Stone’s from the sky, how to make a Langdale greenstone axe head
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- čas přidán 28. 08. 2024
- During this video you get to understand the difficulties people went through 4 1/2 thousand years ago to make axe heads from the Cumbrian mountains that then went on to travel across the Uk and into Europe 
One of the most memorable experiences of my life. I’ll never forget the sound of you striking that rock - and hearing it echo through the valley. Love you Will.
It really was a moment wasn’t it bud
Will you be doing it again?
@@PibrochPonder highly likely mate
Thank you Will! My husband and I love your videos!😘
I'm an archaeologist in Southern California, and we excavated a prehistoric site. One of the artifacts was a perfect teardrop point, beautiful gray and white banded monterey chert toolstone. There's a beach nearby that is littered with near identical natural gray and white banded chert boulders that the artifact was made of. I picked out a beautiful water polished piece, about 20cm in diameter, and have it on my display shelf and I think about that artifact and the Native Artisan who must have made it so long ago every time I look at it.
Thank you, I needed to spend time in the earth lodge today, listening to the stories and the sounds of the ancient rocks coming to life in your skilled hands.
Having scrambled up that screeslope on a hot August day behind my perents sustained by lovely windberys to take refuge from the sun in the mouth of the mine looking for our own neolithic axe head I know how atmospheric the area is and to see someone work the same stone while telling the tale of it's own selection took me back to that hard lovely day at least 48, years ago thank you
Great story once again!
Appreciate you for sharing
excellent as always - thank you
Thanks for taking us on another delightful journey with your craftsmanship. It’s been many years since I stood on the side of Pike O’ Stickle and thought about the ancestors. I now live in Australia and have had the great fortune and privilege to stand in many places where The Old people ‘quarried’ stone, some of which are very remote indeed.
Your conversation, your relationship, with the stone in your hands, and the place from which the stone was received, reminds me very much of the kind relationship Aboriginal Australians and the people of Papua New Guinea have with their ancestors. For them, The ‘raw materials’ (not just stone) and the objects that they become are so much more than that. They are the very essence of the Ancestors.
I know of a remarkable story about an old Blackfella from the Wellesley Islands, Queensland, and his journey with making a boomerang. As he was cutting the wood from the tree, he was asking permission and talking to the tree. As he began fashioning the wood into the desired form, he spoke to the material in his hands as it became the boomerang. He told the story of the Ancestor Serpent whose body fell upon the land, and as the body decayed its ribs became exposed and turned white in the sun and eventually became the trees. The finished object in his hands was very embodiment of the Ancestor Serpent, and he knew it as if it where family. Objects and the very substances that they brought forth from can be people, and they have a story of their own to tell us.
Thanks Simon amazing comment to receive cheers Will
Dear Brother! I would be honoured to get that one finished up and polished for you. Just as it has been an honour to join you on this quest for the green stone Axes, its a great story and you tell it so beautifully. I had no idea when we set out on that trip the depth this magic runs to and how it gets in you blood and never leaves you, becoming that thirst you may never slake and the yearning for more green stone to grind that never ends no matter how many times you give in to the call and find another piece of this sacred stone. Thank you dear Brother for showing me the way in and for bringing me in to that most ancient arena.
It will be an honour to place it in your hands my dear friend and yes you totally enriched the reason for me going on that epic journey into the lap of the gods
I like it when teachers .
Teach and tell stories. 👍🍀🍀🍀🍀🇺🇸
Wish I was there for that strike and sound up in the mountains- transcending time.
To my untrained eye, it seems to me that stone you began with also provided you with many beginnings for other projects as well, many arrowheads or smaller blades. So even if the stone had not produced an acceptable axehead you could still make many other beautiful and useful objects.
Definitely want to see the grinding process!
I can't get enough of your videos. Amazing, informative content.. Now I'm going to have to source some greenstone here in Northern California and give this a try. What a beautiful stone.
@7:10 I am going to pass that sentiment on to my kids whenever the schist hits the fan.. thanks again for some wisdom Sir!
Thank you Will for showing us more of your skills....truly amazing.....OnWard.......
