Paleolithic breechcloth from Gunnera

The other day I came across some Gunnera and was pretty amazed about the pliability and durability of the fibres.  Since there have been some new insights lately about paleolithic clothing, I thought I would give it a go.  Not an archaeological experiment yet, since no decent documentation yet, just a first try at making something more textile which is nothing short of a key skill. Extracting the fibres is dead easy: you just break the stalks and remove the bark and split it with your fingernails.  I then made some cordage...

The first 2m I just fingerlooped together.  

Made another 2m. 

And another.  
 

Using a wooden needle I carved from elm I looped stuff together any which way. The magic troll might have a lot to say to that, but I imagine that it was not much different to the way our ancestors learned.  

To date, that is a friggin 6m of cordage.  I will keep you posted! 

An iron age garment -does it work in the woods?

Some time ago I took out the old sewing kit.  I had this felted wool cloth lying around not doing anything for ages,  and I wanted to save it from the moths.  Also,  I have been pretty intrigued by an iron age garment used by Irish and Scottish woodsmen,  but also widely used in Rome,  Greece and Scythia,  Dacia and across the known world,  as Cuculla,  lending its name also to the Genii Cucullati,  personifications of the Asclepian Digits, and the Flamen Digitalis (according to C.G. Jung). In Eiriks Saga Rauða there is a mentioning of two Irish or Scottish fast runners who were dropped off at the Turtle Island coastline to look for resources.  They had minimal equipment and were clothed with a garment called "kjáfal", a sort of open Poncho,  fastened between the legs with a loop and toggle.  I wanted something between those two concepts,  and obviously will not wear it as only piece of clothing (although it would work) and wanted a bit more warmth,  so I stitched together the sides.  

The garment is really comfortable and offers a lot of freedom of movement,  while providing a lot of warmth. You could wear it in winter as only piece of clothing,  if you stayed active,  and Irish and Scottish scouts were famous for that.  

It offers a great insulation due to the air pocket created by the wide folds.  

Also,  other than a German Wetterfleck or Weather coif,  it doesn't make you thread on the hem. 

Also,  I really do like the Strider or Dhú Síthe vibes... 😜

Need to seam the hem,  and I want to sew in some secret pockets.... 🤪😜

 

Another assault on democratic structures and human culture per se

Recently the magic troll and myself had the utmost privilege to attend a lecture organized by the MCAW (Marburg centre for Antique Worlds) and held by this very honoreable Gentleman. 

Professor Dr. Müller-Karpe offered an archaeological perspective on the topic  of war and peace and provided rather detailed evidence, beginning in the paleolithic, that. - in stark contrast to the narrative used by altright, conservative and centre-right to centre-left political forces, even the greens worldwide and some of the left and extreme left- war is in no way necessarily a natural state. There is no evidence whatsoever of warfare for the most part of human history. The first evidence of weapons of warfare, i.e. stone maces, is found in the late Mesolithic and Neolithic. Warfare seems to be linked to the concept of immobile personal property. So, if you permit this abbreviation and summary, because this is only part of the culprit of this post, there is no way war would be a natural necessity, but a lot of evidence that war is linked to the accumulation of immobile personal property. 

Now Professor Dr. Müller-Karpe, whose merits in examining central and near eastern archaeology might as well be one of tthe reasons that modern archaeology works the way it does.  He might as well be the proverbial giant on whose shoulders the next generations of archaeologists stand. 

I personally hold him in exceedingly high esteem for his kind, but firm way of teaching, his passion for the subject, and his firm scientific values. 

He most certainly deserves his meriteable discharge and a life as a pensioner, and I feel obliged to thank him very much for his kind acceptance of my person into his lectures, and to wish him all the heartfelt very best for his leisure. Which might not be that leisurely at all, because of course, he will not stop investigating our history. Because you do not become a scientist, you are one.  

The same applies to one Professor Dr. Rita Amedick. As head of the Institute of Classical Archaeology, she is one of the giants on whose shoulders the upcoming generations of archaeological scientists stand. Her merits for the subject have made the subject what it is and paved the way to important discoveries that would further our understanding, not only of our past, but also of contemporary challenges our society is faced with. 

Enter the economists and presidial administrative employees, whose only concerns seem to be to render the humanistic sciences more cost-effective. Which is a contradiction. This shall be undertaken by removing both professoral positions, to replace them with lesser-qualified tutors in a position of  half-employment. 

Plus, personally, and please take note, that this is just my personal opinion, based upon the information I have, I cannot help but assume a rather dystopian political agenda behind the endeavour. Because, while officially and on paper, the subject will not cease to exist, the quality of academical tutoring and mentoring will suffer in such a way that dedicated studying 

will be made difficult, if not impossible. 

