1 HN user recommended this demo1 month2019–2023score 1.5
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026
HN people value its authenticity: no cuts, no cheating, and real tool use done entirely with materials found on site.
The Primitive Technology channel shows the making of a stone axe (celt) using only primitive tools and materials, from shaping and polishing a basalt head to making the wooden handle and hafting it.
“This entire channel is fascinating and strives to be very “authentic” about doing everything without turning off the camera and cheating.” (HN, 2022)
If this fascinates you, be sure to check out this video on making a Celtic axe using low tech methods. [this video] This entire channel is fascinating and strives to be very “authentic” about doing everything without turning off the camera and cheating.
Making a stone axe with low tech methods, authentically and without cuts.
The state space here looks pretty small, it seems to me that with so much training it's just a case of brute-force search. When I think of "tool use" in regards to the intelligence of early humans, I imagine something more like [0] where the state space is enormous and it takes a good deal of reasoning and planning to get to a desired result. [0] [this video]
Example of real tool use with enormous state space.
I haven't read Postrel, but the idea of twine being necessary to secure a stone tool to a wooden shaft seems wrong to me. Jon Plant secures a stone tool head to a shaft by building a stone axe called a "celt" with more primitive methods [0]. The friction fit he achieves is likely more robust than a twine lashing because it helps deliver a higher impulse to the work-piece than a mount made of cordage. [0]: [this video]
Shows hafting a stone axe head by friction fit instead of twine.
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