I enjoyed that. Really lovely tutorial.
Hey Will, i want to first thank you for sharing your amazing skills and wonderful content. I have watched (since yesterday) a few of your uploads and it has firstly for me given me a welcome distraction from the weights that life has placed on me, and given me a window of peace and calm just watching you revive this long forgotten craft/skill. The yearning to take the steps and try this myself is becoming overwhelming the more i watch you. In short thank you and i just want you to know i am eternally grateful for sharing what you do , please keep uploading brother
Bless your heart and thank you 🙏
I would love to have some rock like that
An honour and a privilege to watch you work your magic. When I was a kid my favourite book was Bran the Bronze Smith, I still have a copy today. The workmanship of my ancestors enthralls me and your videos demonstrate that those skills are not yet lost to us. Pure magic👍
Your vid popped up on my things too watch, glad I did. Like @ Sub
Very interesting.
Love your approach Will.
Wonderful video, Will.
Thanks Jonathan
Always been fascinated with.the Maori greenstone club. Devastating ability and a absolute work of art
I find watching you at work gives me a peaceful vibe....
Enjoyed your show on making the flint knife. I tried to knap a piece of flint I found in Virginia to make rifle flints. The rock shattered like glass and I accidentally got two useable sizes out of 10 lbs of rock (pure luck). However, they shattered like glass when I tried to use them. I think there was pitchblend in the rock.
Love your words of wisdom and philosophy as you work the stone. Just completed my first small spear point this evening out of a clear glass vessel bottom. Have learned a lot watching you work. Thanks again
Some call this sky stone and believe it to be from the God's. As above, so below. Love your videos
Really interesting video and stories as always Will. I've often wondered how they made the greenstone axes, I didn't think it would knap like that.
I used to live near Cumbria and know exactly where it came from. At the time I didn't know anything about it though, so at least if I return I can have a new appreciation for the site!
i like seeing different knappable rock from the uk being worked , i have been making arrowheads from "Arran pitchstone" , it works beautifully . i must try some more of the volcanics round my area and make an axe like this , lots of polishing ! nice job
Im always amazed by how much stone it takes to create one tool. Wonderful patience and skill to "release" the tool from the rock!
For a moment, when I first glanced at the thumbnail, I saw blond hair and glasses, and thought, "--Survival Lilly??" Then I realized no, no, that's Will Lord! (Which made more sense, given the topic.) But then I thought, "How cool would it be to have a collaboration between these two...?" You could compare neolithic shelter building methods with modern bushcrafting ones, neolithic bows & arrows with modern versions for making & using them, and so on...!
I really enjoyed that story about you up on the mountain. It sang back. I love your content sir.
I indeed loved the bell store. Wish I could have been there to hear that sound
this just goes to show the skill of the ancient knappers. they could tell these chunks were bad news and chucked them.
A lot of work mate
Doing what you love is never work 😉
The color change is demonstrable even in America. The major point being as you mentioned, moisture in the rock, added moisture from external sources such as rain, human sweat and skin oils, the dirt that inevitably mixes on the surface whether wet or dry grinding. The acids in the human sweat and oils will in effect burn and change the color. I find so many interesting color rocks in the UK but only from afar, I've never gotten to travel there. That's why channels like this are a blessing. I'm a fossil nut as well, and I follow some of the English fossil channels. The amazing coastal areas and the different rocks are interesting, the jet mines and I even heard them talk about lapis? Some of the fossil nodules/conceptions "look" as if they would be great knapping material.
just found your channel ....i just hope i live long enough to enjoy and learn the skills you have
Finally! Langdale tuff is my only locally available stone, all the Flint beds are 7 hours drive away. But it does not flake well compared to flint, you've got a great piece there and you’re obviously way more experienced than myself at knapping.
A great little insight into your journey, thankyou
I found a broken Greenstone axe head in Cornwall and gave it to Truro Museum. At the time I had stopped reading history for a while because of my history teacher. She told us the Celts were dead and gone- English/Saxon 'propaganda', just about her whole class was Celtic. She also said Greenstone and Greenstone axes were from the Mediterranean. Getting my History degree required not one fact she 'taught ' us. I guess someone was still scared of us.
