Making a Neolithic Textile Tool From Thorns!
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- Опубліковано 29 вер 2024
- Working from a number of surviving early Neolithic tools from the circum-Alpine Neolithic pile dwelling villages, I'm recreating and testing a textile processing toolkit as part of my MSc in Experimental Archaeology final dissertation.
This tool is brilliant for processing bast fibres for high quality cordage, twining and basketry use.
I now have a 'buy me a coffee' page which helps fund my ongoing research and the making of these free videos. If you'd like to support me, please visit ko-fi.com/sall... Thank you!
As a modern day spinner, knitter, weaver, etc, it is really a thrill to realize how very close my tools are to those used by ancient peoples.
First you make a simple tool, then when the saved time. Then you make something pleasing, because beauty is soothing; and innately human.
So very interesting. Thank you for sharing and making this video.
I love your videos and someday would like to take your classes, bit hard since I am in California.
This is brilliant. I know you need to do the academic write up, but I'd also love to see a small (or may not small) book on how to make and use all the tools, aimed at re-enactors and hobbyists. Regardless, I love your videos!
It is on the plan for after the MSc is finished!
@@SallyPointer 🎉🎉🎉 I will be all over that!
@@SallyPointer oh, excellent! Seems like the majority of your tech is oriented toward textiles, and your textiles toward apparel. I'm a forager, and it would be interesting to know if there are any ancient versions of sieves made using the same materials? I sift acorn flour for fineness, sift cattail pollen to remove (or reduce) the fibrous parts of the anthers, and sift seeds out of chaff Might that have been a part of neolithic processing, too?
Your videos are always so interesting! Have you ever worked with swamp milkweed fiber? Asclepias incarnata. It's native to North America so you may not have it there. I recently discovered they have extremely strong, soft fibers that are really easy to work with. I collected the stalks after they sat all winter on the plant. It was almost like they retted themselves and the fibers peeled off super easily.
I imagine indigenous peoples here probably used it (they're definitely known to have used wild cotton, Apocynum canabium which is in the same family)
It's not one we have here, but it sounds a great one to get to know
Dogbane and "Indian hemp" are both in the same plant family, and have equally wonderful fibers. Dogbane, especially, has super strong and super SOFT fiber, and I tell you, if I had to wear wool or other coarser fibers, I'd be making dogbane into knickers to save myself from scratching!
I m pretty sure they were used. There are historical references to alternate fabrics fine and lustrous. Much was lost when Cortez brought his terminally ill interpreter wandering willy nilly through the center of now US. One would almost think it had been planned...
@@paintedwings74 I have been collecting dogbane stems from my yard for a couple years now, usually in late fall (leaving some for the critters to make nests with), but I haven't tried to ret them yet. Sometimes I play with bits of them anyhow, decorticating by hand and scraping the flakes of bark off with my fingernail. I've brushed some of it until it's broken down into its individual elementary fibers, which are short like cotton, and even spun a tiny bit. I have no plans or goals, I just think it's fascinating. I do wish the North American hemp fiber industry would take off - I want cottonized hemp to replace cotton for water reasons and climate reasons! But I do love to play with my dogbane! If you know of any resources (people, videos, websites, etc.), please share! I have found very little about dogbane fiber. It's all over my neighborhood and I resist the urge to steal it from my neighbors' yards every winter!
@@froggydoodle808 I think my research on how to process dogbane is long enough ago that I'd struggle to relocate it all, but I'll take a look through my favorites. What I discovered sounds like what you discovered. Trying to ret it is not particularly useful, since the fibers are strong, but not flax-long, and you end up with a better quality if you just work it out by the piece. It is a beautiful, cheery plant, so much so that I don't mind in the least that it's not willing to yield to our hypotheses of how to make it more workable!
I've discovered a patch of native hemp that I'm hoping to use a bit later this year. Such a great plant! Where I live used to be the hemp center of the nation, during WWII. What a loss and a waste, when that industry was shut down.
It's honestly almost shocking how well that tool shredded your lime bast, and you're right, that upper e-wrap looked and worked FANTASTIC! Can't wait to see what else you're making, Sally!
