A manual for Neanderthals / H. Mewhinney.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mewhinney, Hubert, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Stone implements.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (135 pages)

Place of Publication:

Austin, Texas : University of Texas Press, 2014.

Summary:

The story of humanity’s earliest days on earth has come down to us chiefly in the tools and weapons early hominids shaped from flint. With these tools, they gained ascendancy over less dexterous beasts and began the slow conquest of their environment. Other records, including their very bones, have largely rotted away, but their tools of flint endure. H. Mewhinney presents A Manual for Neanderthals as “a common-sense, down-to-earth study of how flint tools and weapons were made—or for that matter, can still be made by any descendant of Stone Age man.” The author first sets the scene with a delightful and informative disquisition on flintflaking and flint-flakers, and then explains clearly and concisely how he and earlier Neanderthals have made flint artifacts, illustrating each step with drawings and photographs. Archeologists and anthropologists will discover in this book a modest but genuine contribution to their fields, while collectors of Indian relics and people who like to tinker with tools and master unusual skills will find it a surprisingly practical guide to an interesting and ancient art. With patience, and with A Manual for Neanderthals at your side, you too can learn to flake flint.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Foreword

Contents

I. Speech, Fire, and Flin

II. A Synopsis of the Stone Age

III. The Nature of Flint

IV. Percussion Flaking: Blade and Core

V. Pressure Flaking

VI. The Hammer and the Chisel

VII. Fire and Wet Straw

VIIL A Reconsideration of Blades

IX. Barbing and Notching

X. Hammerstone and Cutting Edge

XI. The Absent-minded Beveler

XII. Clovis and Folsom Craftsmanship

XIII. The Legend of Ishi

XIV. Of Craftsmanship and Homicide

XV. Some Beautiful Hypotheses

XVI. A Few Thoughts on Fakes

XVII. Remembering Boucher de Perthes

Reading List

Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781477300275

1477300279