That said, please remember my referring to the emeritation lecture of Professor Dr.  Müller-Karpe. Keep in mind the current atmosphere of political warmongering and the provided, rather commonplace, evidence, that the scientific evaluation offers quite the opposite of the narrative used by altright propaganda worldwide and you might come to similar assumptions as myself. 

But enough of this. The Archaeological Institute in Marburg is in danger.  If you want to help, I would like to propose you sign this petition. 

https://weact.campact.de/petitions/savemarchaologies-erhalt-qualitatvoller-lehre-der-archaologischen-wissenschaften-in-marburg?source=facebook-share-button&fbclid=IwY2xjawG24o1leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHR3IJUamVTzI9tOxOw4Z65q3s76hCmaFJSfYWMxHpLMW4KQxXyoiph8azg_aem_hYu3YxDkED_Hjb3nudtt6g

That said, while researching potential international partnerships, we came across another rather disturbing development.  

In the Netherlands, there is a current move by political forces and economical administration to axe e.g. the humanistic sciences at the university of Utrecht. This includes not only foreign languages like French, English and German, making Dutch studies mandatory, but also cultural studies like Celtic culture and language (https://www.facebook.com/share/p/14ttPKU5tb/).

If you want to protest this move towards a dystopian future, please consider joining this petition as well: 

https://www.change.org/p/stop-cuts-on-dutch-higher-education

The thing is, that these developments are not limited to cultural and archaeological sciences.  During the pandemic, an atmosphere of science denial and pseudomythology became part of public and political discourse.  Antidemocratic forces from the entire spectrum of the political landscape are trying to acquire the sovereignity of discussion. And we are talking about heads of state suggesting drinking Chlorox in order to cure an infection with SARS-Cov.19.

I know that a lot of you guys might not be students or in any way part of the academical context, and you hopefully know that I have a lot of respect for every craftsman. I have learned a lot from masters of crafts, but also from professors, martial arts masters, hobos, bums, travellers, artists and musicians. 

And this is my point.  This is only possible in a society, where such an exchange is possible.  Freedom isn't free.  

A vast percentage (more than 40%) of people in leading political positions or leading economy are suffering from narcisstic or psychopathic mental disorder.  The outcome can be barbarism as yet unheard of. 

The foundation of democracy is humanistic education. Remove humanistic sciences and this education is no longer possible, removing one foundation of democracy. 

Given the recent introduction of the "legal reason" in Germany, the removal of the benefit of doubt, and the invulnerability of home, as a context, this paints a rather worrying image.  Add to this the current assaults on personal data security and the inflationary distribution of fake news, and you can only acknowledge that the time to act is now.  

The good thing is, that not everything is lost...

yet.  

I sincerely hope that you get my point.  Maybe something I stated sounds a bit bold.  But trust me- I would very much love being wrong. I would be grateful, whether you are 100% agreed with me or not, if you found it in you to support these causes by signing those petitions. It is not about preserving an ivory tower. It is about protecting a pluralistic, open, inclusive, humanistic and democratic society.  About defending human society against fascism.  

Thank you, and all the best. 

#savemarchaeologies 

Helle Knives Skóg blade blank- and the modern relevance of archaeology

This is a fun little project I started in the magic troll 's living room.  Actually there are few things that I love more-we were sitting there, after having some lovely, simple food, with our snacks and cozies and a hot beverage. I mounted a knife blade from Helle Knives, she made her beautiful Naalbindning needles, while there was some sort of documentary on the TV. To me, this is not only the perfect wintertime pastime, but it conveys a lot of meaning to me.  I do think that this, or something very similar, was what our forebears did when the weather was grim, way back to the paleolithic. Well, without the telly, obviously. 😉 If you want to see her work, drop by Koboldkerker.blogspot.de, well worth the visit. 

Anyway, I really do love Helle Knives. The blades always come in razor sharp, and most of them get the task done admireably. We had those Skóg/Fjellmann blades lying around for ages. It is made from H3LS, a three layer laminate steel with a carbon steel as a cutting layer and arming steel sides from 18/8 stainless steel, which offers rust resistance from hell, but cannot be hardened.  It offers a bit of spring resistance, though, when forged.  Blades like that are made by Helle since time immemorial and have been proven to be really resilient. 

I mounted that little blade (80x2,7 mm) with a handle from reindeer antler and birchwood burl. At the first glance, it doesn't look any special, but it is  

A while ago, I made some trial pieces for a replica of the Trollstein knife, a knife unearthed by Norwegian archaeologists at Lendbreen glacier, near #Trollsteinen.  Look here for my thoughts: http://fimbulmyrk.blogspot.com/2024/04/thoughts-on-trollstein-knife.html

This is the original find.  The pictures are copyright by @vegardvike and museum of culturalhistory, Norway. On the pictures you can see that the knife has a rather interesting handle shape, with sort of some diamond cross section and sort of a bevel towards the edge line of the handle. And testing my sample pieces, I found this to be a real game-changer for a lot of applications, from food prepping, to skinning, and it really excels at wood carving.  

