Welcome to Beyond 2000bc

Relive ancient crafts and experience a closer connection with your ancestors.

Shop flint knapping workshops Prehistoric weekend Traditional Yew Longbows & Primitive Flint Tipped Arrows Ancient art of brain tanning Bronzecasting Top quality Gun Flints
Workshops & Events 2012/2013

FLINT KNAPPING WORKSHOPS - Come along and join a group on set days for £80 per person.

Flint is 100,000000 years old sedimentary stone, when breaking the thin slices you can still see the coral and vegetation like a mirror of the past.

During the course customers will learn the basic art and understanding of Flint Knapping and learn how to make a range of prehistoric tools from arrowheads to axe heads. To learn how to knapp flint well you will have to go further than our 1 day course and put time and practice in to get pleasing results.

The tools used during the course are soft antler hammers, a range of different quartzite pebbles just as it was in the past.

BOW MAKING WORKSHOPS - £275 for 2 day Workshop including lunch

Under the careful supervision of Bowmaker Will Lord, (who has been teaching the art of bow making for over 15 years), you'll be guided through the process over two splendid days. On arrival, you will receive a laminated bow stave, (the roughed out blank), of beautiful Hickory, Purple Heart and Lemon Wood. You’ll learn how to tiller the limbs, fix buffalo horn / antler nocks to the ends, create a leather handle and even produce the linen or dacron bow string, to make your bow fully functional. A fantastic gift for anyone wanting an introduction to archery or for those interested in practical history & bows. Suitable for both complete novices and experienced bow makers, you’ll be sure to have a great time and unlike most experience gifts, (unless you do something really crazy!), you will leave with lasting memento, by way of your very own, hand crafted bow that is yours to keep and enjoy.( To Date all our customers have left the workshop with a bow or been sent a bow made by will if the worst happens as sometimes it may. If you are unlucky and your bow doesn't work out you will be offered another workshop free of charge. ) Basically you cant lose.!! The course includes lunch and refreshments on both days

Types of wood used in our bows range from Hickory, Yew, Lemonwood, Purple Heart, Green Heart and Maple. The tips of the bow can be made from buffalo horn, antler or wood. Strings are made from traditional Irish linen or dacron. Handles are finished with buckskin and fine leather or other materials such as snakeskin according to customer's own requirements.

Finely crafting the tipstilling the limbsShaping the limbs

The type of bow required can be tailored accordingly to a customers own specific requirements.

ARROW WORKSHOPS - £90 per day

Our Arrow workshops can be booked following our Bow Making workshops or as standalone courses. Types of feathers used are goose, turkey and pheasant.You will make 3 arrow shafts from an Ash log , then spine test them to suit the bow you will be making, we will then make your own heads from steel plate and fletch your shafts with left wing Turkey feathers, we will splice the nocks with buffallo horn or bone/antler. This is the perfect way to complete making your own bow.

Arrows can also be made to customers specific requirements.

BUCKSKIN WORKSHOPS - £200 per 4 day course

Our Buckskin Workshops provide customers with the knowledge of how to work a real deer skin into useable items ranging from clothing to accessories such as bags, belts, arrow quivers etc. This workshop is a real eye opener as not only do we have to cope with the visual content and the slightly rank smells, but the effort required to naturally convert the hide into useable buckskin is quite something else. Using brain for tanning and finally smoking the skin. It truly brings you into context with a highly valuable and underestimated material. Next course date 1st/4th September

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SPECIAL EVENT-PRIMITIVE SKILLS AND CELEBRATING THE KILL

27th/28th April 2013.

Whats on offer: During the weekend, we will teach you how to check the deer was in good health at its time of death. We then look at the butchery, locating the different cuts of meat. This will then be cooked in various ways such as earth ovens, spit roasting, Drying jerky etc. So that on Saturday evening we can feast upon this prize meat.

FLINT KNAPPING

Learn the basic skills of flint knapping that will aid you to make a range of tools from the past that you will be able to apply to the other skills we are going to teach you.

HIDE TANNING

Covering ancient tanning techniques you will tann a section of deer skin to produce a bag / holder for the items you make over the weekend.

WEAPON CULTURE/HUNTING TOOLS

During this stage of the workshop we will look at slings, Atlatal, throwing sticks, arrows etc, what ever you make you keep.

GLUE, BONE AND CORDAGE

Looking at bone tools such as harpoons fish hooks and needles pine pitch resin and sinew cordage.

All in all we want you to have a facinating and interesting weekend that leaves you with some lasting memories and treasures to take away. There are limited places so please book early to avoid disapointment.

Unlocking the past - Picture copyright Worcester YAC'S

Picture - courtesy of Worcestershire County Council.

The cost is £185 per person, this includes all food and drink over the duration of your stay. Contact Will for further details.

Alternative Workshops £250 per person - Thor's War Hammers and Saxon shields

Many of our customers who have enjoyed thier experience with us have asked us to put on workshops to cater for other interests they have, the hammers and shields shown below were made on 2 day workshops and we would be very happy to offer you this fun and creative style of event .