"side tracked by a soap project" lol that sounds VERY familiar. I'm currently spinning up a bag of alpaca fibre on my little Turkish spindle, that I've had for almost a year, to complete a project that I started with a totally different bag of alpaca...... sidetracked is my middle name lol. Lovely to see a new video, Sally :)
That’s a really neat and effective tool, and surely our ancestors would have found that “e-wrap” just as pleasing as we do. Looking forward to seeing the evolution of your Neolithic toolkit!
Man, I'd love to see you at an event, but I'm stuck in America... I'm very surprised that these tools survived so long, given they're just thorns and a bit of cordage. Such a simple tool but such a big effect; human tool use has really just been one big long history of optimizing production, because making things from scratch takes a lot of time, and I think that's lost on most modern people with modern tools and easy access to shops. It wasn't until I started trying to make some of my own stuff that I realized how VALUABLE even mundane things like a bundle of thorns would have been.
We need to do an equivalent type of gathering here in the states. Im in Northern California.
Exactly so, nothing is really "disposable," yet our culture is centered around the idea that nearly everything is disposable. I've taken a lot of time in the last decade learning how to make all sorts of things that other people would buy, fixing things that others would throw away. Soles worn out on work boots? I have a scrap of tire, maybe that could be cut to fit. Found a broken off head of a hoe--hey, maybe I can make a chopping knife with this! It seems far more normal to me to look at the world this way, and very weird to NOT look at things with an eye toward conserving every last bit of usefulness. With our long history of innate frugality, this current culture is the weird way of doing things.
@@paintedwings74 More than that, the current consumer culture is so, so wasteful and bad for the environment. It's destroying the world for the sake of more money lining the CEO's pockets. It's the reason I buy used/pre-owned or refurbished things when I can. One less thing in a landfill, saves me a few dollars too. I'm not amazing at fixing things but I'm getting better at it.
@@pogostix6097 Its even worse than that. It's not that the money is lining the pockets of the CEO's but all the consumers who believe they must live like kings and have kings things and kings money. We the people have chosen and allowed to be the culture of waste at the expense of wildlife and environments. We allow the corporate to ram through the latest and greatest must have thing only to have a greater newer and greater thing a few days later and the thing before can't be upgraded. Designed yet we keep demanding it. There are few people in the world who truly care about the environment or anything for that matter. Consume consume and consume more. Im hoping to go backwards from the main culture. I will push back. Those that were once environmental hippies are now those pushing for more and greater things and demanding you buy them or else face ridicule.
@@abittwisted you'd have to ask the local tribes. Though they might not remember what they used to do. Some do but some don't. As you know... horrible practices that are still happening to this day.
Making tools depends on other tools to make them. And human hands and minds are the first tools we learnt to use. This is so educational and USEFUL. I'm always looking at "weeds" and plants and thinking, "how else could they be used, apart from mulch?" I live in a different country with different natural resources, but it seems so short-sighted not to recognize how practical our ancestors were. Those little bits of waste bast would have been used as 'fire starters' for sure.
Nice work. Yup, that should work just fine heckling flax. I use my mini wool combs to heckle the small amount of flax I grow every year. So yeah, likely was a multipurpose tool. Be useful combing ends of wool locks for spinning & nalebinding joins… cleaning furs & suede, once broke in even long hair brushing. Sweet little tool.
So interesting! Thanks for sharing your research and experimentation with us Sally. It's always a fascinating watch.
The bonus cat footage was much appreciated :)
Absolutely fascinating watch! I was thinking of how perhaps these thorns could be used in heckle of some kind, and then I see that paddle you showed at the end! Looking forward to when you discuss that in future. Glad too to see the cat very happy with the historical tool at the end there too
That is ingenious! The first thing I thought of once you began showing how to use that on the lime bast was - what might it do for wool? The sole time I've ever handled any tool even a LITTLE like that was when our class (primary school kids, in western Texas) was shown how to card wool with the sort of tools the Navajo people use. (Which if you can't tell, was a VERY impactful day of learning, because I can even recall how my hands smelled after, and I'm in my 40s now!)
