"I grew up in N.E. Tenn. in an area rich in history and full of artifacts to prove it. However, I didn't become interested in stone artifacts until I started bowhunting. This came about while living in Wyoming where the evidence left by our native ancestors was visible through the hills, plains and forests. I would see these artifacts either on their little pinnacles, half buried or in streams. Needless to say, there was probably lots of game I didn't see while looking at these and drifting back in time, dreaming about their reason for being.
When I moved back to Tenn. I was very excited to find there were people who actually knew how to make stone tools and were willing to teach others how it was done. This group of people unselfishly research, learn and teach primitive technology in order to keep these skills alive. I got my first lesson in Sept. 1999 at a knap-in at Sycamore Shoals.
The first year trying to flintknapp was spent working glass and obsidian. When I learned about knap-ins at other locations, I started attending some of those. This opened up a world of beautiful and funtional flint, cherts, agates, jaspers and lots of different techniques and tools. I was HOOKED! Knappers call it "Flint Fever". Some of the tools I started using are more modern, although the basics are still the same. Some of the changes were influenced by our lifestyle of hurry, hurry, hurry. Since then, I have learned it isn't the best policy to hurry and make something so I can hurry and make another.
I am excited because of the many knappers, techniques and materials I have gotten acquainted with. It is a good way to make lifelong friends. Something new, to us, is always being rediscovered about the tools our forefathers invented and used. We know it worked because we have been at the top of the food chain for quite some time now.
If you learn of a knap-in in your area, try to attend and watch the fun. You might be pleasantly surprised to see the quality of knappers workmanship and the beauty which God put in those rocks when they were created."
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