birch bark.  Archaeologists assumed it was too complicated for primitive man to make without ceramics, but found several other methods that proved its feasibility.  Birch tar was found hafting Neanderthal spears.  The first method involved burying rolled bundles of birch bark in ash, and then covering with embers.  Tar was scraped off the bark rolls.  The second technic involved putting embers directly on the rolled bark, suspended over a pit to collect the oil.  In the third, a container is placed in a pit, covered with birch bark, then dirt.  A fire is built on top of it.  All produced amounts of birch bark oil for the scientists.  I tried variations of the above, and was unsuccessful, only consuming the bark.  My fires were too hot, too long I think.  With my last amount of birch bark I relied on the conventional way and put the rolled bark in a sealed canister with a hole in the bottom.  A fire was built around and a small amount of oil dripped thru the hole into a can below it, buried in a small hole.  I did manage to produce a small amount of birch oil.  This then required a few hours, over low heat evaporating the volatile oils, to make the sticky tar adhesive.  I need to work on this more, but it was a valuable learning experience.  I had purchased some birch tar on Etsy to have an example to aim for.  I have a book from 1961, ironically showing rolls of birch bark dripping tar while spears were being hafted with it.  Doesn’t quite work like that. But, it is probably the best adhesive/filler I’ve worked with...super tacky, like sticking your fingers in epoxy.  Unfortunately, birch trees are more ornamental in Nebraska than farther north.

Neanderthal Fire Making

In July, archaeologists published findings that they believe Neanderthals, in France, 50,000 years ago, had the ability to create fire at will.  Before then, they knew they had fire, but speculated it may have been gathered from nature - wildfires or lightning strikes.  There was evidence they could collect and maintain it, but the skills to create fire was considered lacking.  Scientists studying dozens of handaxes and flint tools, from various sites, found evidence of percussions marks and mineral traces.  It appeared that Neanderthals were were using flint tools to strike iron pyrites - to produce hot sparks, to make fire.  What this points to is the cognitive ability of Neanderthal peoples to use advanced technologies to survive and thrive in their environment. In this accompanying video I demonstrate striking a marcasite pyrite core, with a flint striker, to create tiny imperceptible sparks.  These are caught on tinder fungus, transferred to a tinder nest of jute fibers, and blown into flame.  (Video 1:35)

Missouri Clay

Picture record