Kapawe’no First Nation – Today our students learned the foundations of flint knapping. The traditional practice of making stone tools such as arrowheads, spear points, hide fleshers and knives. This technique was used by Nêhiyawak in this area as recently as 200 years ago.
To this day, many obsidian and quartzite stone tools are sharper than steel. The students used percussion flaking and pressure flaking techniques to chip off large stone flakes, which they then slowly chipped and shaped into their desired shape. The tools used include antlers, stones and copper for shaping. This practice helps our students connect with their ancestors through a technique thousands of years old.
Last modified: April 25, 2024
