Stone age tools : prehistoric stoneworking techniques.

Date:
1947
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Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

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Credit

Stone age tools : prehistoric stoneworking techniques. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0). Source: Wellcome Collection.

About this work

Description

A demonstration by M. Leon Coutier, archaeologist and former President of the Societe Prehistorique Francaise, of his technique for making replicas of Palaeolithic tools and weapons, including hand-axes, scrapers, gravers and flint arrowheads. Filmed at the former Institute of Archaeology, Regent's Park, London in June 1947. An important archeological record. 2 segments.

Publication/Creation

UK : Wellcome Foundation Film Unit, 1947.

Physical description

1 encoded moving image (11 min.) : silent, black and white

Contributors

Duration

00:11:00

Copyright note

Wellcome Trust 1947; 2008.

Terms of use

Unrestricted
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 CC BY-NC

Language note

In English.

Creator/production credits

Wellcome Foundation Film Unit with M. Leon Coutier.

Contents

Segment 1. This gives a short background to stone age tools, then shows M. Coutier making them. There is a close-up shot of a small stone age arrowhead and a hand axe. Recently found stone age tools are shown, the uses of which are uncertain. Charts are shown outlining what tools were found in what stone age periods from hand axes to arrowheads and polished axes. There are shots of M. Leon Coutier who has acquired the skill of making these tools in the manner they were made in stone age times. He uses a stone anvil, boxwood bars, boxwood hammers and punches. We see him making a hand axe on the anvil then a finer axe using the wood bar. Time start: 10:00:00:00 Time end: 10:05:42:00 Length:00:05:42:00
Segment 2. Here we see M. Coutier making more refined stone age tools. Flakes which came from the making of the axe are also shown used as tools. We see how the introduction of parallel sided blades lead to a leap forward in the development of tools. Coutier makes a graver, an implement used for carving bones and drawing. And he makes a flint arrowhead developed in the new stone age, requiring more precise manufacture. Time start:10:05:43:00 Time end:10:11:00:00 Length:00:05:17:00

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