I made my first attempt at sourcing and making some cordage from plants growing right around me, but it did not work out; the plants I chose didn't behave at all in helpful ways, heh. But I did learn a lot about what to look for, and these plants are - well I'm not sure WHAT they are, the local colloquial name is "hedge-bush" which as I'm sure you can understand is the least accurate thing ever. Some sort of fast growing shrub, but since it had very straight stems and looked quite a lot like the nettles you've used in past videos, I thought it might work. Nope! Got all brittle and powdery. However I do know we have some type of cane or bamboo around here too, invasive stuff that no one will mind me taking as much as I want. And that DOES split into halves, so presumably if I do it right, that can be made to split much finer. I'm just waiting for the right time, when it has NOT been raining buckets every afternoon, to go out and grab some!
Are you still in Texas, Beryllahawk? I could probably make some suggestions on plants you could use for fibers, if that's where you live now. I don't know what your local cane is, if it's phragmites or bamboo or even a native river canebrake (that was good stuff but is now mostly endangered).
@@paintedwings74 I am in Mississippi now actually! I didn't know Canebrake was a plant! There's a big fancy subdivision on the west side of my city named that, but I had no idea where they got the name from. Given how rampant the "cane poles" are, I doubt they are canebrake specifically. I have never heard of phragmites but I'm definitely going to look into that. Thank you for this!
I'm so relieved to see that, by the end of the video, and obviously through extensive consultation with your colleagues, you've determined the proper use of such a tool, as demonstrated in the final 30 seconds.
😸
Dear Sally, I love watching your videos cause I love those ancestry tools and how they improved their lives.
I think, this thorn-tool you can also use to brush human hair (not only cats 🐱🙂)
I love your videos, Sally. I have tried several of the techniques you have demonstrated and this is definitely another I will do. I am going to try it on fleece. You are a wonderful advertisement for the Exeter MSc, I sat there watching thinking that’s it, end the job and sign up! Will you be giving talks on your findings when you have finished?
Wow! It seems so simple in hindsight but the results really ups the quality of the fiber work!
I'm in Southern Arizona so my available fibers aren't even close to most of what you show, yet through experiments after watching your videos I've found plants that are adequate (if not ideal) for cordage beyond the traditional plants used by the native Americas in the area. I'll have to find the right local equivalent to make a fiber comb the next time I'm foraging. Great video, Thanks!
Does yucca grow locally? If so I've read it has great fibers. I'm going to harvest some myself in late summer and try it out.
@@jennifergamble3272 yes I can get yuca about 10 miles from home. I use it for paint brushes too. I've been experimenting with making cordage from "weeds" that grow fast and are less desirable in the yard. (Like the invasive "pig weed" amaranth with the crazy sticker tops that no one can tell me if they are an edible variety.)
you got yucca fibers? i'm in new york and they are grown as an ornamental here and the fibers are very good you should try them
@CEO of plants I live in Montana and we have yucca growing wild on the prairie.
@@angelduncan9147 if you have amaranth, you have the edible variety. It's just a matter of figuring out whether or not it's worthwhile to sift out and winnow the seeds!!! The only difference that makes some amaranth preferred over others is the size of the seed, but what is called "pigweed" around me is a perfectly decent seed size, even though it wasn't bred to be a large seed.
I sure like your demonstration of the cording technique. Very efficient.
I'm officially a Sally Pointer fan boy! Love her work in the neolithic domain. Great to have someone so diligently experimenting.
This is such a nifty thing to see in action, because the fiber combing principle is still such an integral part of textile making even now... That said, your statement about them actually being for scratching the cat is a theory that I think will be widely adopted by feline academics. 😂
Your videos are amazing! I'm not sure how I found your channel (I'm a weaver), but I've been watching your channel for quite a while. Thank you!
oh my goodness I love these videos so much. They transport me to another time and place. Thank you for sharing them!
