Flint knapping - The oldest trade on Earth.
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My name is Will Lord, I have been involved in flint knapping and prehistoric technology since 1975, when my Parents Val and John Lord became custodians at Grimes Graves. Grimes Graves is a of group Neolithic flint mines in Thetford forest Norfolk.
This period of my life was essentially my training ground, you could say we were an unconventional family living in a house in the forest without modern conveniences such a television for entertainment. At the time I thought I was missing out on a normal part of modern day life. However, I now see that this was a great bonus to my life as what I found myself doing instead was living a full and extremely exciting childhood adventure. My dad was a great inspiration to me, making beautiful flint arrow heads, fantastic flint knives and spearheads, we made bows and tanned skins, some results better than others. People from all over the World came to Grimes Graves during the time we lived there, on occasions we would meet other Knappers who we would share skills with. I joined in all these events and often found I was the envy of most of my friends.
After leaving school I followed various career paths such as car mechanic, scaffolder, glazing, but a large amount of time was spent working with my dad Knapping Flint for the construction industry. this really helped to consolidate my Knapping skills as large volumes of Flint passed through my hands each day.
I have been teaching the skills of our ancestors and learning new techniques since approximately 1990. Together with the loving support of my partner Sarah, I now offer a range of different style courses at home and throughout the UK .
I am currently working on Otzi (the ice mans) entire outfit and tools. I will put the pictures in the web site gallery as they get done. What is really great about this, is the way the Items that he had with him, demonstrate his dexterity, and knowledge of what he needed to survive, I find it a great challenge to make these things so that they actually compare with the excellence of his possessions, these kind of things help renew and inflate our exciting adventure of learning about the past.
Thank you once again for taking the time to read this and if you would like to have us at your event or you feel we can be of help in any way please feel free to contact us. All the Best Will and Sarah .