 On the picture below, you can see what I mean. 

I wanted to incorporate this idea in a more modern handle design.  Because, while the handle on the Trollstein knife is actually really efficient, it also makes the sheath design a bstd to get right.  Also, I do like a little more contour and purchase in the handle.  So I put those facets on a more modern design.  It is obviously not a replica, but really works awesome. It is about the principle of signalling your brain and body which way you hold the blade.  And what I want to say is, that I would not have known had I not tried to make a replica of the find.  

Archaeology gives us insight into the knowledge of the past. The principles that people applied historically still are relevant.  

In Germany, there is something going on that can only be called a culture war against all things of cultural heritage, science and craft. I do know it is even worse in the US.  At the Uni, there is currently a move of the administration, and behind that, possibly altright political forces, to close down entire ethically relevant faculties like Archaeology, literature and philosophy, but also actively defunding medicine, mathematics and physics.  

Think about the relevance for your actual life situations.  For Archaeology, it might not seem obvious, but the relevance actually is pretty commonplace. Call it "the knowledge of the ancestors" if you want.  

I am not actually asking "cui bono" yet, because I do not need to. Suffice to say that this handle design is really a rather enlightening experience.  

And it was first designed in the iron age. 

If you possibly can, try it out to get my meaning. 

All the best, and take care! 

A sheath for the Trollstein knife

Made a simple sheath for the new Trollstein knife trial piece. Just quick and dirty is all, but I already found out something. 

 These are the first trial pieces. The one on the right is closer to the original shape. It is made from 80CrV2 steel with a selective temper (see previous post). As you can see,  it follows a leaf shape,  making it quite wide at the blade,  wider than the blade.  

The handle,  however,  gets significally thinner towards the blade. 

Period sheaths were a bit like the one I made (the ones that did survive,  that is), but,  for the most part,  even more simple,  lacking a welt and not following the contour as much.  

They also lacked any kind of securing device,  of course. With a sheath like that,  both the broad blade and thin handle will make it quite tricky to achieve a good retention in the sheath.

I will achieve this with the use of spirit alcohol and secret processes and hot-waxing making it almost as snappy as a kydex sheath. Maybe even a clip made from copper or bronze or bone,  but most of the period pieces lacked that. 

So I want to propose that maybe the properties of the sheath, which are quite certain, might have contributed to the owner losing it. As I said,  mine will stay in, but it is a really tricky thing to make a sheath for the blade shape. 

Anyway,  really looking forward to using this knife. 

Thoughts on the Trollstein knife

 So I am in a really fascinating process of recreating the Trollstein knife,  a knife that had been found in the glacier melt near Trollsteinen in Norway in March 2023 by Secrets Of The Ice archaeology. 

Now people who know me know that while I have a strong fascination with all things historical and archaeological,  I also want to know how those things worked and whether or not they would still work. I believe in check, check and doublecheck whether a technological Innovation really benefits our everyday- or not. We have been sold a lot of BS (and that is getting worse), nuff said. 

What we have here is a real knife used for a kind of bushcraft we cannot even imagine. For while,  to be quite honest,  for most people including myself,  it might be a leisure activity or maybe even a lifestyle,  they most certainly not even called it any special name at all then, because it was simply life reality in those days. 

In our time we have very specific things we want from a knife. And while it is a good thing we are able just to walk inside a shop and buy the latest tool with a steel of precise specifications, we tend to dismiss anything that the industry doesn't hype. 

The original (see my previous post) is roundabout 1400-1600 years old. You can bet that it saw some pretty hard use before the owner lost the tool,  and it suffered a huge load and immense force and pressure from the ice drift. The tang and handle are bent. That's the damage it suffered. And it is pretty much good to go. Put an edge on it,  and it will cut again. 

We like to put knives to extreme tests and even destruction. That is pretty okay and understandeable. 

The test this knife has been through is the most extreme I could think of and it is neigh on impossible to duplicate it. Not that it would make any sense at all,  but it is a fact.  

Thing is,  if I posted the knife in a lot of bushcraft groups,  I can imagine the kind of arguments that would arise instantly. You know,  "but batoning " and "survival " and "tactical settings". Hard use,  you know. Not that sissy reindeer hunting,  woodcarving,  building traps, butchering and processing firewood and what have you. The knife doesn't even have a full tang,  mind you! 

Fact is,  I have built these two first knives to see what they are capable of. Or better yet,  what I can do with these knives. They are not as close as I would like them to be,  but about as close as I can get without handling and measuring the original. The first one is made from file steel and quite close to the original as far as the blade is concerned and the general shape and layout of the handle  are concerned. On the second I stuck more to the shape of blade and handle cross section,  but added bronze bolster and peening disc and a bit of a finger notch. That blade is made from 80CrV2 with a selective temper,  an awesome steel that I am just coming to terms with. Balance point on both knives is on the index finger. 