Thought at first it was a filting needle bundle. But that is a neat tool
thats what my first impression was as well
I'm in the USA, and last year, I found the native thorny honeylocust trees growing somewhere. I've seen the ones planted in urban areas before, but they are a variety that doesn't have thorns, so I was very surprised to see the thorny one. The thorns are very long, and I had been wondering what they could be used for. They're not individual thorns like those blackthorns, but they have multiple thorns branching off of each other. It could potentially still be used somehow. I also had someone give me a small number of porcupine quills and I wondered what those could be used for. But they have a barbed texture, which might not work for this.
I’m largely ignorant of all the fiber types used at this point, but my first thought was that it could have been used as a felting tool for animal fibers. Would that have been a possibility that early on, using fibers that were found on the thorns as animals brushed against them maybe?
Needle felting is a very recent variant and relies on barbed needles. Even with the natural knobbly bits on thorns these won't work the same.
I love the addition of all the references you include at the end! Can’t wait to see how this works with nettle.
Thank you for this! So fascinating.
Yes, I'm sure that the original use of this tool was to scratch a kitty, and, at some point, someone realized the tool could be used for .... other things!
Brilliant ; so informative and comfortable to watch …. I’m looking forward to trying it on nettles.
I think it's wonderful that you and your colleagues are sharing your research with the public, both online and off. You make it so accessible and friendly.
I don’t think anyone could design a modern tool that would do a better job! Our ancestors were brilliant.🤗❤️🐝
I love this. And I especially love the kitty at the end 😊
Fascinating. When you used the tool the first time and it separated the tree stuff into such regular consistent ribbons I blinked in surprise at the tool's effectiveness. Thank you for sharing this.
Always interesting Sally! I do believe we need to remember old ways of doing things.
I've been learning German lately, and I'm really interested in finding that article, if anyone has a link to it? Also, 'Learning German' and 'interested in ancient textile manufacture' must be a really really specific combination.
It's in the publications of the Swiss National Museum, there's a whole section on the finds from different sites.
This is amazing. The work you do to recreate and test out ancient tools is truly beautiful. Thank you for sharing this with us.
I personally see a multi-purpose tool here. As you demonstrated, an easy way to make fine fibres for cordage. I also see a Felting tool. It could be used to turn Protein Fibres into textile material, by repeatedly stabbing it into fibre bundles, for use as blankets, ground mats, Insulation, or even clothing. I'm not saying that the people of the time period were doing this, but it could have been used in such a manner. And it wouldn't be such a leap of the imagination to think they wouldn't have figured this out.
I thought the little credit card sized photography scale was so neat that I tracked down "Past Horizons - tools for archeologists UK" and ordered two of them 😂
When I saw the tool you were going to make, my first thought was that it would be very helpful with felting wool.
ooo...it's like a very portable hackle...i'm curious how it works on flax and nettle now.
So amazing how innovative they were and that tool works like a charm, cannot think of a modern tool doing better than that!
you are back I am so happy! will try splitting rubarb wi¨hen I have made a " thornsplitter" I know where to find the thorns too!!
Good job! Please make video about all these amazing tools at 18:42
Especially that spatula tool with thorns for carding a wool (sorry I don't know right English term and dictionary misunderstands me). My colleague artist uses same iron thing for felting and we are both fans of our Eneolithic archaeology so she would be really happy to see such reconstruction in work! I live in north Kazakhstan and there are lots of mounds of bronze age; few of them contained felt pieces around 4 thousand years old and it was a big find for ones who understand (others just need GOLD lol; they need to watch more of such reconstructing works to realize wonder of history evidences which looks like piece of rubbish at first sight)
There will be videos of all of these as I finish writing them up!
Thank you for your work. Is there anyone else doing your type of work, showing detailed experimental archaeology on youtube? (like Dr. James Dilley does with flint work). Thanks again.
One of the things I learned as a child with long hair, is that you start brushing out a tangle right near the ends - get that cleared, and then brush from a little higher up, and a little higher up, until you've moved all the way up to the scalp. I think you would get less breakage and tow from your raw materials if you treated combing them into fibres the same way.