I have to find you on Instagram! I’m still catching up on your videos and am in love with the greenstone!
I’m on there as will_lord_prehistoric_survival mate
@@WillLordPrehistoricSurvival found you and messaged you as well. Cheers!
That was amazing to watch, makes me wana go find a piece of my own & have a go !
fascinating , thank you Will.
Much love to you from LAS VEGAS NV 🤘🏽🤘🏽
its as if you are reincarnating our past
it seems to me its so much more than your experience, its as if your craftsmanship is inherent.
in your dna?
you take us back in time by the recreate prehistoric sacred sculptures
Love it to see you so focused and so lovin it like you do / can ,, epic as far as I’m concerned. 🙏 rock on .
I wish I had any sort of those stones in my area!!.. unfortunately I have to order them
Knapping is a metaphor for life, innit. And here I’ve been napping.
I have to admit to getting the diamond angle grinder out on several of my attempts to make Flint axe heads both polished and knapped. I seem to often get those very annoying lumps that were impossible for me to knapp out. I also had to use diamond files to polish the stone as thats all I had but boy was it still hours on hours of grind!
great vids
Any advice on polishing stone axes? It has taken weeks :( and I'm always worried I've picked poor sandstone.
Add plenty of sand/grit and water when you are trying to remove a lot of material at the start. I found that using the sandstone alone was excellent for finishing the axe but too slow otherwise. Also make sure to start with a rock already in shape or be prepared to thin it down with hammerstones if it is flint, Preseli Bluestone or Langdale Greenstone.
Hi will I've just started watching your channel, and your videos are really good and interesting thanks for making them, I have a question can you tell me why you sort of rub the hammer stone across the edge please
Once again thank you for the videos keep them coming
Welcome along bud I do the edge rubbing to strengthen and shape the edge of the flint
What do you do with all the crumbs?
I'm guessing using modern electric tools and diamond stone cut blades would be sacrilege to the trade ?
Not really bud I’m happy to from time to time
Paleolítico and neolítico
Hi Will, always a pleasure watching you knapp.. would you ever consider indirect percussion, such as a leg strap arrangement to get rid of islands or turtlebacks? I've been practicing this for a couple of years now and rely on it almost for difficult thinning and troubleshooting.. I know ow it's an American thing, or is it? I'm not sure but I see it alot on knappers over there removing well over center line when choosing to. Anyway, thanks for entertaining and teaching at the same time! By the way, sent you some stars with your bronze sword live video, they were free so I just gave them all to you simply because I've been following you for years! Not in a weird way thougb😅🤣🤣
Hello Darren thanks for the stars mate and in relationship to your question on your occasion I will use an indirect percussion instrument
@@WillLordPrehistoricSurvival maybe you could show yours off sometime! All the very best to you Will..✌
Awesome
What would happen if you tried to heat the green stone on a hearth, let it cool and then shape it?
Hi Will. Impressive how you worked that greenstone down. Can (was) that stone be used as an alternative to flint, given it was the readily available in the area. Were the axes exclusively polished or were they occasionally kept "knapped". Was that blank eventually ground and polished, if so can you update. Cheers 🤙🏻
Hi if they left the mountain they were polished, if the knapping went wrong they threw them over their shoulder . I don’t know what happened to the one I made during that film
Thanks for the reply Will 👍🏻
Are those real artifacts or you made them?
Having scrambled up that screeslope on a hot August day behind my perents sustained by lo l
Nice
do u do anything with all the little chips that come off the main block?
Sometimes yeah but often they end up sitting in boxes waiting for me 😂
I don't understand how you could chop down a tree with a rounded over piece of stone like that with no apparant cutting blade to it...
Believe me it’s sharp enough 😎😂👍
Does it work like obsidian
nice thx
What's the actual name of the stone? Axe's here in the eastern U.S where made of a green stone to
Pᵣₒmₒˢᵐ 😇
I am amazed youre allowed to take the rock. Here in the good ol' FREE America, the government would throw you in jail..well throw me in jail if I took it. Aholes.