MUNArch Stone Tool Making Workshops 2014

Obsidian Biface

Beginning next week, MUNArch, the Memorial University of Newfoundland undergraduate archaeology society will be sponsoring three weeks of flintknapping and ground stone tool making workshops.  I'll be leading the workshops and the first sessions are on the evenings of Monday, March 3rd and Wednesday, March 5th.  The first workshops happen in less than a week, so if you are interested in attending, please contact MUNArch as soon as possible to reserve your space: munarch@gmail.com

2013 MUNArch workshop

There are three different workshops offered and each is available on either a Monday or Wednesday evening, with a maximum capacity of 15 people in each session.  These are all introductory classes, so no experience is necessary.  If you have previous experience and some more advanced questions, please feel free to join us and I'll work with you as best I can.

Week 1: Ground Stone Ulus

Ground Slate Ulu

Learn to chip and grind ground stone ulus from flat slabs of slate.  Drill through the slate with a bow drill, prepare a wood handle and lash it into place.  This is the first time that this workshop has been offered through MUNArch in St. John's.
Monday, March 3rd or Wednesday, March 5th

Week 2: Introduction to Percussion Knapping

Biface made with percussion

Learn the basics of hard hammer and soft hammer percussion.  Strike a flake from an obsidian core and learn how to thin and shape the flake using stone and antler percussors.
Monday, March 10th or Wednesday, March 12th

Pressure flaked glass and
obsidian arrowheads

Week 3: Introduction to Pressure Flaking

Learn to use pressure to push small, controlled flakes off of your stone tools.  Pressure flaking is how you turn a flake into an arrowhead.
Monday, March 24th or Wednesday March 26th
(Note that this follows two weeks after the percussion workshop, I'll be out of town March 17 and 19th)

The costs for the sessions are as follows:

$50 for all three sessions (3)

$40 for two sessions (2)

$25 for one session (1)

The time for each event will be 6:00 pm, in QC 4028 in Queen's College on the MUN Campus (next to Bitters). Ages 16 and up. If you wish to attend any of these workshops, please email MUNArch at munarch@gmail.com.

Photo Credits:

1,2,4,5: Tim Rast

3: Phillip Cairns, courtesy of Labrador CURA