Thats what I do too, it might not show up easily on these quickly filmed elements, but I definitely agree
"sticky out bits" - the technical term ;)
I think I am going to cheer really hard, all the way over here on the West Coast near Seattle, when you finally get your degree! Also, thank you for using the sizing/color calibration card and keeping it in view!
no kidding, my husband just came home with a basketful of thornless honey locust (which apparently cast thorns occasionally?). was wondering what to do with them. timely!
Always nice to see a little Welsh representation.
btw, the word (colour) 'Ddu' is pronounced like the English 'the' (vowel variation, the apple, the umbrella).
i finally found thorns!! im not sure what tree it is, but some branches had been trimmed at a local park and i noticed the beautiful spikes! not as large as yours but im hoping they'll work
And i9n the hands of a infant that Exact Tool became Felting! ( Warm Wet Fiber, slightly broken tool, Bash bash bash Infant trying out new things! tada! felt!)
NOW i shall collect the Thorns from Chickasaw Plum Trees as i Prune them back. Tree's Bark is Beautiful, always thought i should try to use it for something. *Thanks!*
What an incredible video. I don't know HOW I stumbled upon it, but I'm enthralled. I'm curious to see how the tool works on flax. I live in the US. I don't believe we have the same thorns and not sure what to use. I enjoyed your video very much.
Thanks for sharing. Really interesting tool. I wanted to make a flax hackle but the prices of nails are just crazy. Maybe the black thorn is the way to go 😍
Lovely. Valuing our commonality with our neolithic ancestors is certainly one of the tools that will help us address modern problems of imperialism and colonialism.
The consistency of your cordage is very satisfying to see. I need to keep honing my skills. :-)
That was surprisingly fascinating! I wish I had known about tge neolithic open day before now because that sounds like a brilliant day out.
Gutted I didn't make it to Bryn Cellu Ddu this year. I first saw you there a few years ago and was knocked out by your demonstration of nalbinding and sprang.
Any chance you'll try it on some picked locks and see what happens ? I've been processing a Shetland fleece on a hair comb (it produces top identical to hand combs) and have been thinking something like that would be an interesting stepping stone from teasing wool by hand to combing it on a hair comb. I'd love to make one to test, but blackthorn doesn't grow around here, sadly.
I love this!!! I’d be super excited to go to one of the neolithic open days you mentioned, but I think they’re a bit far from home currently :( best of luck for the msc, and I’ll look forward to seeing more about the other tools!
Have you tried using your device in felting wool? Don't be afraid of including any decorative kitty fur!
And cannot a thorn be used as a needle itself? Split the non-pointy end a bit, slide some sinew/leather strip/fine cordage into the slit and secure with a bit of fine twine and stitch away.
Thank you for sharing! This idea is a game changer. I was lead here by soap, now cordage making! Now to find the wool comb. Kia ora!
I can imagine it being used to untangle/style hair, and carding fleece. This is probably old news though 😄
I wonder if those needle bunches wouldn't also be used to poke animal fur, that sheds from various animals, into the clothing for warmth. Sort of like a felting tool.
That was awesome. I had no idea where this was going until the fibers were shredded. Oh my. Add that to my list of projects.
You should compare neolithic tools to indigenous native American tools 😁
Thank you so much great video. You are an amazing teacher you make it so accessable 😊
I absolutely love this video and immediately gathered the materials to make this thank you so much
Oh I’ve just discovered you and this is wonderful work ❤😊
wow i love textiles and tools! it's also so cool to see that techniques i use regularly, like making cords and knots, were well in use long ago.
That’s fascinating!
Especially as I have a whole load of blackthorn that’s I’ve been looking to use on a craft project like this!!
Now to research how to ID, forage & prepare lime bast…. 😊
You might know it as basswood or linden if you live in the USA.
@@paintedwings74 Thank you 👍
I found this by chance and was so interested in the subject. Very informative. Tku
Fascinating. And I now know what to do with those wicked long thorns on my plum tree
Thank you for sharing this information ,I have hawthorn here and will give it a try .
Brilliant ! Really interesting ! Thankyou 💐
So glad I happened to see your videos, very interesting.
Great video and very informative thank you for making it.
this is insanely cool !!! it will never cease to amaze me just how ingenuitive humans are. good luck on your dissertation, and if the paper(s) you write are open access i'd be interested in reading them !!!
