Ancient Technologies Featured at UA’s Moundville

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The University of Alabama’s Moundville Archaeological Park invites the West Alabama community to explore what it means to live a simple life during the 15^th annual Knap-In and Ancient Arts Meet March 13-14.

Stone tool makers, bow makers, basket makers, shell carvers, gourd artists, earth skill experts and potters will gather at Moundville Archaeological Park and demonstrate some of the arts and technologies that were once used by ancient people everywhere. Most also display and sell their pieces.

Flintknapping is an ancient Indian technique for chipping stone into tools and weapons. In the last 20 years, this ancient art has been revitalized and is shared by hundreds of craftspeople called “knappers.”

Imagine a window pane that has been shot with a BB. Where the BB made contact with the glass, a small hole occurs; where the BB exits, the glass pops out in a cone shape. Called a conchoidal fracture, this type break is characteristic to glass and certain other stones, like flint, chert and obsidian.

By hitting the top edge of an object, such as rock, flintknappers predict how a stone will fracture, visualizing a portion of that cone breaking in flakes off of the bottom. When force is applied at one point, its energy spreads in the material like seismic waves travel through the Earth. By controlling the angle of the rock, the type of tool used and the strength of the blow, these stone craftsmen fashion arrow and spear points, knives, scrapers and other sharp tools.

“There’s nothing primitive about the sense of innate geometry someone has to have to methodically take a glass-like rock and reduce it into an ultra-sharp projectile like a spear point,” said Betsy Irwin, interim director of the Moundville Archaeological Park. “The physics of how glass breaks is set in stone, so to speak.”

During the event, knappers will demonstrate, gladly teaching others their art, as they replicate stone tools from prehistoric times. This event is perfect for the history enthusiast or for those lovers of hunting, fishing and basic survival technologies.

Other skills, including making bows and arrows and carved stone objects, will also be demonstrated and taught at the park, which is operated by The University of Alabama Museums.

On Saturday, Tamara Beane will fire her handmade earthenware pots outdoors in a manner as old as some of the prehistoric pottery she reproduces. Beane replicates different Southeastern Indian pottery types from both prehistoric and historic time periods.

She also does her own contemporary ceramics. Potter and historian Chip Wente will also display his outstanding pottery reproductions and discuss ancient technologies with visitors.

Survival expert Jeff Whitfield, of Dothan, will show visitors several different techniques used for making fire prior to the invention of matches. Walter Gowan, Justin Cook and Catherine Sloan will present net making, bow and arrow making and the hand weaving of textiles.

In addition to seeing demonstrations, visitors can go by the target range to try their hand at throwing a spear or learn how to toss rabbit sticks. There is also a children’s area where young people can have their faces painted or make a small craft of their own.

Older guests are encouraged to sit down with a flintknapper or other demonstrator and learn the technology for themselves. Tools and supplies will be available for purchase in addition to hundreds of finely made, functional items.

Traditional Choctaw foods such as frybread, Indian tacos, buffalo soup and hominy are available as well as regular concessions such as hamburgers and fried catfish.

“Hunters, fishermen and outdoor enthusiasts, people who like to collect one-of-a-kind pieces of art, and those who enjoy learning about ways humans got along hundreds and thousands of years ago without electricity, grocery stores or gasoline love attending the Moundville Knap-in,” Irwin said.

“Nowadays, so many people are disconnected from their environment. This gives people a chance to see how you can live a simple life once you know what you’re doing.”