Using the knives I can safely say that I cannot say much,  and in the best of ways. Everything simply falls into place. And this is not due to a special achievement on my part. The design simply does everything. It is awesome for food prepping,  cutting meat and Slöjd. No,  it is not the next hyped survival knife. But if you know what you are doing,  it really COULD be a one-tool-option.

It almost certainly was for the hunter who lost it in presumeably the 6th century. That is humbling. 

First try recreating the Trollstein archaeological find

(Photo courtesy of Secrets Of The Ice,  Norway)

This is an awesome story. Says I. 

Because it was once upon a time,  in the sixth century,  to be quite exact,  that a hunter ventured far out to stalk reindeer on a glacier near Trollsteinen in Norway. 

A lot of you guys know how it is. Got your game,  stalked it most of the day,  get to skin and butcher it,  while the light is getting dim. Cannot let it go to waste,  too. 

Where the actual what now did I just put that knife now? 

Sliding down that slope into that crevice,  that is where I put it, for whosesakeever.

That was in the sixth century AD. 

Zoom in to March 2023,  climate change killing us all,  but also melting the ice of that glacier. A team of Norwegian archaologists discovered a knife that melted out of said ice and,  no irony intended,  lovingly and caringly secured that site. Shout out to Secrets Of The Ice archaeology team for literally doing that. Those guys are awesome. They deserve a whole lot of more support than they get,  and that is a fact. 

Enter uncle Fimbulmyrk,  leisurely browsing the devil's own webs and getting sent arse over teacup into the next rabbit hole. 

Fire lit,  forge roaring. 

Like that,  see? 

Smitey,  smitey,  little filey,  no more work,  become a knifey. 

Fact is,  I messed up,  but actually I did not expect to succeed in the first. Because I really want to make this a real archaeological experiment,  so making this knife will be just a test for the real one.  

On the other hand, I already got an impression of the capabilities of the concept,  and that knife will be a biter. 

Actually the differences are not toooo bad,  and the mistakes I made also have a lot to offer in terms of understanding the knife. 

Blade is file steel,  with a selective temper and a high convex bevel to almost zero,  as on the original (as far as I can tell without having handled it. 

I,  for one,  think I earned that cuppa tree. 

The picture above is an X-ray of the original,  courtesy of the Musem of Culture Norway,  Vegard Vike (Copyright). 

The Museum studio photo shows the original and why I have ways to go still.  This knife is stunning. It is dated to the 6th century AD. It bears some striking similarities to the finds from Illerup Ådal,  too,  which is really fascinating. 

I really do need to do more research on the topic and really look forward to putting this knife to use.  

So,  stay tuned and thanks for your patience and loyalty! 
 

A hike to an ancient hill fort´s´s ruin

Forgotten realms lie everywhere in the vicinity of my hometown. At least three sites of former early medieval settlements or even burghs are loosely dispatched along the Volme valley. I went to the remains of a site which is loosely dated towards the 10th or 11th century. Some archaeological evidence is given to that statement by the excavation of Pingsdorfer earthenware, which seems to give testimony to a use during the 10th and 11th century, so maybe the date of its building is a bit earlier. All along the vicinity of the valley there is evidence of early iron mining and processing, dating to the early medieval age, but, alas, a systematic excavation is still at large for the place.

But the sun was shining, and I took in the atmosphere of the place. The site is located atop the Minnersberg hill, just a short climb from the dale. By the way, the village in the Dale is actually called "Dahl", and this is a German version of the placename "Dale", and there are actually some dwarf legends abundant!

There are but the remnants of earth wall fortifications strewn about on the hilltop, with two separate walls with an entrance from the high plateau.

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallburg_Ambrock#/media/File:Wallburg_Ambrock_Schautafel.jpg

Anyway, I just was there to smell the roses, and bumbled along, deeply submerged in thought and dream.

The leafless trees cast long shadows; and how come the place talked to me in words lost for man I cannot know.

You can still see the walls, but you have to look for them. But still they are there, after all these centuries...

And trees are sprouting and prospering and dying and sprouting.

...nice little fella looking and hooting at me... ;-)

Then I just had a sitdown and a cuppa tea, and let my thoughts roam where they wanted.

And I did not know and did not want to know.

High aloof from the noise-ridden world of man I sat, looking down in oh so wonderful solitude.

I would love to tell you adventures...

Of what I saw and what I did...

...but fact is...

...I did nothing at all.

I just sat there and was. Nothing special at all, but so special that one is lost for words. It was a dream, and I breathed in the early year´s air, warm for February, and basked in the sun. I have a lot of worries and sorrows these days, but there it was they completely ceased to be.