Great video! So informative.... Might be worth noting that if you do puncture your skin with those, to make sure you clean it quickly and thoroughly. They're well known for causing sepsis. They're very painful. Handle with care. 😊
Yes, thorn wounds can be very nasty
Very interesting, well done all around.
Really interesting! Great video.
Outstanding!!!! Thank you.
Excellent video!! Thanks for all your hard work.
Ooooooh I'm excited to see more of these tools!
Have you ever tested a large sample of this bast cordage, to get some rigorous metric for its strength?.
Ginger cats are the Best Cats.
Not large amounts myself, but I think there are quite a lot of scientific studies out there on the relative tensile strengths of different bast materials.
@@SallyPointer Oh, for sure there will be. I wondered if you had done it, because it seems like you have that practical approach.
In your videos your hands are always obviously testing and grading the things you make, and your accuracy seems noticeably greater than other people I have watched.
There are a lot of guys who have demonstrated making cordage, but their finished product is variable.
Something I would be very interested to see is, how uniform the widths of cord you make are, does making the cord more uniform increase its durability, can you make cord thinner for the same ultimate strength if you have greater uniformity, etc.
I noticed you were enthusiastic at the uniformity of your finished product with the comb, was that because you knew it would make better cord, or was it more because of the ease you produced it with?.
Looking at it, I can't help but think having more uniform materials would be the secret to making better cord.
Have you ever used any New Zealand Flax Phormium tenax to make cord?. Maori prepared it the same way you do the bark, bound in bundles, in flowing water, the cut stem end downstream. They left it for three to six weeks, and someone turned the bundles once a week.
Looks like a wool needle felting tool.
Curious to know what you have used it on, and how well it has worked. An update may be nice...
It's brilliant on lime bast, and really useful on nettle and other bast fibres. Definitely one of my favourite tools.
Would this also be useful for carding wool or heckling flax?
It predates both as everyday fibres but it certainly works on them in a more modern context for small amounts
This is fascinating. Thanks!
Do you know if there were remains of materials worked upon on the archaeological items found?
Textile preservation at these sites is amazing, lots of really fascinating fragments.
I am delighted to see this interesting use of those large thorns. I am now wondering how far north in Europe one can find lime trees growing. I am questioning if I am correct and the bast you are showing is the inner bark from lime trees? Were other trees used for their inner bark as well?
Lots of trees are known in Europe, but lime bast is incredibly widespread and very securely identified. Others are oakbast, willow, elm and poplar amongst others
I am hearing 'LIME BAST'. Would you spell that?
That's right. Lime bast is the bast fibre of the small leaved lime,Tilia cordata. There's several videos on my feed showing its harvest and processing.
This is such a fun video. 🙌
"stone age" - not just axes!
I didn't know such long thorns existed outside of the african savannah! If I ever encounter such things, I will be sure and remember how useful they are. Thorns here are either rose thorns, quarter inch spikes, or small raspberry type splinters to bedevil you for days.
See if you have hawthorn trees in your area, or black locust trees. Either one could provide strong, sharp thorns that are longer than rose thorns, if not quite so long as the thorns Sally Pointer has access to.
This looks a lot like the tool my daughter uses to needle felt large areas of her pieces. Do you think it could work for that too?
I understand why you'd think that, but it lacks the backwards barbs of the modern felting needles, and predates woolly sheep as well!
Thank you❤
This is fantastic! I'd love to do this with my kids. Is there a good primitive primer you would suggest? A book or video series?
Thisis so cool. Thanks
IF YOU MAKE THE 2V GEODOMES with the 70 sticks get the men to gather them into ten feet lengths for you all and make triangles and all make cord and tie across and take an hour learn to weave make it a contest and at the end the men can assemble the geodomes for a tiny house. You can show how to make and use the cordage if you cant lash together ten feet sections all at once have the women make 3 feet triangle looms and weave it so 9 for one big triangle you need quite a few get the whole community in on it to weave a triangle for an hour .Try it its fun shows them how to apply the skills eh!